Image credit: Music Day, Arlesheim, 2004, Roland Zumbühl (Picswiss), Wikimedia Commons By Jason Zweig | Nov. 3, 2015 9:23 p.m. ET I gave a book talk at The Museum of American Finance, explaining where The Devil’s Financial Dictionary came from, as well as the social and cultural history of the ideas and illustrations that were so much fun to explore as I...
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Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet By Jason Zweig | 1:59 pm ET Oct. 30, 2015 If you see fat 4% “yields” for the municipal bonds in your brokerage-account statement, don’t believe them. Overstating the expected income on municipal bonds in brokerage or advisory accounts is one of the most pervasive and persistent ways the financial industry fools the...
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Image Credit: “George Washington,” Suzanne Roy, from the Index of American Design, The National Gallery of Art One lesson investors never seem to learn: Be wary of companies that tout their own stock. Promotional CEOs almost always create disappointed investors in the end. To remind people of this eternal truth, I thought it would be a good idea to...
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Image Credit: “The Triumph of Patience,” engraving, 1559, Dirck Volckertz Coornhert after Maerten van Heemskerck, The National Gallery of Art By Jason Zweig | Oct. 28, 2015 11:30 pm ET I recently turned up this piece that I wrote more than 20 years ago about one of the most remarkable portfolio managers I’ve ever met: Phil Carret,...
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Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet By Jason Zweig | 12:12 pm ET Oct 23, 2015 One reliable way to mint money is to charge customers hefty prices for your services without ever itemizing the bill. Welcome to the corporate-bond market, where the costs of trading are about as transparent as the waters of the Big Muddy River after a hard rain. Most investors own...
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