The power of Intangibles has been growing for the past three decades but 2020 marked the year that intangibles took center stage in the real economy.

The ‘all-or-nothing’ choice between active and passive investing creates an opportunity for a more optimal way to blend the two approaches.

Companies are spending a lot of resources counting the activities they do related to sustainability.

when to call it a day and fire your manager?

Architect’s view of “failing while innovating versus failing to innovate”.

In our conversation with Greg Zuckerman, we explore critical softer factors behind Jim Simons’ success.

In our conversation with Greg Zuckerman, we explore critical softer factors behind Jim Simons’ success.

So, should all investors do ESG? To answer this question, let’s un-flatten it first.

One reason why combining quant and fundamental investing is so hard is because quantitative analysis focuses on finding repeatable patterns while fundamental analysis focuses on identifying unique changes.

I’m pretty sure that I was the only quant in the room.

Things like imagination, creativity, and innovation - are experienced by the divergent mind. Yet as quants, we rarely spend time on divergent activity.

By studying 200 years of GoogleBooks language, this paper plots creativity in our culture over the centuries.

Here is the ‘recent press’ on quant investing, with a focus on the quantamental theme

Why do share buybacks cause such a big rift?

Non-finance books that help me grow as a quant investor. It’s an eclectic list, not in the order of importance.

A Golden Age for Quant.

Several younger quants have asked this question: “The culture of our quant group is very skeptical about new ideas. They are terrified of data-mining, and random factors. How can we innovate in such environment?”

What is the expected future return of a fairly-valued dividend paying stock?

1. Only showing the latest backtest versions without disclosing their out-of-sample degradation

2. Backtesting today’s static holdings (managers, asset allocations, sub-asset-classes) into the past - filled with look-ahead bias

It was at the beginning of 2008, at our downtown office on Pine Street in Manhattan. I was a young quant portfolio manager at AIG and I was standing in the office of one of my mentors.

What is the most significant risk in quant (and all active) investing today?

Can quantitative and fundamental approaches be successfully combined?

The short answer is: Yes

They can’t do each other’s jobs well.

In most decisions including investing, there are two ways to be wrong:

• Doing something that doesn’t work

• Not doing something that would have worked

In Finance, Asset managers often hit this wall: “Alpha Is So Hard”.

The market is impossible to beat. Alpha is dead…