I'm in Hong Kong this week, teaching both our Fundamentals of Performance and Performance Attribution classes. While teaching the risk section of Fundamentals, I was explaining the characteristics of Value at Risk (VaR), and how, when one defines the confidence level...
Performance Perspectives Blog
Thoughts on performance measurement from David Spaulding and other members of our team.
VaR (Value at Risk) is bounded … risk isn’t
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Sandra Hahn Colbert
It is with the deepest of regrets that I inform you of the passing of our very dear friend and colleague, Sandra Hahn Colbert. We just learned that Sandra died yesterday, July 21. Some details regarding the funeral arrangements are below. We have known Sandra for...
Risk and numbers … not always so perfect together
In this weekend's WSJ there's an article titled "Risk Is Never a Strict Numbers Game." Well, you know I had to take a look. It comes from "The Norm Chronicles: Stories of Numbers About Danger and Death," by Bastland and Spiegalhalter. On the surface, this would appear...
Why it only makes sense to show rates of return (unless they’re pretty awful)
Jason Zweig wrote an article this past weekend in The Wall Street Journal, which also appears on his blog. It's getting a lot of attention. The CFA Institute's Facebook page links to it, First Rate has a page that recaps it, and several of us have posted a link on...
William Sharpe, PhD: Nobel Prize Winner & Performance & Risk Measurement Hall of Fame Inductee!
My wife, Betty, and I visited Bill Sharpe yesterday at his home in Carmel, CA, to present him his Performance & Risk Measurement Hall of Fame award. I was in the area this week for a meeting with a client (CalPERS), and so took advantage of the trip to meet with...
WSJ @ 125 years … and still going strong
If you're a regular reader of this blog or our newsletters, you know I am a big fan of celebrating anniversaries. I am pleased that The Wall Street Journal feels the same way. Today marks the 125th anniversary of the paper's start: QUITE a milestone. They celebrated...
Training vs. Degrees: training’s winning!
As reported by Inc. magazine, Glassdoor and market research firm Harris Interactive conducted a survey of 1,000 U.S. employees about degrees and training: "A large majority of respondents--82 percent--said that their undergraduate degree has, indeed, helped to boost...
Five most important things performance measurement professionals should know, part II
A few days ago I made reference to a webinar we recently conducted. I thought it might be helpful to simply provide the formulas here, which go along with the five things mentioned. Modified Dietz Geometric Linking Annualization Standard deviation This is the...
Taking a cue from Pensions & Investments
The May 26, 2014 issue of Pensions & Investments has an editorial titled "The advancement of a bad idea." It speaks of 11 European Commission member countries who are planning to introduce a financial transaction tax next year. That is not the subject of this blog...
The Five Things Every Performance Measurement Professional Must Know
Last night, I conducted a webinar for the Asia/Pacific region, which drew quite a large number of attendees. The session dealt with, as the title suggests, the five things we believe all performance measurement professionals need to know. Well, I'll reveal the list...