"This Book Obliterates Active Management"

David_Snowball

Speaking of the pathetic state of journalism, you might think about (but largely avoid reading) the current U.S. News article, "This book obliterates active management." The book is another of Larry Swedroe's shots at active management; smart guy, he's probably 99% right.

My beef? The article is written by a member of Swedroe's staff: "[t]he book was written by my colleague Larry Swedroe." The author is "director of investor advocacy for the BAM ALLIANCE and a wealth advisor for Buckingham." Which is to say, he's a marketer. He "travels the country educating advisors and clients alike about changing their lives for the better." Swedroe, on the other hand, is one of the firm's principals, a board member and member of the executive team.

Why isn't this "article" presented as what it is: an ad for Swedroe's 13th book (what is it that he hadn't covered in the prior 12 that required an entire new book?) by a guy with a vested interest in it.

David

Ted

@David & MFO Members: Larry Swedroe is the chief public relations man at Buckingham Asset Management, and to the best of my knowledge has never managed not one single penny of anyone's money.
Regards,
Ted
Larry Swedroe:
http://buckinghamadvisor.com/people/larry-swedroe/

Tampabay

"educating advisors and clients alike about changing their lives for the better...."

Who's life did he "better"? how did he do that? Advise not to buy managed funds?, probably hurt more clients than helped.....Details please, not opinions of someone's work, Facts

AndyJ

There's the declaration, right up front, that the guy who submitted it to U.S. News has a clear conflict of interest, and they published it anyway. Great job by the editors at that august bastion of professional journalism.

InformalEconomist

Back in the day, in the 90s, before the Bogleheads went private and while Swedroe was working on his first book, I think he did help ppl on M* forums. Many novice investors were tumbling into the game without a clue, buying flashy tech funds and trying to get into Magellan because that was all they knew ("knew"). He got them to stop and think, a bit.

I always felt sorry for his children, though: "I did not call you a loser! I said you were following a loser's strategy!"

David_Snowball

Hi, Andy!

That is my complaint. I'm willing to allow that Mr. Swedroe might well be right (I haven't read the book) and that Mr. Solin might well be right. I'm just mightily irked that editors aren't even a little embarrassed to run advertisements, with appropriate disclaimers, as news stories. There has always been "advertorial content," where a publication writes stuff supportive of its advertiser's products. There's a new and growing industry surrounding "native advertising," in which publications allow advertisers to use the publication's fonts, layout and language to create something labeled (in tiny type) as an advertisement but which appears otherwise to be a news story.

I just don't need to like or respect any of it as journalistic practices.

David

LLJB

And that's the problem with a lot of news. It comes full of opinions presented in a way that leads people to have political opinions, Fox News on the right and most of the others on the left.

But aren't we all at fault? We listen, we allow our thoughts and actions to be adjusted and we promulgate the problem. As much discussion as there's been on this board about our educational system failing to provide financial training, I think we don't do a particularly good job of teaching people to think critically and form their own opinion either. That's one of the things I like about MFO- I think this is not a follow the herd crowd. Every once in a while it gets a little ugly, but I find that far more acceptable than all the crap we're exposed to elsewhere.

Old_Joe

" I think we don't do a particularly good job of teaching people to think critically and form their own opinion either. That's one of the things I like about MFO- I think this is not a follow the herd crowd."

For an example of "thinking critically", (or perhaps lack thereof) you might check out the "Stock Buybacks are Hurting Us" thread, right here on MFO. My point, exactly.

AndyJ

David_Snowball said:

I just don't need to like or respect any of it as journalistic practices.
David

Amen, David.

Junkster

David_Snowball said:

Speaking of the pathetic state of journalism, you might think about (but largely avoid reading) the current U.S. News article, "This book obliterates active management." The book is another of Larry Swedroe's shots at active management; smart guy, he's probably 99% right.

My beef? The article is written by a member of Swedroe's staff: "[t]he book was written by my colleague Larry Swedroe." The author is "director of investor advocacy for the BAM ALLIANCE and a wealth advisor for Buckingham." Which is to say, he's a marketer. He "travels the country educating advisors and clients alike about changing their lives for the better." Swedroe, on the other hand, is one of the firm's principals, a board member and member of the executive team.

Why isn't this "article" presented as what it is: an ad for Swedroe's 13th book (what is it that he hadn't covered in the prior 12 that required an entire new book?) by a guy with a vested interest in it.

David

Could not agree more. A marketeer in a class of his own. I think he is up to 15 or 16 books now.

heezsafe

In some publications, this article now would be called a "sponsored review" and kept segregated (or maybe not) in the online pub's table of contents. They still leave it up to the reader to figure out what, exactly, "sponsored" means. Must be at least a little guilt involved, to make the effort to appear to be transparent, even though IMO it always falls short and is disingenuous.

"So it goes like it goes and the river flows / And time it rolls right on / And maybe what's good gets a little bit better / And maybe what's bad gets gone." (from the movie Norma Rae)

Or maybe not.

MOZART325

How come Swedroe never mentions Medallion Fund which has crushed the market year after year with very active management-

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-21/how-renaissance-s-medallion-fund-became-finance-s-blackest-box

BobC

I do not recall ever reading a book by any of these so-called experts. As one of them told me years ago, "I wrote my first book to generate some publicity for my business (he was an advisor back then). My second book got me on some talk shows and a lecture circuit. By the time I wrote my third book, I was able to sell my business and enjoy my celebrity status." Those are not the exact words he said, but they are surely the gist of it. Pretty soon, you have all of these "experts" running around selling their books, CDs, and other items as their "job". It does not surprise me one bit that U.S. News fell for this. Money magazine has done it frequently, as has Kiplinger and others. After all, their sole job is to sell more magazines and subscriptions.

Patrick1

BAM is a marketing machine. I read Swedroe's books and have tracked his portfolios in those books as for anticipated outcomes. Maybe if you have 50 years you can reach the returns he projects. Much data mining and public relations fizz promoting DFA and claiming they add 3% benefits to you with their advice. Its part of the risk equation when you sign with an advisor for a particular set of funds DFA in this case. DFA uses the age old marketing ploy of exclusivity with its advisors. Madoff also used exclusivity, its marketing and advertising 101.

linter

bobC: I agree with you wholeheartedly but from what I can gather, UN News did not "fall" for anything; it was an active and willing participant in a little game of smoke and mirrors. an unsuspecting, uncritical public, on the other hand ....