ITA Wealth Management

With over 600 entries on this blog, how does one go about finding the essential information. While I would like to think all entries are informative and useful, I know that is not the case. Interests differ for different investors. Here are a few suggestions.

• To get to the beginning to the blog, do a search for “Clowes” and then scroll to the bottom of the page.
• On the right-hand side of the blog page, you will find different categories. One place to start is to click on Beginning Investors. Then go to the oldest post and read from oldest to most recent. Unfortunately, this software does not permit me to reverse the order of the dates. The oldest posts begin on February 14th, 2008.
• The second hint is to use the Search option found in the upper right-hand corner of every entry page. Search for items such as “Asset Allocation”, “Swensen”, “Surz”, and “Ibbotson & Associates”.
• Two other recommended searches are Portfolio Construction and Portfolio Management. Note that any search for the recommended items will also bring up this entry.
• To find the very first entry for a particular category, one needs to scroll to the bottom of the page and see if there is a “Next Page” option. If there is, click on it and keep doing this until you are at the very beginning of a particular category.

From time to time I will post a review of the philosophy of this blog. Setting up an investment plan is something you will see me write over and over again. Follow “The Golden Rule of Investing.” When you begin to doubt your investment plan, click on the Research category and review that material.

This blog emphasizes index investing vehicles over individual stocks, although stocks are not entirely eliminated. Stocks should not take priority, particularly in asset classes were you, the investor, are not skilled in making such selections. ETFs are highly recommended over actively managed mutual funds. Value equities takes slight precedence over growth equities. International markets need to be part of the portfolio mix as do REITs. We consider emerging markets to be a separate asset class from international. When we speak of international, we are talking about developed countries or regions such as Japan and Europe.

As an aid in finding particularly useful material, search for the following: Ibbotson, Brinson, Fama-French, Bernstein, Golden Rule of Investing, and Gibson. Many of these searches will bring up the same pages.

Take your time to read the material. The entries are not long so the total amount of reading is not all that daunting. Enjoy the photographs.

The Premium Content is now a pay-to-read blog of investment information. Some material that was once here in the original blog will now be found in the Premier section.

Lowell Herr

Photograph: Entering main port that services Rome, Italy