Last week, I looked back at some of 2022’s predictions, but this blog has made a lot of successful predictions over the years. In fact, I think it’s one of the core strengths of what I do here. I sometimes forget most people reading probably have not been around for Continue Reading
Who Are The Real Oil Profiteers? ESG Investors!
Informed Tip of the Week: Since this is a climate themed post, I thought this recent research was worth sharing. Dr. Klotzbach, who some of you will remember for his annual hurricane forecasts, looked at trailing 30 year hurricane activity and found a declining rate of storm frequency and severity. Continue Reading
Do ESG Funds Actually Hold ESG Stocks?
I’ve written plenty about ESG before. As a reminder, or for those newer to the blog, my stance on ESG investing is that it manipulates people who truly care about ESG goals by selling them products that don’t address what they actually care about so that fund managers can make Continue Reading
Providing Life Support to AIG
To make an (perhaps poor) analogy, AIG is like a patient with a lot of pre-existing conditions. It’s overweight (expenses are too high), has high blood pressure (too much operational leverage), and eats too much processed sugar (in too many underperforming businesses). With AIG’s recent decision to separate the P&C Continue Reading
Ian’s Brief #7: AI, AEL, and ESG
Back with another Brief since too many things to talk about and not enough time to write them all up separately… That Didn’t Take Long! It was only a few weeks ago I outlined a new business model for life insurers. I suggested established insurers should focus their energy on Continue Reading
Third Point Abuses Its Shareholders Again
In the annals of CEOs running their own personal fiefdoms without regard for the interests of shareholders, I’m sure there are worse stories than Third Point. However, there can’t be too many. Third Point just screwed its shareholders again with last week’s acquisition of Sirius. But before we address that, Continue Reading
Why Tesla’s D&O Premium Wasn’t High Enough
Earlier this week, Tesla decided to cancel its D&O insurance because it was too expensive. I will argue it wasn’t expensive enough. A 100% rate on line sounds appropriate to me. Elon Self Insures First, let’s review what exactly Elon did. Below is the language from the revised 10-K (all Continue Reading
Apple Should Not Be A Holding of ESG Funds
A recent analysis by RBC Capital, highlighted in the Wall Street Journal, observed that the top five holdings of ESG stock funds were Microsoft, Google, Visa, Apple, and Cisco. If your reaction to that is “I thought I was investing in an ESG fund, not a tech fund“, congratulations! You Continue Reading
Ian’s Brief #3: Year In Review
Yes, it’s the obligatory end of the year post! Frankly, you could just read the “Best Of” page instead, but if you want a somewhat longer version, here you go… I’ve grouped together the various themes that tended to repeat over the year and many of which you can expect Continue Reading
The Stakeholder’s Dividend
Yes, this is another ESG post, but it is different than the others. This time I come forward with a solution! Creating Accountability One of my bigger criticisms of ESG is there are no checks or balances on it. All these companies hire ESG chiefs and give them free reign. Continue Reading