Author: Smead Capital Management

Buffett’s Passive Can of Worms

A great deal of confusion exists today about the merits of passive investing as compared to well-researched active management. An added layer of confusion arose in March when Warren Buffett explained that 90% of his widow’s money would be invested in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. If this summer was a football game, 15-yard personal foul penalties would be thrown everywhere as experts piled on top of that announcement.

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The Myth of Student Debt: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

As school season kicks off, we at Smead Capital Management have been perplexed by the logic and reasoning over the student debt debate in America. There is a consensus in the investment markets today believing that student debt is a major credit problem rivaling other credit problems that were disastrous over the last 30 years. Much like Billy Madison had to prove to his father that he wasn’t completely helpless, today’s students have the daunting task of not only affording college and graduate education, but also finding ways to pay it off over the next 20 years. Billy had to hope to not pick a fight. We don’t have the same sentiment because as contrarians we have to find problems and contentious companies/industries. This seeks to explain the lies, damn lies and the statistics surrounding the student debt myth in the United States.

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The Risk of Permanent Loss

Since the stock market has done extremely well from its “abyss-like” low in March of 2009, many investors are worried about the risks associated with owning U.S. large-cap stocks. A cacophony of articles have been written which not only look for the stock market to correct, but also have an expectation of the kind of bear market decline which would set investors back for five years, like the declines in 2000-02 and 2007-09. Those declines each hit the S&P 500 Index for a loss of 40% or more.

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Could a China Recession Cause $50/barrel Crude Oil?

Globalization has created an interconnection between major world economies and commodity prices. China, as the world’s most populous country, rearranged the commodity landscape by growing their economy at double-digit compounded rates from 2000-2010. By doubling their use of oil, copper and other major commodities, China created a golden era for commodity investors and everyone involved in oil exploration and production.

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Barron’s: Bill Smead defends active management

Smead Capital: Active Management Isn’t Dead By Johanna Bennett For more information go to www.barrons.com. The information contained in this article represents SCM’s opinions, and should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The securities

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The Demise of Active Management is Greatly Exaggerated

Financial advisors and registered investment advisors feel severe pressure to throw in the towel on manager selection methodologies and accept index returns. Yet, many of these stories forget one central concept: indexes are actually inexpensive actively-managed portfolios. Every actively managed fund is an index itself.

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