Real estate is all about “location, location, location” as the saying goes and lately, Portland is the place to be. One of the strongest markets nationally, prices have risen 10.3% over the last year compared to 5.1% nationally, as measured by the Case-Shiller Home Price 20-city composite index. In fact, among the metro areas measured by the 20-city index over... Read More
Next month, Cordant is releasing a short eBook titled “Three Mistakes Intel Employees Make as They Approach Retirement.” One of the mistakes we identify in the eBook is a willingness for late-career employees to take on too much risk with their investments as they approach retirement. It's a mistake we frequently see among Intel employees, many of which are striving... Read More
This year on the Cordant blog, we’ll be answering questions that we frequently see, or that relate to a relevant topic for many readers. We'll kick if off with the following question about structuring a competition between two investment managers. Question: I will retire in one year. My 401(k) will be sizeable enough that I'm thinking of splitting it in... Read More
What if you had the choice between two investments: both earning $100 per year, but one taxed at 30%, and the other at 20%? For which would you be willing to pay more? What if investment A was otherwise identical to investment B, but had an upfront fee and significantly higher transaction costs than option B: Which would you rather... Read More
2016—What a year. If I had told you on New Year’s Eve 2015 that over the year upcoming we would see the U.S. market’s worst start to any calendar year ever; a surprise Brexit vote that shocked the financial markets; and a President-Elect Trump, how would you have invested your money over the next twelve months? I'm guessing, a common... Read More
What’s your motivation for investing? Simply answering this question and keeping it top of mind will make you a better investor. So says a recent study by the CFA Institute and the State Street Center for Applied Research. Whether you’re a D.I.Y. investor, an individual working with an advisor, or a financial professional, understanding the motivation and purpose of individuals... Read More
*This article was originally published on the CFA Institute's Enterprising Investor blog. All great investors have one thing in common: the “ability to clearly communicate their [investment] philosophy,” Michael Batnick, CFA, observed. I agree. Whether hedge fund managers, value investors, or index aficionados, the best investment professionals are great communicators. But great investors, no matter their investing styles, share one other... Read More
If more information were the answer, we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs." Derek Sivers We live in a world with more information at our fingertips than previously thought possible. According to Google’s Eric Schmidt, “Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.” And as a result, many... Read More
The results of Tuesday’s presidential election were surprising to many and concerning to some, but they’ve left pretty much everyone asking: where do we go from here? In an attempt to answer this very natural question, we now have the very same pundits, prognosticators, and seers who couldn’t predict the outcome of the election lining up to tell us exactly... Read More
Barron’s recently published an article titled ‘Does Your Company Give You Stock? Great. Sell It.’ As our clients will know, this is our default advice when it comes to company stock. Sure, it makes sense to evaluate company stock holdings in light of your unique financial situation—maybe it makes sense to hold from a tax perspective or to fund future... Read More
