Editor’s note: this was originally published at Alpha Architect on November 9, 2015 and is republished here with permission. We’re in the middle of an academic research project and we ran a simple long-term trend-following model from January 1, 1801 to September 30, 2015. Recently, there has been some research on the performance of trend rules over long periods here (and highlighted by CXO here). Our trend-following methodology is further described in our downside protection piece. (Editor’s note: This piece is also the next article in this month’s magazine.) Absolute Performance Rule: Time Series Momentum Rule (TMOM) Excess return = total return over past 12 months less return of T-Bills If Excess return >0, go long risky assets. Otherwise, go long alternative assets (T-Bills) Concept made popular by Gary Antonacci Trending Performance Rule: Simple Moving Average Rule (MA) Moving Average (12) = average of 12 month prices If Current Price – Moving Average (12) > 0, go long risky assets. Otherwise, go long alternative assets (T-Bills). Concept made popular by

Launched in 2009, the NAAIM Wagner Award is designed to expand awareness of active investment management techniques and the results of active strategies through the solicitation and publication of research on active management. $10,000 is presented annually for the best paper submitted to the competition. The competition is open to all investment practitioners, academic faculty and doctoral candidates who submit an innovative topic in the area of active investing. This can be either a documented and justified investing approach or an exploration into the validity of active investing. Active investing topics can involve making investment decisions using technical analysis, quantitative analysis, etc. Papers can also address related topics such as position sizing techniques, money management approaches, scaling into and out of trades, exit strategies, etc. The NAAIM Website has a new feature that allows anyone to search for and download (up to 3 at a time) any of the previously-submitted white papers. 

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Theta Research and reprinted here with permission. Introduction “…imperfect as it is, actual performance beats whatever is in second place by a country mile.” Everyone is familiar with the old Chinese proverb saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The same can be said about the journey to become an Investment Manager, whether it is for direct clients, on behalf of other Advisors serving as asset accumulators and subadvisors, or both. Laying the proper groundwork can set the stage for a successful Investment Manager to attract millions (or maybe billions) of dollars in assets. Failure to do so can result in just the opposite, even if the investment model is viable.  The important thing to remember is that the journey is a process, not an event, so planning is a must. Once the heavy lifting of developing a model strategy is done,

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at the Global Financial Data blog and is reprinted here with permission. Everyone is aware of the incredible returns that Berkshire Hathaway has provided shareholders during the past fifty years that Warren Buffet has run the company. In the late 1960s, when Warren Buffett became CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, shares in the company were trading at under $20. Today, shares trade around $200,000. During the same period of time, the S&P 500 Total Return Index went from around 38 to 3800. While the S&P 500 increased 100-fold, Berkshire Hathaway increased 10,000-fold. That is what I call value added. But how well did Berkshire Hathaway perform before Warren Buffett took over the company? Had the company performed well even before Warren Buffett took over, or did Buffett change the company’s performance dramatically? Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates is Formed Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates Inc. incorporated under Massachusetts laws in