Our guest this week is Lawrence Hamtil. Lawrence is a principal at Fortune Financial Advisors, an independent Registered Investment Advisor firm he co-founded in 2008. He provides financial advice and investment management services to the firm’s high-net-worth clients. Lawrence came to our attention on social media, where he can be found on twitter at @lhamtil. A prolific researcher and excellent writer, Lawrence frequently publishes investments research and commentary on Fortune Financial’s blog. His research has covered a lot of ground, but a few topics have gained him a following, including his work on the role of sectors and industries in explaining stocks returns; the low-volatility phenomenon; sin stocks; equal-weighted portfolios; and more. Lawrence is a graduate of Rockhurst University..

Background and Influences

Lawrence Hamtil bio 

Fortune Financial advisor blog 

Lawrence Hamtil’s twitter account @lhamtil 

“Contrarian Investment Ideas” by David Dreman; May 18, 1998

“Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits” by Phil Fisher; Jan. 1, 1960 

Value Investing and Inflation

“Who Killed Value?” by William Bernstein; Efficient Frontier blog

“How Inflation Makes the Value Factor a Sector Bet” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; May 14, 2019

Equal-Weighting and Inflation

“The Inflation Advantage of Equal Weight” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; Aug. 28, 2018  

Sectors and Industries: Importance to Stock Returns

“Hedge Fund Contagion and Liquidity Shocks” by Nicole Boyson, Christof Stahel, and Rene Stulz; Journal of Finance, Volume 55, No. 5. October 2010.

Financial Advisor Conflicts

“Breaking Down 50 Years of Industry Data” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; Jan. 17, 2020 

“Is Risk a Function of Sector or Size?” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; Jan. 22, 2019 

“Is Risk a Function of Sector or Size? Part II” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; July 24, 2019 

“The Perils of Sector Bias” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; Oct. 29, 2018

“The Compelling Case for Mid Cap Stocks” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; June 27, 2019 

“Compendium of Posts on Investing in Emerging Markets” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; Aug. 15, 2019  

Low-Volatility Factor

“Compendium of Low Volatility Articles” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; July 22, 2019 

Andrew Miller’s Twitter account @millerak42  

Sin Stocks

“Casino Stocks and the Missing Sin Premium” by Lawrence Hamtil; Fortune Financial blog; Feb. 18, 2019 

“Virtue Is Its Own Reward: Or, One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor” by Cliff Asness; AQR; May 18, 2017