Business Commons^™

Are Etfs Good Or Bad?, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Like many questions, the right answer is probably, "it depends." Whether ETFs are the best investment vehicle for a particular person likely depends on their goals and needs. However, with trillions of dollars being held by ETFs, their size has necessitated a broader discussion of their merits. This is particularly true in light of recent pricing issues where ETFs traded well below their NAV (such as in August of this year, as well as during the "flash crash" in May 2010). See a good summary article here: WSJ.

Are Junk Bonds Signaling Trouble Ahead?, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

High-yield (or so-called junk) bonds are set to experience their first annual loss since the recent credit crisis. Because of the higher risk involved with these borrowers, they tend to be the first to experience trouble. Thus, many investors believe that they represent a leading indicator for overall market performance. If this is true, it could indicate trouble to come. See article here: WSJ.

Lower Minimum Investment, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Charles Schwab cut the initial minimum investment from $2,500 to $100 for most of the mutual funds on its Mutual Fund OneSource platform, which charges no transaction fees. At the same time, it cut the minimum for subsequent investments from $500 to $1. See article here, Financial Advisor Magazine.

Nyse To Stop "Stop Orders", Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

On August 24, many stocks fell by large percentages, only to recover shortly thereafter. Investors with standing stop-loss orders likely didn't fair well. And, in fact, many are blaming these orders for the volatility. The NYSE plans to eliminate stop orders, but brokerage firms can still facilitate these for their customers, as long as the final order is sent at market. See article here, Bloomberg.

Consumer Confidence Keeps Rising, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

According to a recent article from US News, consumer confidence is at an 8-year high. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the economy and markets in light of the negative impacts of international problems, particularly in China.

Circuit Breakers, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

The U.S. has had market-wide circuit breakers in place since the late 1980s, and individual stock circuit breakers were put in place more recently. Given the increasing volatility in Chinese markets, they are now following suit. See article here, Reuters.

Margin Loans, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Traditionally, margin loans were used by investors to allow them to buy additional shares of stock. Recently, however, many investors have used such loans as a simple way to borrow money for purchases outside their investment portfolio. Even so, they are still subject to margin calls should the value of the securities pledged as collateral fall. See article here, WSJ.

Early Recession Signs, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

In economics, leading indicators are believed to give a forecast of the direction of the economy. In a recent survey, the CFA Institute asked its members which early warning signs (or leading indicators) they follow.

Behavioral Biases, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

The CFA Institute recently conducted a member survey regarding which behavioral biases are most impactful.

Interest Rate Positioning, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Municipal bonds are a special type of bond that are particularly attractive to wealthy investors due to the tax benefits they provide. However, like other bonds, their prices will drop if interest rates rise. With many experts expecting the Fed to raise rates, bond managers are increasing cash holdings to position themselves for the impact of the rate increase. See article here, Reuters.

Financial Advisor Fee Structure, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Historically, most advisors earned their income based on commissions; however, to reduce churning and to better align interests with clients, most advisors have moved to a fee based platform, with many charging an annual fee of 1% of assets. Given the compounded impact of this cost over time, as well as the lack of value added, we may see another change, as some advisors are moving to a fee for service model. See article here, WSJ.

Triple Crown -- Does It Matter For The Market?, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

For the first time in 37 years, a horse (American Pharoah) has won the Triple Crown. The previous ten times this has happened, the stock market has lost an average of 9% over the remainder of the year. This adds to the expanding debate of Behavioral Finance vs. Market Efficiency.

Target Date Funds: Benefits And Disadvantages, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Target date (i.e., lifecycle) funds are increasing in popularity, particularly among unsophisticated investors. These funds provide key benefits, as they automatically rebalance through time and also generally limit return chasing. Given the dollar cost averaging effect, the result may also be a higher (dollar-weighted) average return. On the downside, the target date funds may choose underlying funds in each category that benefit the fund family more than the investor. However, for most investors, the benefits would generally outweigh the potential disadvantages. See article here, WSJ.

China Cuts Interest Rates, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

In an attempt to spur growth, the People's Bank of China (i.e., the Chinese central bank) recently cut interest rates. As a result, the Chinese stock market rose another 3 percent. See article here, Yahoo.

Exponential Growth Bias Matters: Evidence And Implications For Financial Decision Making Of College Students In The U.S.A., Bryan Foltice, Thomas Langer

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

This paper tests the exponential growth bias of undergraduate students at a top-level university in the United States and explores the potential drivers of this bias. We find that bias matters, even for college students, in making savings and debt decisions. In this sample, we observe that the individuals who have already taken on debt are more biased, while those who have experience with savings products are less biased. Moreover, those classified as possessing an awareness of compound growth as well as an ability to consistently calculate the compound savings equation are significantly less biased in different savings treatments than …

How To Decrease The Amortization Bias: Experience Vs. Rules, Bryan Foltice

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

We conduct an experimental study that tests the effectiveness of de-biasing a certain form of exponential growth bias found in household finance debt decisions, called the amortization bias. We provide 251 bachelor students at a German university with a short tutorial based on one of three learning methods: experiential learning, learning a simple “I Owe More” debt rule-of-thumb, as well as learning an extended, but more accurate version of the “I Owe More” debt rule. Immediately after completing these tutorials, we retest for the amortization bias and find a significant bias improvement in all three treatments. More importantly, after confronting …

Battle Of The Sexes, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

As this recent WSJ article points out, men and women approach investing differently. The best investors may be those who are able to capture the "best of both worlds."

Here's A Good "Tips", Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS, offer investors a lower coupon rate; however, in exchange, investors receive protection against the negative impact of inflation. Higher inflation leads to a loss in purchasing power, as well as higher interest rates, which reduce bond prices. The inflation protection offered by TIPS offsets these impacts by increasing the face value (called the accrued principal) in line with inflation, meaning that periodic coupon payments rise with inflation, as does the return of principal at maturity. See this Bloomberg article for a discussion of why TIPS are back in favor.

Etf Trading, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

ETFs are designed to track a particular underlying index. As these "baskets" of securities are traded, excessive demand or supply of shares can cause a disparity between the price of the ETF and the underlying value of securities held. However, because of the ability of large institutions to trade directly with the ETF firm to create and redeem shares, arbitrage keeps prices in line. See article here, WSJ.

Apple Added To The Dow, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

The DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) is an index of 30 companies that are picked to represent the broad economy. As this Fox Business article notes, Apple is replacing AT&T in the index. Given that Apple is the largest company by market cap, why is Apple just now entering the index? The answer is that the Dow is price-weighted, so Apple's recent 4:1 split brought the price low enough, such that it would not unduly influence the overall index movement.

Warren Buffet Criticizes Money Managers, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Warren Buffet, a pillar of active management, suggests that most investors are best served by investing in passive index funds. This is primarily due to the high fees charged by managers, particularly those in hedge funds. See article here, Yahoo.

Blog Central, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

For those looking for some additional investing blogs to follow, here is a list of the "20 Best Investing Blogs of 2015."

Volatility Adds Risk For Market Orders, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

With a market order, trades transact at the current market price. With increased high frequency trading, more and more stocks are seeing dramatic swings in prices within a short time period. Such swings add risk for market orders, as investors may get a price vastly different from what they had expected. In such cases, limit orders may be useful to minimize price risk. See article here, WSJ.

2 Days, $1 Million, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Options allow investors to generate higher levels of returns (and losses) as compared to taking positions directly in the stocks that the options are derived from. For example, a recent MSN article discusses a trader that purchased $1.7 million worth of call options on AMAT. The stock price increased 5% in two days, resulting in a profit of $1.4 million, which is an 82% return.

International Investing, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Investing is a global activity, so there is often very little difference with regard to many activities (such as how margin works, order types, etc.). The biggest difference, however, is the possible impact of currency on returns. One argument is that currency fluctuations reduce return correlations, so they should not be hedged within a portfolio. Others, however, have recently turned to currency hedged investments to protect against the rising dollar when invested in foreign assets. See article here, Yahoo.

Investing In Sin....., Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Socially conscious investing has attracted numerous followers, and this has precipitated the development of many socially conscious mutual funds. In contrast, other investors have taken an alternative approach, opting for so-called "sin funds." As this WSJ article points out, these sin funds have actually performed quite well over the last 10 years.

Growth In Etf Assets Continues, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Given the advantages of liquid trading and lower management fees, ETFs continue to add assets. As a recent Wall Street Journal article discusses, US ETF assets surpassed $2 Trillion and more asset managers are rolling out ETFs.

Curtain Call Executive Services, Steven D. Dolvin

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

This case would be considered a critical incident, as it focuses on one primary issue – the valuation of a private equity investment in the underlying business. I have constructed the case based on consulting work I completed for the actual company, as they needed a valuation model for accounting purposes. So, all data, including the legal characteristics, are obtained directly from the company. However, for confidentiality reasons, the name of the firm has been changed.

This case itself concerns the valuation of an investment by a private equity firm in a mid-market business. The student must evaluate and understand …

Spend Now Or Spend Later: The Role Of A Business Education And Critical Thinking Skills In Increasing Retirement Plan Saving Rates For New, Young Enrollees, Priscilla Arling, Jill Kirby, Kegan Saajasto

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

For college graduates entering the workforce, contributing to an employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan can be an important way of saving for the future. However, contribution rates for young people in these plans are far below recommended percentages, leading to concerns about future financial stability for these individuals. Prior work has shown that a college student’s major and academic coursework affect their general financial knowledge. However, little is known about what content within a course of study correlates with specific financial decisions. The decision of how much to save in a 401(k) plan is complex and requires thinking beyond a present-day …

Profitable Momentum Trading Strategies For Individual Investors, Bryan Foltice, Thomas Langer

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

For nearly three decades, scientific studies have explored momentum investing strategies and observed stable excess returns in various financial markets. However, the trading strategies typically analyzed in such research are not accessible to individual investors due to short selling constraints, nor are they profitable due to high trading costs. Incorporating these constraints, we explore a simplified momentum trading strategy that only exploits excess returns from topside momentum for a small number of individual stocks. Building on US data from the New York Stock Exchange from July 1991 to December 2010, we analyze whether such a simplified momentum strategy outperforms the …