How to discuss index and portfolio returns: My case against synonyms for “return”
How many ways can you say “returned” when writing about indexes and portfolios? This question seems to eat at many investment and marketing professionals. I’m delighted that writers of market and portfolio performance commentary seek to make their writing more lively for their readers. I know that’s why they’re asking about synonyms for the verb […]
Seven tips for slogging through blogging: Lessons from the Blogathon
“How can I force myself to blog regularly?” The investment and wealth managers in my blogging classes often ask this question. I grappled with this challenge during the 2010 Word Count Blogathon, for which I committed to post daily. And now I’m participating in the 2014 Blogathon. So this is a good time for me […]
Blogging Q&A with David Merkel of Aleph Blog
I met investment manager David Merkel when he contacted me about speaking to Baltimore’s CFA Society. I’ve noticed that his Aleph Blog posts frequently get picked up in investment blogs’ roundups, including Tadas Viskanta’s Abnormal Returns. Having met many people who blog in the hope of attracting clients, I was intrigued by David’s statement on […]
A case against writing outlines
I’m not a big fan of outlines. I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation using outlines. Perhaps that’s partly why the process felt like such a struggle. Since then, I’ve shifted from outlining to mind mapping. Here’s what Donald Murray, author of Writing to Deadline: The Author at Work, says about outlines: …I found that formal outlines […]
Perennially popular posts and top posts from the fourth quarter 2013
Some posts are perennial favorites on my blog. You’ll find a partial list below, based on traffic in the fourth quarter of 2013. Perennial favorites Looking at the list, it seems that most of their traffic comes from Google searches. “Ideal quarterly investment letters” is probably an exception because I share this post often. Poll: […]