Beta is a measure of share price volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory.

Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories.

• The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio.
• The second sort is caused by the natural volatility of markets, overall. For example, certain macroeconomic events will impact (virtually) all stocks on the market.

Some stocks mimic the volatility of the market quite closely, while others demonstrate muted, exagerrated or uncorrelated price movements.

Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock’s exposure to market risk (volatility). Before going on, it’s worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that ‘volatility is far from synonymous with risk.’

Beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price.

A beta of 1.51 is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. Based on this history, investors should be aware that stock price are likely to rise strongly in times of greed, but sell off in times of fear. Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall.

Warren Buffett doesn’t chase short-term gains. Buffett judges his investment performance by focusing on multiyear returns.

In fact, Buffett focuses on buying good businesses that are well run.
— Read on www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/17/warren-buffet-strategies-how-to-invest-for-long-term/39688975/

Deepak Chopra has some advice: stay calm, don’t panic.

“Any investor will tell you that if you get caught up in the melodrama of the fluctuations of the stock market, you’re going to be a loser,” the best-selling author and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, recently told CNBC.

“If you want to be a winner, stay in for the long haul, and don’t take unnecessary, impulsive risks and actions.”

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The gender pay gap is still a reality for many women. Overall, women earn approximately 81.4% of the amount their male counterparts, according to BLS data. The disparity is even wider for women of color, especially African American and Hispanic women.

And, the pay gap starts early. Women begin their careers earning less in the median income they take home then men at the same age, PayScale found. Although women’s earnings initially grow faster than men, they start to plateau much earlier then men.

The early disparity stems from a variety of factors, including a lack of representation and occupational segregation. Wages for women tend to slow down for those in their late 20s, which suggests that starting a family is probably a key element of the gender pay gap, according to PayScale.

American women of all races and ethnicities and men of color are less represented at higher levels of organizations than white men,” PayScale reports. And while the number of women running Fortune 500 companies is at a record high, they still only account for 6.6% of CEOs.

The Payscale report also points to challenges during the job search process, where women benefit less frequently from networking and employee referrals, which help applicants get ‘a foot in the door’ since many job vacancies are not publicly advertised.

Most of us know we should save money. But when it comes to actually doing it, people tend to fall into two camps: non-planners and planners. Non-planners typically save when they can, perhaps putting a small amount into a workplace retirement plan, hoping that everything will work out in the long run. Planners generally know what they’re saving for, how much they need to put away, and how long it will take them to reach their goals.

Does the first type sound more like you? If so, you’re not alone: Only 28% of Americans have a written financial plan, according to Schwab’s 2019 Modern Wealth Survey. Of the rest, almost half said they didn’t have enough money to make a plan worthwhile. Others said it was too complicated, or they didn’t have time to develop a plan.

— Read on www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/does-financial-planning-help

Key Takeaways
Stock trading volume tends to be lower in the summer months
Historically, Health Care and Utilities are among the sectors that have outperformed during the summer
The old stock market trend adage “sell in May, go away” might not be the best portfolio management approach
— Read on tickertape.tdameritrade.com/investing/summer-stock-market-trends-sizzle-17474