I hate criticising the CFA Institute because, as a charterholder, I end up inadvertently bashing myself. Still, the organization’s historical commitment to the Efficient Market theories has always been frustrating to me. The CFA Institute counts among its members some of the brightest minds in finance…yet much of its curriculum supports a theory that has been proven time and again in the real world to be patently false and unrealistic. Belief in the efficiency of markets given the series of meltdowns over the past decade is almost as crazy as continuing to believe in communism as an economic model given the failure of the Soviet Union. Read the rest of this entry »

“Millions of Americans have trimmed expenses because they have  had their jobs or hours cut, or fear they will.  But a subset of savers are reducing costs not just with purpose but with relish.  These are the gleefully frugal.” 

From “Austere Times?  Perfect,” New York Times, April 11, 2009 

We should always remember that economics is not, much to the chagrin of quantitative economists, a natural science.  It’s a social science.  And social sciences are not based on hard, quantifiable data; they are based on the rather fickle whims and moods of people, particularly crowds of people.   Read the rest of this entry »