Short Takes: ETF Uptake Disappointment, Endowment Effect, and more

Tom Bradley at Steadyhand reports on the underwhelming size of the shift from mutual funds to ETFs. Even as someone who competes against ETFs, he would like “these simple, low-cost products to have a bigger impact on the industry landscape.”

Canadian Couch Potato looks at our tendency to overvalue the things we own. This can actually makes sense in some contexts. For example, it makes sense to give a low value to a new type of laptop bag until you’ve used it for a while and discover it’s much better than your old kind. But this doesn’t apply to investing; you don’t have to own something to judge whether or not it’s a good investment.

Big Cajun Man is unimpressed by Suze Orman’s new debit card.

The Blunt Bean Counter raised $12,575 in his bloggers for charity drive.

Comments

  1. Big Cajun ManJanuary 20, 2012 at 5:58 AM

    Thanks for the inclusion, have a less icy weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Blunt Bean CounterJanuary 20, 2012 at 9:33 AM

    Michael, thanks again for the rec and your participation, it was appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PatrickJanuary 20, 2012 at 1:15 PM

    Yebbut... what's the "endowment effect"? Did you chop a link at the last minute, or am I just being dense?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael JamesJanuary 20, 2012 at 1:21 PM

    @Patrick: The "endowment effect" is the name for the tendency to overvalue our own possessions. Canadian Couch Potato explains this in his article.

    ReplyDelete

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