Meir Statman's Blog

Santa Clara University, my university, is a Catholic, Jesuit University, and its endowment fund follows its values: the sacredness of life, human rights, opposition to discrimination, opposition to nuclear weapons, and protection of the environment. We want our university’s endowment to earn high returns to support our students, faculty and staff. Do we sacrifice investment [...]

Should money funds be allowed to continue to price their shares by “buck” accounting, whereby the price of each share is fixed at one dollar? Or should they be compelled to price them by “mark-to-market” accounting, common to all other mutual funds, whereby changes in the market value of shares move their prices higher or [...]

Few of us like paying taxes and most of us have blueprints for ideal tax systems in which we pay less. The message we send to our elected officials was summarized succinctly by Senator Russell B. Long: “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree!” Our distaste for taxes can be [...]

Charles Schwab’s YieldPlus funds promised returns higher than those of bonds at only slightly higher risk. Schwab classified the funds as ultrashort bond funds yet their holding were concentrated in mortgage backed securities which were decimated in the financial crisis. The story of YieldPlus is only one example of the sad consequences of investors’ perennial [...]

Thanks to Kees Koedijk and Alfred Slager for this guest post. Visit their blog here. Top 10 stocks and funds to invest in for 2011 circulate widely. It���s a recurring theme with a predictable storyline at the end of the year. The analyst: ���Well, we indicated that stock XYZ should be the best performing one […]

Thanks to Kees Koedijk and Alfred Slager for this guest post. Visit their blog here. Top 10 stocks and funds to invest in for 2011 circulate widely. It’s a recurring theme with a predictable storyline at the end of the year. The analyst: “Well, we indicated that stock XYZ should be the best performing one [...]

Are you wondering what’s next in 2011? McGraw-Hill Professional the publisher of my book What Investors Really Want asked a few of their authors (including me) what we think the New Year will bring. They then collected these ideas and predictions into a thought-leadership e-Book, aptly titled What’s Next 2011 that covers the business outlook [...]

Thanks to all those who agreed to host me on my blog tour! Susan B. Weiner’s Blog on Investment Writing Fisher Financial Strategies Canadian Capitalist The Rational Walk Global Economic Intersection Women on the Move Money Science Independent Investor Financial Tales Portfolioist Canadian Dream: Free at 45 Canadian Finance Blog Gen X Finance Investment Beliefs [...]

We want freedom from the fear of poverty, yet we also want hope for riches. Government provides the first in Social Security and the second in lotteries. Social Security benefits alleviate some of our fear of poverty, and lottery tickets carry some hope for riches. The Deficit Panel, chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, [...]