Blog

Frank Boland
March 11, 2022

In the last century, one could walk into a building and see plant and equipment. That’s not possible in today’s knowledge/service-based economy. Assets are “soft,” even invisible. The result is that we are forced to trust the validity of published numbers. However, given the deceptions that occurred with Enron and WorldCom, we know it is risky...

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Frank Boland
February 09, 2022

A pale green Pontiac Bonneville had just pulled up to the front of my parent’s two family house. The car was a “monster.” It “dripped” of chrome and weighed in excess of 5,000 pounds. At the time, I was a 12 year-old caddy as was Peter Lynch. It was 1955 and that car was a major status symbol. The man who owned the Bonneville had been an army...

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Frank Boland
January 20, 2022

As you might recall, Cathie Wood’s ARK Disruptive Innovation fund was up an amazing 60% in 2020.  The S&P 500 was up 16% that year. Thus the fund outperformed the S&P 500 by 46%! Last year it was down 25% underperforming by 50%. But that’s not why I consider the actively managed ETF a hedge fund. It’s because it has the macro...

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Frank Boland
December 22, 2021

Bank of America recently published a chart showing the entire history of long-term interest rates. The piece was titled “The 5000-Year View of Rates & the Economic Consequences.” While not from the dawn of time, it is from the dawn of civilization starting in ancient Suma. The chart showed short- and long-term rates...

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During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.”

– Bernard Baruch