Author name: Brad Carroll

One Law, Many Structures Although each vehicle pools investor cash, their mechanics vary sharply. Below, you will find concise snapshots that highlight how they diverge—no recommendations, just facts. 1. Unit Investment Trusts (UITs) Fixed-term, buy-and-hold baskets Feature Details Portfolio Created once, then left unchanged. Management Passive after launch. Share Flow Units sold by the sponsor […]

Personalizing Risk Exposure: A Quantitative Approach to Risk-Return Optimization In the age of algorithmic investing, digital advisors, and AI-powered portfolio optimization, personalizing risk for each investor has never been more precise—or more complicated. While many fintech platforms tout “personalized risk scoring” or “automated asset allocation,” these often rely on behind-the-scenes calculations grounded in financial theory.

Inflation isn’t just about prices going up — it’s about how businesses, markets, and people expect prices to behave in the future. And those expectations? They have a real impact on today’s markets. Supply Chains, Federal Spending & Inflation: A Feedback Loop Supply chain disruptions, fiscal stimulus, and consumer demand all interact in ways that

When investing in stock market indexes, it’s important to understand how different indexes are weighted. The weighting method affects index performance, investor returns, and exposure to various types of risk. There are three primary methods for weighting stocks within an index: 1. Price-Weighted Indexes Price-weighted indexes assign greater influence to stocks with higher share prices,

Traditionally, U.S. stocks have been like that one loyal friend you always kept in your local circle, while international stocks were the adventurous pals you kept around for a bit of excitement (and a splash of diversification). But with the world becoming more connected, the U.S. stock market has gotten a serious passport upgrade! This

BLACK SWAN Management Group is proud to recognize Brad Carroll for obtaining DACFP’s Certificate in Blockchain and Digital Assets®. This certificate is presented by the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals and the New York Institute of Finance. A new survey says 92% of clients expect their advisors to give them advice about this new

Black Swan events are those that come by surprise and are a deviation from what is normal. Originally a Latin expression, it was believed that black swans did not exist, until the first one was seen in the wild, and then came to mean extremely rare.  It was popularized by philosopher/author/professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and