It's election time here in the United Staes, so it's appropriate to cite a few of our presidents. America's 37th president (Richard Nixon) is often recalled for his "let me make this perfectly clear" line. Our 42nd president (Bill Clinton) didn't use the term "clear,"...
Performance Perspectives Blog
Thoughts on performance measurement from David Spaulding and other members of our team.
Money- versus time-weighitng: let me be very clear
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Just because the return or risk formula seems to make sense doesn’t mean it’s valid
TSG offers Operational Reviews and Software Certifications, both of which expose us to formulas that firms put into use. Sometimes, they are variations of formulas that have been around for years; but occasionally, they're brand new; ones the clients developed...
“Technology Training Can Be A Boon To Productivity”
This post's headline comes from a book by the late Chet Holmes. It's doubtful, very doubtful, that anyone would disagree with such a statement. Our firm provides several training courses, but nothing that deals specifically with technology ... well, this...
Smoothing and geometric attribution
Carl Bacon, CIPM, when asked to contrast geometric and arithmetic attribution, will no doubt point out the chief advantages geometric offers:Proportional: the active return is a ratio, not a difference, as we find with arithmetic. Convertible: the active return is...
Personal rates of return … what are they, really?
I am home this week, working on my doctoral dissertation proposal, and need references to cite for a "personal rate of return." And so, like any good researcher, I began with a "Google search," and found the "Finance guy's" blog, which has a post on this...
The use and misues of statistics, part II
It was just yesterday that I commented on a WSJ article that spoke of the potential misuse of statistics. And today, in this very paper, on the top of page B1 we read the headline "BMW's 'Demo' Sales Boost Results." The article speaks of how BMW reported a sale of...
The use and misuse of statistics
In today's WSJ, William McGurn has an article on John James Cowperthwaite ("Go for Bust, Mr. Romney"), which provides some background into Hong Kong's phenomenal success (he cites, for example, the rise in per capita income relative to Great Britain: it was 28% of...
Another victory for money-weighting!
The United States Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently introduced new provisions that call for the reporting of money-weighting rates of return, using the internal rate of return (IRR).The new provision, Statement No. 67 of the Governmental...
Internet Tips & Tricks
This month's TSG webinar will be on Monday, August 27, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM EST, and it will be a bit different. Titled Internet Tips & Tricks, it will provide you with some interesting insights into better ways to improve your Internet experience!The webinar...
GIPS Survey 2012
TSG has announced that it is conducting a survey on the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS(R)). This marks the eighth time we've conducted a survey on the presentation standards, starting with the AIMR-PPS in 1993. This makes our firm the leader in...