Wealth Manager

September 2006

Rare coins are a hobby, but are they a good investment? Yes, says
one investment strategist with the numbers to back up his claim.

By James Picerno

The quest for superior risk-adjusted portfolio returns knows no bounds in the 21st century. Investors routinely look beyond the traditional mix of stocks, bonds and cash. Commodities, hedge funds and private equity are among the more popular choices
in the search for alternative asset classes. The amorphous category
of art and collectibles is also gaining attention. Does that mean that
rare coins are worthy of a spot in strategic asset allocation?

October 2006

A new mutual fund redefines hedge
fund investing for the masses

By James Picerno

Geronimo Financial is a small money manager with a big idea:
Tear down the barriers for hedge fund investing. Not just a little,
but all the way. A tall order, to be sure, but one that Geronimo
claims it offers with a recently launched mutual fund, the Geronimo
Multi-Strategy Fund (GeronimoFunds.com).

October 2006



A new tool measures the true cost of active management.
The results are enlightening, but not necessarily pretty.

By James Picerno

The life of a middling manager isn’t getting any easier,
especially if he charges a premium. An ever-growing assortment of
software and analytical metrics enhance transparency in the money
game, helping investors shine a light on the mediocre funds that
aren’t shy about levying high fees. The latest addition to the clarity-
boosting arsenal is the active expense ratio (AER), a quantitative
gauge devised by Ross Miller, a professor of finance at the State University of New York at Albany and president of Miller Risk Advisors.

November 2006

What’s the investment outlook? Here’s what one veteran consultant is telling clients.

By James Picerno

What’s past is prologue, Shakespeare wrote, although the
Bard never had to test his theory with an investment forecast.
If he had, he would have discovered the hard way that history
can mislead when it comes to searching the past for clues about
the future of risk and return. Looking at, say, a simple average
equity performance for the past 20 years is hopelessly naive for
projecting what awaits in the next 20. Yet for all its flaws, the past
is still a building block for modeling future performance of asset
classes for the simple reason that history carries some information
about the future. Nonetheless, an enlightened strategist
recognizes yesteryear’s limits along with its insights, and adjusts
his outlook accordingly.

December 2006

A new breed of multi-asset class mutual funds offers an intriguing update on an old idea.

By James Picerno

Asset Allocation tends to be a do-it-yourself enterprise for
wealth managers. But as multi-asset class funds become more sophisticated,
some advisors are reconsidering off-the-shelf asset allocation
funds, particularly those structured as a mutual fund of funds.

December 2006

A new study reminds that recurring economic and
monetary cycles drive stock market booms and busts.

By James Picerno

Low inflation and strong economic growth fuel equity
bull markets. But the process also works in reverse, and so the
seeds are sown for bear markets when conditions turn hostile on
the economic and inflation fronts. That’s hardly the best-kept secret
in finance, but it’s a history lesson worth revisiting with equities
recently climbing a wall of inflation and recession worries.