Biography
Len Costa was head of communications and content strategy at CFA Institute, where he oversaw global social media, mobile products, and digital content strategy. He previously served as director of interactive media at the Institute for Private Investors (IPI), a peer networking organization for ultra-high-net-worth families and their advisers. Costa also wrote a private wealth column for the Financial Times and, prior to joining IPI, he held senior editorial positions at Institutional Investor and Worth magazines. His writing has also appeared in Forbes, Fortune, Slate, and The New York Times. Costa holds a BA from the University of Virginia, a diploma in French language from the Université de Paris, and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
A look at the UK central bank's successful foray into the risky business of live Twitter chats.
In a presentation at the India Investment Conference in Mumbai, the economist and strategist explained the real meaning of QE and its impact on the economy and financial markets.
For centuries many of the world's leading investment thinkers have struggled to articulate the difference between "investing" and "speculating." We've assembled a panel of leading investment practitioners to discuss the issue in our inaugural online forum.
Bloomberg recently announced that it had become the first financial information platform to integrate real-time Twitter feeds "directly into the investment workflows of market professionals." A network analysis of a partial list of Twitter accounts included in the terminal service yields some interesting insights.
The legacy of financial innovation was the subject of a recent panel discussion, where three leading practitioners assessed some of the most widely debated innovations of our time, including high-frequency trading, dark pools trading venues, and the Dutch auction model for initial public offerings.
In a recent talk, the vice chairman and president of China’s sovereign wealth fund leveled two critiques of interest to those who have grown accustomed to frequent commentary about China’s opaque regulatory system and slow pace of financial liberalization. He also outlined a bullish case for China's economy.
From 1976 to 2011, Warren Buffett delivered an average annual return of 19% in excess of the Treasury bill rate, versus a 6.1% excess return for the stock market. A new paper by a trio of money managers at AQR Capital Management aims to explain how he does it.
A newly updated study of the market-beating stock recommendations posted to Value Investors Club, a private online community restricted to 250 elite money managers, provides further insights on why professional investors at rival firms may be motivated to share ideas and collaborate.
Not all professional networks are created equal. But they can be shaped to improve leadership and analyzed for investment insights, says Northwestern University's Brian Uzzi.
Large sample studies of buy-side investment recommendations have been virtually impossible to execute due to a lack of data. But a new research paper relies on a novel data set compiled by the private social networking website SumZero to show that buy-side stock picks influence asset prices by bringing new information to the marketplace. The authors also find evidence of “wealth transfers” flowing from the broader institutional marketplace to the investment firms represented on SumZero.