CLS Blog
Heading East
August 13, 2015
Content provided by Robyn Murray, Freelance Writer Gene Frerichs and his dad, Howard, practice catch and release with injured hawks – 1993 Gene Frerichs grew up on a farm in Ogallala, a town of about 4,600 people in western Nebraska – descendants of Old West cattle drivers, who trekked from Texas to the Union Pacific railhead,…
Budgeting and Retirement
August 11, 2015
Content provided by Kostya Etus, CLS Associate Portfolio Manager Retirement marks the beginning of a permanent vacation. Something very near and dear to most people’s hearts. Although I know there are some out there who want to work until they aren’t able, the majority of us want to retire early. What many don’t realize, however,…
All’s Well That Ends Well
August 6, 2015
Content provided by Robyn Murray, Freelance Writer Kostya Etus, age 7, pictured in Russia two years before he immigrated to the U.S. Kostya Etus grew up in Soviet Russia – in Novosibirsk, an industrial city set on the banks of the Ob River. When he was nine, he and his family left for the United…
Grexhausting
August 4, 2015
Content provided by Grant Engelbart, CFA, CLS Portfolio Manager As the market has seemingly put the Greek crisis behind it for a couple of weeks, I might as well bring it back up! The media certainly hasn’t let it go. Financial news is still enamored with Greece. The country, whose economy is the size of…
Investing in Europe: The Kubie Family Vacation
July 31, 2015
Content provided by Scott Kubie, CFA, CLS Chief Strategist Scott Kubie, his wife Cherie and son Raef, outside the Tower of London. The Kubies have now been to Europe. Thanks to a sabbatical benefit, my family and I were able to take a 10-day trip to Europe in late June and early July. While the…
The First Step to Financial Success
July 17, 2015
Content provided by J.J. Schenkelberg, CFA, CLS Senior Portfolio Manager For the past several years, I have taught high school students at an investment camp hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Each year I am impressed by the interest these students show in their financial success. While the camp is free (UNO has…
Market Horror Picture Show
July 14, 2015
By Kostya Etus, CLS Associate Portfolio Manager I love watching movies. It is one of my favorite things to do in my spare time. I really enjoy all types of movies, and I will give almost any film a chance except for one genre: horror. I find horror films typically do not have well-developed plots,…
ETF Trends in the First Half of 2015
July 10, 2015
Content provided by Grant Engelbart, CFA, CLS Portfolio Manager How much have Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) grown so far this year? The quick answer is “tons” (TONS, ironically, is the ticker symbol of the ETF launched this year with the lowest assets). So far this year, 112 exchange-traded products have been launched, on pace to…
Emerging Market Divergence
July 8, 2015
Content provided by Sierra Morris-Fuchs, CLS Investment Research Analyst Emerging markets have shown favorable valuations and stronger global growth prospects recently, which have presented intriguing opportunities. But lumping these markets together as a single country or region can be quite deceiving. Instead, the emerging markets should be analyzed individually because their characteristics vary widely —…
The Other 40 Act Fund
July 2, 2015
Content provided by Joshua Jenkins, CLS Associate Portfolio Manager The ETF industry spends a substantial amount of time educating investors on the relative merits of the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) structure. In doing so, a comparison is typically made to a close relative, the open-end mutual fund. There is, however, another investment vehicle defined by…