CapitalWorks
CapitalWorks Private Equity
Insight for those who want to include private equity or direct investment in privately-held businesses in their portfolios. The opinions expressed in the PE4Fams blog are those of Rob McCreary and not necessarily those of CapitalWorks or its employees.
I have always been intrigued with the idea of a portfolio of assets you can sleep on for twenty years. In fact, it is probably a pretty good way to think about how you should invest. To refresh memories, recall that Rip Van Winkle was the creation of Washington
Since the end of last year, the three-month London interbank offered rate, known as LIBOR, has increased to 2.32% from 1.69%. LIBOR measures the cost for banks to lend to one another and is used to set interest rates on roughly $200 trillion in dollar-based financial contracts globally, including
I have written several blogs over the last six months about the national debt and how it may challenge many assumptions about the American economy as well as the American way of life. I am writing again because those challenges just became more imminent. To refresh the facts this
I am surprised so few of the millennial generation are preparing for retirement by participating in tax deferred retirement plans. My generation was introduced to the miracle of compounding returns when the retirement system was revamped in 1976. Over 40 years later $1000 invested per year compounding at 8%
A lightning rod in the political world is immigration but less so in the business world. In the lower middle market every one of our portfolio companies is looking for qualified workers who can pass a drug test, and perform entry level work. I am not sure why Americans
My only first-hand experience with Martians was “My Favorite Martian” which was a TV sitcom that aired from 1963-1966. Uncle Martin had special powers like the ability to disappear and levitate objects. While not quite as talented as Barbara Eden in “I Dream of Jeannie”, he was nonetheless my
January of every year is wonderful for the prediction industry. Almost everyone who made a prediction in the prior year is taking credit for the few things they got right and, conveniently forgetting or minimizing what they missed. There are only a few groups who actually score themselves like
One of the most anticipated dates in your golden years is the time just before you turn 65 when you are thinking about the government starting to take care of you. You probably have already applied for your AARP card and also are getting senior discounts at the movies.
Anyone who owned Bitcoin for long enough to have experienced its wild appreciation was excited to learn in December that the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) was authorized to permit trading in Bitcoin futures (CBOE,XBT). Somehow I knew this would not be what I expected and the game
Wall Street Journal Innovation For those of us who are challenged by the pace of news and information or the great majority of us who simply do not have the time to dig into anything, The Wall Street Journal has an answer. Over the last six months subscribers
Connected To Home As Thanksgiving approaches I notice excitement and enthusiasm everywhere for returning home. In Robert Frost’s poem, “Death of the Hired Man”, Silas, an itinerant handyman, comes home to die at Warren and Mary’s farm. Even though they are not family and he has a rich brother, home
The Congressional Budget Office usually does a good job of predicting the financial future for our country. Its 2017 Report looks out over the next 10 years and predicts many trends that we all know: Budget deficits will grow and accelerate Interest rates on government debt will rise to
Margin of Safety I admire Seth Klarman for his investment discipline and his realistic view of business models and securities analysis. As I have written before, his book “Margin of Safety-Risk Adverse Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor” is out of print but can be purchased online for slightly more
I am amazed at the number of highly profitable business models focused on monetizing individual identity, location and movement, credit, socialization, and dating. The internet has allowed many companies to leverage you for their gain and profit. But one of them stands out as extraordinary. The three Credit Reporting
Taking a page out of the Austin Powers movie “The Spy Who Shagged Me” the financial world has introduced its own Mini Me clones of the Private Equity Asset Class. The August 26 edition of The Economist unveils these two new offerings. One is offered by State Street Investments
The most important ingredient of success in private equity is not capital. It is people. After 40 years of working in mergers and acquisitions as a lawyer, investment banker and private equity owner I come back to people as the biggest variable in my success and failures. Why is
Freakonomics has really interesting podcasts, and the last one of a three part series on August 20, entitled “Bad Medicine” did not disappoint. The long standing view of the big three causes of death was Heart, Cancer and Respiratory. According to The Center For Disease Control, here is the list
When Luca Pacioli introduced double entry bookkeeping in the 15th Century that single idea spawned acceptance of the modern corporation as a vehicle for collaborative business because it created an auditable trail of financial entries. The third party trust and validation business was soon to follow and has blossomed
Extended time with the grandchildren always leads to the irresistible logic of A.A. Milne and his principal spokesperson, Winnie the Pooh. One of Winnie’s most insightful observations is about doing, or in his case, doing nothing: “People say doing nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” The
Writing a weekly blog is a privilege and I usually have more ideas than I can handle, but this week all the news was old news and all the problems were old problems. There wasn’t anything new and exciting until I saw this morning’s edition of The Wall Street
“Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear
