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- BNET Author Biography
Patrick McDevitt a pseudonym has spent over ten years working for one of the largest firms in the financial services industry. During his career, he's researched and written extensively about personal investing, the mutual fund industry, and financial services, contributing to a number of books and articles. In this role,...- more about Patrick McDevitt »
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- Where 'Stocks for the Long Run' Went Wrong
- The notion that stocks always trump other investments in the long run has run headlong into reality. Thanks to the recent market massacre, over the 20 years that ended February 2009, Treasury bonds significantly outperformed the S&P 500. How to readjust... In 1994 Jeremy Siegel wrote the best-selling book Stocks...
- Articles 2009-03-19
- Questions About the Huge BlackRock/Barclays Deal
- This past week BlackRock agreed to acquire Barclays Global Investors BGI from the British banking firm Barclays. The new firm will manage $2.7 trillion in assets, making BlackRock by far the largest asset manager on the planet. The price tag? A staggering $13.5 billion. Barclays will retain a 20 percent...
- Blog posts 2009-06-22
- Evergreen Investment Management to Fund Shareholders: Drop Dead
- It's only June, but we have a very strong leader in the clubhouse for the smarmiest mutual fund manager of the year. Take a bow Evergreen Investment Management. Â There's really only one word that can be used to describe people who engaged in the sorts of activities Evergreen is accused...
- Blog posts 2009-06-15
- Bad Fund Picking Advice from Barron's
- There was an interesting article on the Barron's website this past week. In it, Randall Forsyth wrote that after examining the most recent three-, five-, and ten-year returns for the 40 largest mutual funds, "one is struck in finding [that] so few underperformed [the Vanguard 500 Index Fund.]" ...
- Blog posts 2009-06-08
- First Pacific's Bob Rodriguez Has Strong Words for His Peers
- The mutual fund industry needs more people in it like Bob Rodriguez -- the manager of FPA Capital and FPA New Income -- and his speech at the Morningstar conference last week showed why. In his remarks, Rodriguez had sharp words for the mutual fund industry's performance...
- Blog posts 2009-06-01
- Are Mutual Fund Expenses Really Falling?
- The Investment Company Institute ICI -- the mutual fund industry's trade group -- just published a new research paper examining mutual fund expenses. Their conclusion? "Mutual fund fees and expenses fell to their lowest levels in more than a quarter century in 2008." It sounds wonderful, of course. But it's...
- Blog posts 2009-05-25
- Active Managers and Bear Markets: Don't Believe the Hype
- The mutual fund industry has trotted out a number of anti-indexing arguments in the 34 years since John Bogle launched the first index fund in 1975. They're un-American; investors won't be happy with "average" returns; it's a stock-pickers' market; it's not hard to find a successful mutual fund manager. One...
- Blog posts 2009-05-18
- Is Your Target Date Fund Missing the Mark?
- Target date funds have been getting a lot of attention lately, and not all of it is good. Part of the attention stems from their growing popularity. There were just 29 target date funds with total assets of $14 billion in 2002; today there are nearly 350, holding $150 billion...
- Blog posts 2009-05-11
- Fundamental Indexing: Checking In on the New Paradigm
- A few years ago, I met a former colleague for lunch. He had just come from a conference where he heard Research Affiliates' Rob Arnott describe his new "fundamental index" philosophy, and he was quite excited about it. For the uninitiated, Rob Arnott and Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel are...
- Blog posts 2009-05-04
- DWS Dreman High Return Equity Fund: All That Glitters Isn't Gold
- David Dreman is a rarity in the mutual fund industry -- he's a fund manager who has actually beaten his benchmark over the long term. Since 1988, his DWS Dreman High Return Equity Fund has earned 8.3 percent annually, slightly outpacing the Russell 3000 Value Index's eight percent return. Despite...
- Blog posts 2009-04-27
- Oppenheimer's Bond-Fund Blowup: Worse Than You Think
- Creating a successful investment program is difficult enough, but it's nearly impossible if your fund manager is taking risks that they're not clearly and candidly communicating to you. If those risks come home to roost, it could cost you dearly. by Patrick McDevitt
- Blog posts 2009-04-20
- Is Your Mutual Fund Ripping You Off?
- Do you find it hard to get worked up about a mere 0.5 percent in expenses on your mutual fund? If so, you're playing right into your fund manager's hands. But what you might not realize is that seemingly small differences expense ratios can lead to very large differences in...
- Blog posts 2009-04-13
- Richard Posner: Scourge of Excessive Mutual-Fund Fees
- Mutual fund investors may have a new hero. His name is Judge Richard Posner, and largely because of him, the Supreme Court will examine how mutual funds set their fees. This past summer, Posner wrote a strong dissent in the Jones v. Harris Associates case, roundly criticizing...
- Blog posts 2009-04-06
- Indexing's Most Overlooked Benefit: Consistent Returns
- Like the children of Lake Woebegon, all investors think they're above average -- in this case, at picking mutual funds. But they'd be better off in index funds, which have a secret weapon: slow but steady returns that can greatly outpace actively managed funds over the long run. by Patrick...
- Blog posts 2009-03-16
- Putnam's Absolute Return Funds: Same As It Ever Was
- Putnam's new Absolute Return funds aim to earn returns that outpace Treasury bills by one, three, five and seven percent respectively. Unfortunately, they seem more likely to follow in the footsteps of the vast majority of the mutual fund industry's other "innovations." by Patrick McDevitt
- Blog posts 2009-03-23
- If Advisers Are Fiduciaries, Fund Managers Might Be Next
- The mutual fund industry's trade group, the Investment Company Institute, broke with precedent last week when ICI president and CEO Paul Schott Stevens came out in support of of requiring all financial advisers to act as fiduciaries -- that is, to put their clients' financial interests ahead of their own....
- Blog posts 2009-03-30
- 9 Things Brokers Won't Tell You
- Can you trust your broker to be honest with you? Read these nine cautions to find out. ...
- Articles 2009-05-14
- Wrongheaded Advice from Kiplinger's Steve Goldberg
- I like Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. And I like Kiplinger.com columnist Steve Goldberg. I think both do a pretty good job helping investors navigate their way through the thickets of the financial world. Perhaps Steve was just trying to be outlandish this week. Or maybe he had a hard time...
- Blog posts 2009-06-29
Additional Resources
- James A. McDevitt.(Obituaries)(Obituary)
- James A. McDevitt of Palatine A memorial Mass for James A. McDevitt, 82, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, March 18, 2005, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Harvard. Burial will be private. Born Sept. 3, 1922, in Canada, he passed away Tuesday, ...
- Research articles 2005-03-16
- Peter Bernstein: 'Always Ask: What If I'm Wrong?'
- Legendary financial markets historian Peter Bernstein says we've moved into a "dysfunctional financial structure" where nothing is working right and all market theories need a vigorous reexamination. More than ever, he says, it's important to ask yourself: What if I'm wrong?... Born in 1919, economist, author, and investment adviser Peter...
- Articles 2009-03-09
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