Corporate Profits, Share Buybacks and the Booming US Stock
Market
Good Harvard Business Review piece: Profits Without Prosperity
by William Lazonick.
Lazonick observes:
“The allocation of
corporate profits to stock buybacks deserves much of the blame. Consider the
449 companies in the S&P 500 index that were publicly listed from 2003
through 2012. During that period those companies used 54% of their earnings—a
total of $2.4 trillion—to buy back their own stock, almost all through
purchases on the open market. Dividends absorbed an additional 37% of their
earnings. That left very little for investments in productive capabilities or
higher incomes for employees.”
Drastic Changes Coming to Financial Advising/Planning Industry
Vanguard Group is planning to radically alter the financial industry. According to a Jason Zweig piece (The Rise of Ultracheap Financial Advisers) in the WSJ:
“Vanguard is joining a
fast-growing trend toward delivering dirt-cheap financial advice online.
So-called robo-advisers such as Betterment and Wealthfront use computer models
to provide automated portfolio management for fees of around 0.25% of total
assets, or $25 per $10,000 invested.”
Caplers Axes Hedge Fund Portfolio
One of the biggest pension fund managers decides to ditch hedge funds:
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21618899-hiring-hedge-funds-was-never-going-make-pension-deficits-disappear-cant-pay
Caplers Axes Hedge Fund Portfolio
One of the biggest pension fund managers decides to ditch hedge funds:
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21618899-hiring-hedge-funds-was-never-going-make-pension-deficits-disappear-cant-pay