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David Merkel

Affiliation: Finacorp Securities

David J. Merkel, CFA, FSA — From 2003-2007, I was a leading commentator at the excellent investment website RealMoney.com (http://www.RealMoney.com). Back in 2003, after several years of correspondence, James Cramer invited me to write for the site, and now I write for RealMoney on equity and bond portfolio management, macroeconomics, derivatives, quantitative strategies, insurance issues, corporate governance, etc. My specialty is looking at the interlinkages in the markets in order to understand individual markets better. I still contribute to RealMoney, but I have scaled it back because my work duties have gotten larger, and I began this blog to develop a distinct voice with a wider distribution. After one year of operation, I believe I have achieved that.

In 2008, I became the Chief Economist and Director of Research of Finacorp Securities. Until 2007, I was a senior investment analyst at Hovde Capital, responsible for analysis and valuation of investment opportunities for the FIP funds, particularly of companies in the insurance industry. I also managed the internal profit sharing and charitable endowment monies of the firm.

Prior to joining Hovde in 2003, I managed corporate bonds for Dwight Asset Management. In 1998, I joined the Mount Washington Investment Group as the Mortgage Bond and Asset Liability manager after working with Provident Mutual, AIG and Pacific Standard Life.

I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University. In my spare time, I take care of our eight children with my wonderful wife Ruth.

Visit: The Aleph Blog




David Merkel's Latest Articles | 97

Elderly Poor?

May 17, 2012| 

There will be elderly poor.  Look at page 26 of this PDF.  I interpret those that don’t know or declined as being well below $50K in assets.  That means 60%... Read »

Correlating Risky Assets

May 4, 2012| 

Asset allocation is tough, because the correlations are not stable.  Here’s an example: in the 90s, at many conferences that I went to, I was told that one of... Read »

Gold does Nothing

Apr 6, 2012| 

Gold does nothing, and as Warren Buffett said in his recent annual report: Today the world’s gold stock is about 170,000 metric tons. If all of this gold were... Read »

Why Auditors Should be Rotated

Mar 29, 2012| 

There is a proposal afoot to mandate auditor rotation every fiver years or so.  Some don’t like it.  I think it is a great idea, with large benefits relative... Read »

Peak Government Debt

Mar 9, 2012| 

We’re in an interesting situation where most developed country governments are borrowing at a rapid rate, and their central banks are financing it.  Public old... Read »

Buy-and-Hold Can’t Die

Mar 6, 2012| 

There’s this mistaken idea trotting around in the popular media, which usually only shows its face in bear or sideways markets: buy-and-hold investing is dead.... Read »

2011 Financial Report of the U.S. Government

Dec 27, 2011| 

There is little to no fanfare for the release of this report, (why do they release at such a distracted time of year, where people will ignore it?) which strips... Read »

Risk-Based Liquidity

Dec 22, 2011| 

When there is financial failure, it comes as a result of illiquidity.  Now, truly, these parties are insolvent, because they took the risk of not being able to... Read »

Peak Credit

Dec 15, 2011| 1

What I write here will not be rigorous.  We’ve heard about “peak oil.”  We’ve heard about other resources, and how production will decline over time. But... Read »

The Euros Zone

Nov 11, 2011| 

I want to toss out a half-baked idea for others to play with, criticize, and adjust. But first, a fully baked idea: the Euro was doomed to fail. Any core Euro after... Read »

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