For nearly 25 years, the EU has held together despite challenges from bankrupt institutions, separatist movements and members with widely divergent economic prospects. But that cohesion is being tested, according to Albert Edwards, by countries that are losing their competitiveness. But his greater concern is the impact the Fed-induced credit bubble will have on the markets.

Morningstar’s Fund Manager of the Year is one of the most coveted awards in the mutual fund industry. Indeed, fund companies devote enormous resources to promoting award recipients. But should advisors invest their clients’ funds with those winners?

Do you think you’re wasting your time pursuing Millennials as clients because they don’t have enough money? If so, you’re wrong.

Should you worry if organized crime has infiltrated the boards of the companies you own? Can you learn anything about how your investments will perform based on movie theater receipts? Two recent research studies answer those questions.

In the 80 years since Keynes published his General Theory, few questions have been as controversial as whether or not government spending can stimulate a weak economy. New research shows that stimulus spending indeed does work, even for countries facing high debt burdens, unemployment and inflation.

Rapid technological advances are transforming the global workplace. But fears that automation will permanently destroy American jobs are misplaced, according to Joe Davis. Instead, the jobs that require “uniquely human” skills will proliferate, Davis said.

Provisions of the DOL’s fiduciary rule went into effect on June 9, but the controversy over its impact on advisors and clients continues. In this live, Munk-style debate moderated by Bob Huebscher, Tom and Knut will take opposing sides on the following proposition:

The benefits to investors and society of implementing the DOL fiduciary rule far outweigh the costs

Knut will speak in favor of this proposition, while Tom will argue against it, covering issues such as:
•Should the decision to work with an advisor who adheres to the fiduciary standard or the suitability standard be left to investors, rather than the government?
•Will the rule create administrative burdens and liability risks that will discourage advisors from serving retirement clients?
•Will registered representatives moving from commission-based to fee-based compensation no longer be willing to take on clients with smaller pools of retirement assets?

Greg Dunn is a portfolio manager for Thornburg Investment Management. He manages the Thornburg International Growth Fund (TINGX), which has outperformed its benchmark by 540 basis points over the last 10 years. In this interview, he discussed his investment philosophy and what drove that outperformance.

Thomas Kertsos is a portfolio manager and senior research analyst at First Eagle Investment Management. He is the manager of the First Eagle Gold Fund (SGGSX), which, as of June 30, has returned 5.37% since its inception, on 8/31/93. That is 645 basis points better than its benchmark, the FTSE Gold Mines Index (-1.08%).