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Correlation & the Efficient Frontier

Today I want to discuss correlation within the context of portfolio construction. If you live in a climate where the weather is unpredictable, you will want a furnace as well as an air conditioner. You will need a wardrobe that takes into consideration the varying weather. The same could be said about portfolio construction. Covariance, […]

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Charitable Contributions – Taxation

Using charitable contributions is generally only valuable from a taxation standpoint if you itemize deductions on your tax return. If you take the standard deduction, you generally cannot deduct charitable contributions. Even still, this is not the main reason to be charitable. You are supporting causes that you feel are important. Love is not dead […]

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Stock Buybacks

What are stock buybacks? A stock buyback or a share repurchase decision occurs when a company buys its own stock from the open market. By doing this, the company reduces the number of shares available to the public. This is the opposite of dilution. Why Would Companies Purchase Their Own Stock? To Increase the Stock […]

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Dilution

In it’s simplest conceptual form, stock dilution is basically a company adding more water to a pot of soup, but not adding more ingredients. The company issues new shares of stock in order to raise capital. You own 100 shares of a company. If the company suddenly creates more shares of stock and sells them […]

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What is a Market Maker?

A market maker is a person or entity that provides liquidity to financial markets by continuously buying and selling a particular asset at publicly quoted prices. They “make a market” by always being ready and willing to trade. They quote two prices A Bid The price at which they are willing to buy a security. […]

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Synecdoche – A Cautionary Tale

My friend Matthew is in the publishing industry. He suggested I write about the word Synecdoche. I have never used this word in a sentence, however, I am interested in English and I am always looking to broaden my vocabulary. And this word is complicated. Now we must define it and relate it to finance. […]

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Trading Time for Money

Should you choose to trade your limited conscious time for money? Perhaps you should consider the following: Fiat currency is as an infinite resource that attempts to reflect the value of the time a human spent producing a good or providing a service. This dictates the price to acquire said good or service. Perhaps your […]

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The Law of Large Numbers

The law of large numbers describes that as the number of data points in a scenario increases, the average of the outcomes will approach the expected average. Consider a casino with many games. Results will converge to the casino’s advantage because eventually more gamblers will lose than those who win based upon the way the […]

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Hunting or Gardening?

To successfully build wealth, you must make many small calculated decisions over a long period of time. You are growing a garden that will feed you for the rest of your life. You cannot expect the market to immediately provide you abundance. If it appears to do so, it will likely take it away with […]

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