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Hard Lessons from an ETF Entrepreneur

I’ve learned some very hard lessons about building a business around ETFs.  I’m sharing them here so that they can help other ETF innovators.

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7 Reasons to Consider AlphaClone

Do you believe that active management has the potential to add value in your portfolio?  If the answer is “yes”, then here are 7 reasons you should consider AlphaClone. 1.  Unfettered manager access Some of the world’s most skilled managers... more »

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How to Improve Morningstar’s Star Ratings

In October 2017, the Wall Street Journal published an article largely critical of Morningstar’s Star-Rating system.  The now infamous piece, “The Morningstar Mirage”, was well researched and written by seasoned journalists Kirsten Grind, Tom McGinty and Sarah Krouse.  Its main... more »

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The 9% Riddle That Could Hurt Your Retirement Portfolio

If you’re a market index investor retiring in the next 10 to 15 years, you could be in trouble and not even know it.   If you can solve this riddle, you’ll understand why: Two investors; A and B Both begin... more »

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AlphaClone & the Optimum Portfolio

This article focuses on the AlphaClone Hedge Fund Masters Index in the context of constructing the optimum portfolio.  When building an optimum portfolio, the objective is to figure out the portfolio weights across different asset classes that achieve a specific... more »

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AlphaClone Index vs Peers

As of August 31, 2021 Over the prior 44 months, the AlphaClone Hedge Fund Master Index (ALFMIX or “AlphaClone Index”) has outperformed its peers and the overall market. Our analysis period is as of the first full month the AlphaClone... more »

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Clone Score – How We Pick Managers

Moneyball for Hedge Funds If you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you know that our Clone Score methodology is at the heart of our manager selection process.  The best analogy for our process to think about a manager’s score... more »

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The Market Gamble – It Doesn’t Look Good for Today’s Investor

The S&P 500 has returned 10% annualized over the five years ended 6/30/2018 (13% if you include dividends). Those are great returns especially when you put them into context. The number of 5-year investment windows between 12/1949 and 6/2018 that... more »

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Capital Destruction: Drawdowns vs Downside Deviations

If you had to choose between experiencing drawdowns and experiencing downside deviations, which would you prefer?   Anyone working in product development in asset management will tell you downside deviations are 10x as bad as drawdowns. Let’s define each so we’re... more »

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Winning the Long Game – Introducing Mirror Portfolios

Once again this year, Warren Buffett has included investment advice for individual and, new this year, large institutional investors in his annual shareholder letter.  The advice is simple – “stay away from active managers and their high fees and instead... more »

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Is Alpha Dead?

Is the persistent decline in active managers' ability to generate excess returns permanent or simply a function of the current environment?

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The Fast Money Takes It Slow

We take a definitive look at hedge fund holding periods. We analyze holding periods for all Form 13F disclosed securities as well as for those held with high conviction. We also look at whether the length of a manager’s holding... more »