By: CFA Institute Contributor

These are articles written by professionals for investment professionals. They are contributions from external subject matter experts who do not work for CFA Institute, but may be a CFA charterholder as well as a member of a CFA Society. All are experts in their field and strive to deliver useful insights that help investment professionals make better decisions.

Investing’s first principles and why the discounted cash flow model remains an absolute necessity

February 9, 2022

I couldn’t sleep. I knew something was wrong. The numbers just didn’t make sense. For years, pipeline energy analysts seemed to be adjusting their valuation models for pipeline master limited partnership (MLP) stocks in order to explain what was happening to the price. But why? Why adjust the models for one set of companies and [...]
It’s a myth that ETFs are eating the world

February 2, 2022

‘Software is eating the world’: so wrote the US venture capitalist Marc Andreessen back in 2011. From today’s perspective, with companies like Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta dominating the stock markets, Andreessen’s observation seems to have held up. Had BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink made similar comments about exchange-traded funds (ETFs) 11 years ago, he likewise [...]
How to master social media: Five tips for writing well

January 25, 2022

Following the topic started in a previous article, here on City AM’s CFA Institute Talk, mentioning that whatever you write on social media, it is important to write it well, Eric Sim now shares some critical lessons on how to do that. When I was 14, I failed an important English literature exam at my [...]
How to make social media work for you

January 18, 2022

As the most-followed CFA charterholder on LinkedIn, Eric Sim, CFA, has expertly leveraged social media to connect with other professionals, build his personal brand and advance his career. Here he explains how to make social media work for you. Your internal brand is essentially what people in your organisation think about you. It’s usually set [...]
Inclusive leadership: Seven keys to a 21st-century skill

January 4, 2022

“When everyone is included, everyone wins.” “Inclusion is not a matter of political correctness. It is the key to growth.” The long-time US civil rights activist, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, is often quoted on the subject of inclusion and these two particular axioms of his are becoming more relevant to business leaders with every passing [...]
China’s Evergrande: not so grand financial statements?

December 15, 2021

Evergrande Group is the latest listed company to unexpectedly find itself on the verge of bankruptcy. When businesses are thrust into public view for the wrong reasons, my first thought is always whether trouble could have been coming. To see if the Chinese property development giant’s travails could have been anticipated, I looked at its [...]
Getting schooled in risk: The lessons of poker

November 30, 2021

Getting rich slowly in the markets is an achievable goal. Just find the risks that everyone else irrationally hates right now. That’s the one that is available at the right price and will yield good returns. Now, while it’s simple, it’s not easy. Winning the gold medal in the 100 metres is simple – just [...]
Reading financial news: The top 10 avoidable distractions

November 16, 2021

If you’re like me, you’re bombarded daily by financial news that screams for your attention. But a lot of what we read is either irrelevant, shallow, or incomplete and hence misleading and distracting from an investment perspective. I’ve identified the top 10 distractions, the kind of stories that have no value or insight and can be easily [...]
Keeping an eye on gender lens investing and women in leadership

November 2, 2021

Gender lens equity investing developed from a substantive body of research demonstrating the financial, risk management, decision-making and other corporate benefits of higher levels of women in leadership. In our coverage universe at Parallelle Finance, 27 gender lens global and regional equity funds are available to individual investors. Their assets under management (AUM) totalled $3.47 [...]
Passive funds and ‘Do no harm’ are not synonymous

October 26, 2021

Some very black-and-white and reductive opinions about the prudence of active management have been making the rounds in the investment world of late. For example, in Defined Contribution Plans: Challenges and Opportunities for Plan Sponsors, from the CFA Institute Research Foundation, Jeffery Bailey, CFA, and Kurt Winkelmann state that an investment committee’s first responsibility is to “do [...]

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