Jim Wiandt

While Financials Drag Markets Down, Five Ways to Stay in Play

Lots of comments here. On the market side, I agree with many of them...including the gold nut. I've got that in me, too. And MIGHT it be too early to start playing the equity side (even in the right places)? Yes. But I don't thing we're too far at this point.

On the APPALLING developments w/ our government pouring money into the public sector...it looks like I've struck a chord. Here's one post on the lilly-livered side, posted to our own indexuniverse.com site as a comment to my original article. THIS post IS conventional wisdom among economists, even most moderates (my response follows):

On Tuesday, 03 March 2009 Dennis said:
well, I agree with U, butt?
what's the alternative?
Meaning. we let them Go Bust
Millons more Get laid off, go on Not just Unemployment, but Welfare/Public Aid that will cost , they say about the same or more and Hundreds of Thousands of More Homes go Belly up..
and in perspective? At every $100 Billion per let's say 50 million taxpayers earning teh Ave of $50k Yr? cost about $2,000 Each..

Paying it off say over the next 5 yrs? With 5% Interest? Less than About $475 a Yr or 0.0095% of that $50k yr Income..

Now if that cost you that to KEEP your Job? Would you be willing to pay it?
even if it allowed you to get a Decent Raise or Bonus at your Job? That raise or Bonus would more than off-set that $2k or $475 yr and beyond..

see, We can Justify Anything!

JIM WIANDT RESPONSE FROM THIS MORNING:

On Wednesday, 04 March 2009 Jim Wiandt said:
Well - this really is it, isn't it? It's the pussy-footed, weak-hearted justification of...well, anything. Because right now it IS anything goes. How does this "saving the world" project LOOK like it's going so far? To answer your question, I'd personally take a couple years of unemployment to get some spine back into this nation, into the global economy, because long-term my culture will have a tougher skin and be more reality-based in what it achieves. The great depression (and NO ONE will ever say it) gave this country CHARACTER & whipped things into shape long-term in our regulatory systems etc. That generation had SOUL. This generation has X-Boxes. Do I want a depression? Uh, no. But to sell out everything else that we believe in - is that a price we want to pay? Call me a nutcase.

iShares ETF Tracking Error: Risks and Explanations

On AGG, you are obviously right, that one Friday, AGG traded 8 PERCENT off it's NAV- FOR THE DAY. And the High Yield iShare was off a cool 28% for the day. Whoa. But it's not actually really the ETF blowing up, as much as it is the BOND MARKET blowing up. On that day I would put a LOT of money on the ETF serving as a price discovery mechanism over the indicative NAV of the underlying index, which was stale and inaccurate. That's my take. We ran a lot of blogs and articles on this in the last week or two on indexuniverse.com

An All-ETF Hedge Fund? You've Got to Be Kidding

Did you read the original article? It's a hedge fund that charges 200 basis points per year. So THAT is the 200 basis point head start. Bobo hands out his picks for free. I DON'T think a diversified portfolio made of the best ETFs is a bad idea, I think it's a GREAT idea, but the hedge fund offering is EXTRAORDINARILY HIGH cost.

Jim Wiandt
jwiandt@indexuniverse....