Posted by on May 27, 2020 in Articles & Advice, Blog, Columns, Featured |

Image Credit: Alex Nabaum

 

 

By Jason Zweig | May 22, 2020 11:00 am ET

 

What an asset is worth depends on who owns it — and how.

If you own publicly traded real-estate investment trusts, your REITs are worth an average of 21% less than they were at the end of 2019. If, however, you hold the TIAA Real Estate Account, a $25.2 billion variable annuity invested mostly in private assets, your stake is down only 1.1% for the year.

These differences highlight the gap between how public and private markets work. The common fund abbreviation NAV, which stands for “net asset value,” in reality often signifies “near asset value.” That can be the case whenever a fund owns nontraded assets — not just private real estate, but private equity, venture capital and whatever else doesn’t have a daily market value.

 

To read the rest of the column:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-your-lookalike-funds-dont-act-alike-11590159641

 

For further reading:

Books:

Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor

Jason Zweig,The Devil’s Financial Dictionary

Jason Zweig, Your Money and Your Brain

Jason Zweig, The Little Book of Safe Money

 

Articles and other resources:

How We Should Bust an Investing Myth

The Dilemma Facing a $358 Billion Investing Giant

Exploring Alternative Investments

Shareholders Are Disappearing Before Our Eyes

Smart Money Takes a Dive on Alternative Assets