Joel Greenblatt, managing principal of Gotham Asset Management, is the author of The Big Secret for the Small Investor: A New Route to Long-Term Investment Success. While the book is aimed at retail investors, financial advisors might do well to turn to page 53 of this issue, where he recast a section of his book to help you, the financial advisor, discuss the difficulties in picking winning funds — and how retail clients need to learn to ride out the inevitable poor performance a winning manager will suffer before recovering (very often) once again. Joel has opened four mutual funds based on his value investing methodology, under the Formula Investing brand. Gotham Capital delivered 40 percent annualized returns since its founding in 1985. Joel is an adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School. For more on his new mutual funds, go to valueweightedindex.com.
Brad Zigler, managing editor of Hard Assets Investor (www.HardAssetsInvestor.com), has been both the observed and the observer on Wall Street and LaSalle Avenue. He was a regular media presence while heading up marketing, research and education for the Pacific Exchange's (now NYSE Arca) option market and the iShares complex of exchange-traded funds.
Brad moved to obserer status when he started writing for Registered Rep., Ticker, Mutual Fund, Futures, Financial Planning and Financial Advisor magazines, as well as Institutional Investor Journals. A morbid fear of idleness prompted him to also serve as a financial correspondent for the European Press Network and National Public Radio. A long-time Rep. contributor, this month Brad examines actively managed ETFs and how the securities might fit into a portfolio. See page 65.
Nate Wendler is the nom de plume of a former portfolio manager, analyst and trader. He has worked in the asset management industry for 12 years at several prominent New York-based hedge funds, where he did everything from building multi-factor equity selection models, to researching and shorting overvalued stocks, as well as covering and analyzing technology, financial services and consumer companies. Nate began his career as a financial journalist at Individual Investor magazine, before attending business school and entering the finance industry. He currently works as a consultant to several hedge funds and asset management firms, and writes freelance articles on the capital markets, mutual funds, and other investment vehicles as well. A former powerlifting enthusiast with a personal best of 422 pounds in the deadlift before being sidelined with injuries, he now enjoys gardening and working on his vintage Acura.
Kevin J. Miyazaki is a photographer based in Milwaukee. His portrait, travel and food photographs appear in publications like GQ, Bon Appetit, Forbes, Travel + Leisure and ESPN. His fine art work focuses on issues of family history, memory and institutional architecture. Miyazaki is the founder of collect.give, an online photography gallery where 100 percent of the proceeds are pledged to individual charities chosen by the contributing photographers.