Performance Perspectives Blog

Thoughts on performance measurement from David Spaulding and other members of our team.

“the sort of precision that gave one confidence”

“the sort of precision that gave one confidence”

My son, Douglas, gave me Rules of Civility by Amor Towles for my birthday. And while I don't often read novels, the review in the WSJ painted it as a book I should read (it likened it to The Great Gatsby, and after finishing it I can see why). Given that performance...

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Taking advantage of “senior moments”

Taking advantage of “senior moments”

When I was an undergrad math major at Temple University, roughly 40 years ago, a professor, who was teaching a Numbers Theory course, mentioned that there were three things mathematicians should always remember: the Pythagorean Theorem, Fermat's Last Equation, and he...

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Seeing risk as an opportunity

Seeing risk as an opportunity

I'm sitting in the Lufthansa business class lounge, preparing to return home, after spending a few days in Budapest, Hungary, where we held our 51st meeting of The Performance Measurement Forum. The reading material includes the WSJ's European edition weekend edition,...

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Overselling time-weighting

Overselling time-weighting

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar frequently interjects jokes into his presentations. One deals with a Roman Catholic girl who was asked by her Baptist boyfriend to marry him. This occurred many years ago, when such “mixed marriages” were often frowned upon. When the...

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Bold predictions about the future can be haunting

Bold predictions about the future can be haunting

Dippin' Dots' claim of being the "ice cream of the future" appears to have been a bit aggressive, as it declared for bankruptcy.Granted, this bold statement was merely their tag line, and perhaps some could foresee ice cream actually universally becoming like their...

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Periodicity for risk statistics (and other measures)

Periodicity for risk statistics (and other measures)

A client recently asked about the appropriateness of reporting volatility and tracking error, for one and three month time periods, based on daily values. In addition, whether the results should be annualized. He was curious about the "best practices" for reporting...

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How to make your returns look better

How to make your returns look better

We've discovered a way to enhance performance, at least in the short term: if you have a portfolio begin late in the month, to make the monthly return look better, treat the return as if it was for the full month!What do we mean by this? Well, consider the Modified...

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Oldies … so, do you want us or not?

Oldies … so, do you want us or not?

This weekend's WSJ has two stories, reflecting opposite views.Michael M. Phillips' "The Old Soldier Who Didn't Fade Away" tells the story of a 59-year old U.S. Army staff sergeant who is currently deployed in Afghanistan. He has my admiration and appreciation for his...

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