The Other 40 Act Fund

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… Continue reading The Other 40 Act Fund

What’s in a Name: Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

ETF or Exchange Traded Fund text on black block

Content provided by Case Eichenberger, CLS Client Portfolio Manager CLS is known in the financial industry as an experienced ETF strategist. We utilize these versatile investment tools every day. From trading to selecting and everything in between, ETFs are our specialty. We have written several helpful articles on the general nature of ETFs that can… Continue reading What’s in a Name: Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Chasing Disappointment

Content provided by Josh Jenkins, CLS Associate Portfolio Manager Last month, Portfolio Manager Grant Engelbart contributed to this blog, an entry titled Emotional Volatility. In it, Engelbart advocated a pragmatic approach to managing ones wealth. One that ignores the endless volume of market noise and the visceral and often illogical decisions it promotes.  Instead, he… Continue reading Chasing Disappointment

Emotional Volatility

Content provided by Grant Engelbart, CFA, CLS Portfolio Manager My father recently asked me about an email he received promoting a “special newsletter.”  You know the kind – “The Dow Will Plummet to 6,000! – subscribe now and save yourself!” These type of doomsayers have always been around, except they become particularly loud at points… Continue reading Emotional Volatility

The Value of International Investing

Content provided by J.J. Schenkelberg Lately, we have been talking a lot about the attractive relative valuation of international stocks versus the S&P 500.  We can see it in the earnings numbers and valuation reports.  But, I don’t think anything really brings to light the relative opportunity with international stocks like the charts below.  Pictures… Continue reading The Value of International Investing

Mid Caps vs. Large and Small Caps

Content provided by Scott Kubie, CLS Chief Strategist Small cap U.S. stocks have failed to keep pace with their large cap counterparts this year, by a wide margin. Through November 21, the Russell 2000 was up only 1.9%, while Russell’s large cap index, the Russell 200, was up 13.3%. The surprise this year has been… Continue reading Mid Caps vs. Large and Small Caps

Value Investing Works – But It’s Hard For a Variety of Reasons

Content provided by Rusty Vanneman, CLS Chief Investment Officer Why does value investing work? Simply put, the expected return for any investment is determined by the price you pay. For example, a great company could still be a bad investment if the price paid is too high. Conversely, a sub-par company could be a good investment… Continue reading Value Investing Works – But It’s Hard For a Variety of Reasons

Why is there a short position in my portfolio?

Content provided by J.J. Schenkelberg  ProShares Short S&P 500 ETF (SH) is a position we use in portfolios in order to obtain a targeted risk score with a diversified approach to the overall allocation. The year-to-date position has negative performance, but SH should not be looked at individually, it should be reviewed in the context of… Continue reading Why is there a short position in my portfolio?