It’s easy for investors to fall into what is known as “home country bias,” looking only within their own country’s borders for opportunities. Investors may be missing the boat if they don’t expand their opportunity set beyond their shores.

Q1 2019 proved to be the exact opposite of Q4 2018; it was the quarter where nearly everything worked. Virtually all asset classes produced positive returns, from U.S. and International equities of all sizes and sectors, to higher quality bonds and junk bonds, and, yes, even commodities floated with the rising tide.

At the moment there are only twelve countries and the EU which have space agencies with the proven capability to send satellites to outer space, of which NASA is the clear leader. All of whom subsist on Government funds and subsidies.

Inflation has remained muted through the first quarter of 2019. Could the pace pick up later in 2019?

The division between active and passive strategies has devolved into a two-legged stool. A stronger investment environment needs a clear third option: the enhanced passive category.

On March 9, 2009 investors solely exposed to the S&P 500 would have a 10-year annualized return of negative 4.5% and a cumulative return of negative 37%. Starting March 9, 2009, however, the next 10 years would generate more than 17% per year, with a cumulative return of near 400%.

I think the rest of the world will enter a period something like Japan endured following 1990, and is still grappling with today. It won’t be the end of the world; Japan is still there, but the little growth it’s had was due mainly to exports. That won’t work when every major economy is in the same position.

Members of the $20 billion club continue to look for ways to reduce the cost and risk of their jumbo-sized DB plans. Read about these latest trends.

Markets are caught between incoming data that point to slower global growth and forward-looking factors that suggest improvement later in the year. With the pause in U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes, we expect modest recovery in global cycle conditions.

One of the main goals of this series of articles is to illustrate the significant differences between individual stocks, and the significant differences between different sectors. Therefore, from this perspective, I have been attempting to illustrate the “nature of the beast” for each of the sectors I have covered.

We all know the federal government owns a lot of land around the country. You know – national parks, protected forests, tribal reservations, fish and wildlife refuges, rivers, historical battlefields and other sensitive areas. But I’ll bet you don’t know just how much of America the federal government owns. I sure didn’t, until last month.

Historians tend to view the shift from one hegemon to another as a clear, abrupt break. But, in reality, faded hegemons tend to cling to elements of former glory. As we watch Brexit unfold, one persistent theme has emerged—much of Brexit is about unresolved issues surrounding the end of the British Empire.

Despite its name, MMT is not modern. It is the latest iteration of the idea of monetizing the debt, relying on a central bank to create demand for a country’s bonds. The Bank of Japan routinely buys all Japanese government bonds on the open market, keeping borrowing costs near zero despite a massive government debt. Japan has not imploded under this debt burden, but it has stagnated. Government intervention reduced a crisis, but did not unlock growth.

Research group Metals Focus released its Gold Focus report this week forecasting that global gold demand will climb to its highest level in four years. Plus, economist David Rosenberg shares what he thinks ballooning nonfinancial corporate debt means for investors.

A few weeks ago, we were pleased to announce a partnership with Brookfield Asset Management that created an alternative investment manager with one of the broadest slates of strategies and greatest asset totals. And what question did I get? “Will there still be memos?” Well, here’s your answer.

Qualified Opportunity Funds are a new investment opportunity designed to drive development in economically distressed areas. They come with significant tax benefits, but the holding requirements and other risks mean they aren’t suitable for all investors.

Worried about retirement but don’t know how to start building wealth? Dollar cost averaging allows you to put a long-term plan in place and let compound interest work its magic.

Recession is approaching but not just yet. Yet like the Fed, I am data-dependent and the latest data are not encouraging. Today, we’ll examine this and consider what may have changed.

Following the Federal Reserve’s pivot to patience, we believe U.S. short-term interest rates are now anchored in The New Neutral. Global growth keeps synching lower, but may experience a soft landing later this year if China’s economy stabilizes and trade tensions ease.

Bond yields are crashing in major markets all around the world as fears of a global economic slowdown have prompted investors to seek shelter in low-risk government debt. Both Germany and Japan’s 10-year bond yields are back below zero, marking the first time we’ve seen German yields turn negative since October 2016.

The most critical aspect of the financial system is "trust" in it. After years of Wall Street "raping and pillaging" individuals to line their own pockets, the next bear market will likely destroy the remaining "trust."

Today stocks erased their weekly gains and bond yields fell. Chief among the contributors were a Treasury yield curve inversion, the first since before the financial crisis, and continued slowdown in the pace of U.S. manufacturing expansion.

In Part I of this four-part series, we introduced this report and discussed the origin narratives of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). This week, we will examine the principles and consequences of the theory. MMT begins its analysis with a focus on macroeconomic identities and flows. Assuming MMT does hold, what does it mean for policy and the economy?

We believe short-term interest rates in the U.S. are now anchored in The New Neutral, as global growth keeps synching lower.

Automated marketing is fast and affordable. But getting a return on your investment requires customizing the content to your niche. Here are my seven content customizations to turn generic ramblings into relationship-building content.

I completely understand the dividend cult: Investors who used to rely on bonds for a constant flow of income are now forced to resort to dividend-paying companies. The problem is that this cult creates the wrong incentives for leaders of publicly traded companies.

The value of negative-yielding bonds around the world has ticked up to more than $9.32 trillion. Although still below the 2016 high, this indicates that investors fear global economic growth is slowing. Is this gold’s time to shine?

When Donald Trump was campaigning, he said he would eliminate the national debt in eight years. But it has increased by $2 trillion in the first two years of his presidency, leading Jeffrey Gundlach to conclude that we are “on the road to a large debt problem.”

As tempting as the proposition might be, there isn’t convincing evidence that a style-timing strategy will be profitable.

One of the most highly debated topics over the past few months has been the rise of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). The economic theory has been around for quite some time but was shoved into prominence recently by Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “New Green Deal” which is heavily dependent on massive levels of Government funding.

Extremism at either end of the political spectrum can raise huge obstacles for business and investors. The difference, though, is that hard-left legislation seeks to punish wealth and prosperity through politics of envy.

TV commercials suggest a financial advisor is key to a leisurely retirement. A good one certainly can help, but only to the extent you’ve saved enough cash to give them something to invest. And as we’ll see, many Americans haven’t.

I was born too early to benefit much from Sesame Street, but I still loved The Muppets. Kermit the Frog was my favorite character; alternatively in full control and overwhelmed, Kermit struggled to make sense of the nonsensical. To this day, there are times that I feel confronted with the same challenge.

The current stock bull market, already the longest in U.S. history, turns 10 years old this month. It’s been a phenomenally profitable time to participate, especially if you’ve stuck to an investment strategy that favors dividend-paying stocks.

It’s clear that with roboadvisors and automation, people expect more if they are paying you more. With investment management fees going to zero faster than the speed of light, financial planning is where it’s at.

So you’ve decided it’s about time to give your website an overhaul. Or maybe you broke off and went independent, and now you need to set up a site for your new firm. Do you use a template? Do you get a developer and custom design your own site?

In October 2018, we published our views on the growing glut of BBB-rated corporate debt. The headline takeaway was the following: longer-term we have concerns, but shorter term a downgrade cycle did not appear imminent. In our multi-sector strategies, this view helped us capitalize on the December volatility and position our portfolios for the bounce back and strong rally in credit markets to start the year.

Here are four big mistakes I see by advisors who aren’t aware of the science behind effective marketing.

Observing the latest developments of the largest corporate defined benefit (DB) plans in the U.S. offers a glimpse into the DB industry, and perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come. After two of the strongest years ever for pension contributions, the coming year may feature the weakest seen in a generation.

The Tweedy, Browne Global Value Fund (TBGVX) has an exceptional track record, outperforming its benchmark and peer-group average by over 300 basis points annually since its inception 25 years ago. I interviewed the members of Tweedy, Browne’s investment committee.

The sharp rebound in equities seems to be in contrast to the deterioration in data, which could lead to near-term volatility.

If we do an offsite on our own, can you share any tips about how to make it most effective?

There have been many new approaches to portfolio management. As all professional advisors should, I take the time to explore these new approaches. Yet it seems that each new approach is simply a minor change to the long standing acceptance that risk is the volatility of current asset prices.

Powerful retailing disruptors are reshaping expectations about shopping and shipping by digitizing retail markets across the globe. New conveniences such as ordering groceries with a simple voice command are upending the old-world order.

The most popular missives we write are associated with Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders and the annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. This year we thought it would be fun to channel Mr. Buffett and attempt to write his letter for him.

With the S&P 500 Index losing 13.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018, the risk of catastrophizing – not only focusing solely on the negative news, but assuming the worst will occur – increased. Reviewing the historical data, however, keeps you from catastrophizing your own financial situation.

As I stated in the introduction in Part 4 of this series, my primary objective is to provide the reader with a clear perspective of just how different individual stocks are and how different companies operating in different sectors are.

Consensus expectations for global growth have been revised lower and fiscal stimulus in the US could fade in the coming quarters. We view this period as a soft patch in a continued expansion that likely leads growth back toward levels consistent with the global economy’s long-run potential.

Our millennial advisors push us (the three partners) on our “value to the community.”

“Some people call it ‘peak gold,’ but I tend to think of it more as ‘peak discovery.’” Meet the brains behind Goldspot Discoveries, a first-of-its-kind quant shop that aims to use AI to revolutionize the mineral exploration business.