AAII - Pittsburgh Local Chapter

AAII Pittsburgh

The American Association of Individual Investors - AAII - provides investment education in investing basics, financial planning, and structuring investment portfolios of mutual funds and/or individual stocks. A not-for-profit organization, AAII arms individual investors with the understanding and tools needed to manage their finances more effectively and profitably. 

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Index Investing:

chocolate, vanilla,.., tutti frutti?

Marc gerstein

director of research, Portfolio123 and Chaikin analytics

Unable to resist the urge to tinker, professionals and academics have developed numerous variations on “indexing,” from conventional (relatively passive) capital-weighting to (more active) alternatives that utilize such factors as size, earnings, momentum, or volatility. 

Broadly, “Factor Investing” thus strives to identify significant, persistent forces that drive equity returns.  The marketing catch-phrase “Smart Beta” simply identifies a strategy that captures such components through explicit, rule-based methods. 

Join us to hear Marc Gerstein demystify Smart Beta and the index-investing spectrum:  what’s good, what’s bad, what you can use, how, and — most importantly —why. 

Attend this meeting and learn:

• What is and what isn’t worthwhile in Factor/Smart Beta investing 
• Why the good things are worth understanding
• How you can use this to help you make Buy/Hold/Sell decisions — with or without screening tools

About marc gerstein

Marc H. Gerstein, after two decades at Value Line and various websites, joined Portfolio123 in 2008, where he now serves as Director of Research.  In 2019 he assumed a corresponding position at Chaikin Analytics.  A long-time devotee of stock-screening and –ranking tools, Gerstein works to rescue “quant” investing from fancy math and apply its techniques to generate active, actionable investing ideas.

President's Message

Like all Chapters of the national AAII organization, ours is run by members who volunteer their energy, ideas, and time.  In return, they gain a unique opportunity to "rub shoulders" with experienced investors/leaders and to contribute in educating both other members and themselves.  Each of us will tell you that we get more value out of the work we do than what we put into it.

People move on, however, and if the Chapter is to continue, new leaders must step forward from time to time. If this opportunity calls you, come join our team: Work closely with and learn from generous, experienced investors.  You need no special qualifications to make a difference here, just a willingness to learn and to collaborate. 

Ask one of us about how you can make a difference for others while improving your own investment skills.

-- Roy Taylor, President

AAII Cleveland Chapter Announcements

UPCOMING SIG MEETINGS

• IBD SIG (held at Panera Bread, Penn Center East, Wilkins Township)
  Brett Pechersky <pecherskyb@yahoo.com>
  Start time:  7:00 p.m., Thursdays, to be announced
• Rational Investing SIG
  Herb Geissler <HEGeissler@aol.com>
  Start time:  7:00 p.m., Thursday, 9 May 2019
• Investment Strategies SIG
  Jim Emberg <jim.emberg@gmail.com>
  Start time:  7:00 p.m., Tuesday, 11 Jun 2019
• Personal Financial Planning SIG (held at Sewickley Library) Karen Fadzen CFP, CDFA <fadzens@gmail.com> Start time:  7:00 p.m., Tuesday, 14 May 2019

  INVESTING SEMINAR

No seminars are currently scheduled.