Brad Carroll

When investing in stock market indexes, it’s important to understand how different indexes are weighted. The weighting method affects index performance, investor returns, and exposure to various types of risk. There are three primary methods for weighting stocks within an index: 1. Price-Weighted Indexes Price-weighted indexes assign greater influence to stocks with higher share prices, …

How Stock Market Indexes Are Weighted: Price, Value, and Equal Weighting Explained Read More »

Traditionally, U.S. stocks have been like that one loyal friend you always kept in your local circle, while international stocks were the adventurous pals you kept around for a bit of excitement (and a splash of diversification). But with the world becoming more connected, the U.S. stock market has gotten a serious passport upgrade! This …

Are U.S Equities now Global? Read More »

Jeff Desjardins of Visual Capitalist published an online article in October, 2016 titled “9 black swan events that changed finance forever.” Let’s examine 3 of these Black Swan Events to illustrate the benefit of a Black Swan hedge strategy on a conventional asset allocation portfolio. The DOTCOM Crash of 2001. Leading tech giants placed large …

Managing Black Swans Read More »

Black Swan events are those that come by surprise and are a deviation from what is normal. Originally a Latin expression, it was believed that black swans did not exist, until the first one was seen in the wild, and then came to mean extremely rare.  It was popularized by philosopher/author/professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and …

What is a Black Swan Event? Read More »