The other thing that I mentioned last time was that there seems to be a really big difference between the expected return on the stock market and the expected return on short-term debt.
But sometimes there's a wide spread--and in a volatile stock, a difference of a nickel a share off the consensus forecast can mean a big swing in a stock price when earnings come out.
In the fourth quarter, the difference between the stock with the biggest returns and the stock with the worst returns was about 30 percentage points, compared with the average difference of 50 percentage points over the past decade, Ms. Subramanian says.
For many deep pocketed skiers the difference between stock and custom is equivalent to one or two post skiing massages sprung for because the stock boots left them sore or the day of skiing paid for but missed thanks to burnt out legs.
