Short Takes: Massive Phone Bill, How Indexing Affects Professional Money Managers, and more

What’s a factor of 100 trillion between friends? A woman in France received a phone bill that had an extra 14 zeros added to it!

Larry Swedroe examines the claim that index investing increases correlations between stocks making “it harder for active managers to harvest the winners” and argues that it isn’t true. Even if it were true, why would I abandon indexing to lose money picking my own stocks just so some professional money manager can have a better chance to pick winners?

SquawkFox has some thoughts on how to get around the upcoming Globe and Mail paywall.

The Blunt Bean Counter put together a collection of punitive income tax provisions. Don’t get caught by any of these.

Rob Carrick says that “Asking a senior to co-sign or guarantee a loan is a form of elder abuse.”

Preet Banerjee says “I’ve always thought that if you really knew what you needed to know to pick the right financial adviser, you probably wouldn’t need one.” He goes on to explain what we need to know about the various professional designations.

Big Cajun Man has a list of ten things he’s actually said that have saved him money while negotiating a price.

Retire Happy Blog asks whether Freedom 35 is possible. I sort of did it at age 37, but then I gave away a lot of money. I figure that with conservative assumptions I’ve got enough money to get me into my mid-70’s. That’s why I’m back to work again. I didn’t think it was smart to wait until I’m old.

Comments

  1. Big Caujun ManOctober 19, 2012 at 9:23 AM

    I still like the "Do you think I am stupid", as a negotiating technique. Have a wonderful weekend...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Simply Rich LifeOctober 19, 2012 at 12:05 PM

    I hadn't heard of active managers claiming that the increase in index investing makes their job harder. That's taking a pretty dim view of their audience/customers since the reverse would be true...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael JamesOctober 19, 2012 at 1:19 PM

    @Simply Rich Life: I found that puzzling as well. Swedroe's blog is a good one for people who like to think about issues like this.

    ReplyDelete

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