Blog | marcikelsconsulting

Marc Ikels Consulting

Search

Hedge Funds: Not So Glamorous After All

Feb 22, 2017
7 min

Hedge Funds: Not So Glamorous After All

When thinking of elite investment vehicles, many people think of hedge funds. For the most part, hedge funds are largely unregulated because they cater to sophisticated investors. In the U.S., laws require that the majority of investors in the fund be accredited. That is, they must earn a minimum amount of money annually and have a net worth of more than $1 million, along with a significant amount of investment knowledge. You can think of hedge funds as mutual funds for the r

Investor Overconfidence: Are You Better Than Average?

Feb 15, 2017
5 min

Investor Overconfidence: Are You Better Than Average?

Image Source: Pinterest You probably answered yes. If you asked a room of people, an overwhelming majority will answer the same. This is as the “illusionary superiority” [1]. While it is normal for us as people to overestimate our own abilities, this can be disastrous when it comes to our financial health. People who are overconfident will tend to trade more, follow financial media and herd mentality, and ignore lessons from previous mistakes. Trading too much will cause a d

Do Active Funds Outperform the Market? (Part II)

Jan 25, 2017
2 min

Do Active Funds Outperform the Market? (Part II)

We’ve talked about the different types of mutual funds. Historical performance shows that it doesn’t matter what type of mutual fund an investor holds, one cannot consistently outperform the market. Now we’ll look at the best ranked mutual funds and managers, regardless of the fund type. Morningstar So what about Morningstar? One of the most common ways for individual investors to select mutual funds is by their Morningstar rating. Christopher B. Philips and Francis M Kinniry

Do Mutual Funds Outperform the Market? (Part I)

Jan 18, 2017
4 min

Do Mutual Funds Outperform the Market? (Part I)

Image Source In the world of investing, people are always in search of managers who will deliver alpha, or returns above the appropriate risk-adjusted benchmark. This search revolves around two competing theories. Are markets efficient or inefficient? If markets are inefficient, skilled investors can find pricing errors and consistently beat the market. Through stock selection and market timing, they perform the art of active trading to beat the market. The competing theory i