Expert Opinion, the latest memo of Howard Marks is once more an interesting read. The reasoning throughout the memo resonates well with me since I believe it is worthwhile for a (discretionary) money manager to: (try to) understand the economy (try to) figure out the expectations embedded in the market bet small most of the time bet … Continue reading That’s why they’re called surprises (Howard Marks – Expert Opinion)
Category: understanding the world
The 7 business questions (Peter Thiel)
In his book Zero to One, Peter Thiel talks about seven business questions to answer in order to successfully start a business: [...] If you don't have good answers to these questions, you'll run into lots of 'bad luck' and your business will fail. If you nail all seven, you'll master fortune and succeed. Even … Continue reading The 7 business questions (Peter Thiel)
Understanding the world we live in (the Soros version)
From time to time, I grab a book from a few years ago and browse through it. This time 'The New Paradigm for Financial Markets' of George Soros (2008) was the lucky one. Although the Alchemy of Finance is the standard book here, this little book also contains some nice wordings. As a side note: AQR … Continue reading Understanding the world we live in (the Soros version)
Organizational alpha: Investment Committees
At money management firms, the investment decision making process is one of the crucial elements. While the investment process/philosophy itself often gets lots of attention, the investment committee making the investment decisions does not always get the same level of scrutiny. Being part of an investment committee myself, I experienced the pro's and con's of making investment … Continue reading Organizational alpha: Investment Committees
It doesn’t make sense
This morning, I was listening to a recent podcast of Tim Ferris (Becoming the best version of you). I didn't really expect to get specific investment wisdom out of it. Around minute 27 however, Adam Robinson starts answering the question whether he blocks any particular things in his agenda. After mentioning lifting weights, cycling and … Continue reading It doesn’t make sense
There is no cash on the sidelines
In this first brief writing I would like to refer to the top 10 peeves from Cliff Asness (AQR library). All ten are good ones, but I especially like 5c: Every time someone says, “There is a lot of cash on the sidelines,” a tiny part of my soul dies. There are no sidelines. Those saying … Continue reading There is no cash on the sidelines
Observing the market 