Beta Bear Market, Alpha Bull?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFF3E0Aqdlc&hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=344] "All night he check, check, check." Teddy KGB in Rounders In poker you fold a majority of the hands, and it can be pretty boring for amateurs to play that way. Most end up playing far too many hands for entertainment value. Sometimes it simply makes sense to sit out. ...

Alpha Hall of Fame Interviews

If you don't subscribe to the magazine, here are the links. All of them are worth reading:Bruce KovnerJames SimonsJulian RobertsonGeorge SorosMichael SteinhardtKenneth GriffinSeth KlarmanDavid SwensenSteven CohenLeon Levy Jack NashLouis BaconAlfred Winslow Jones Paul Tudor Jones

NYC This Week

Posts will be lighter this week as I will be in NYC starting Wednesday. As always, drop me a line if you are around.

Rule #1

Stock markets are risky. According to Bespoke, I count about 8 that are down more than -40%.How long is that going to take you to get back to even? From a great article at designing better futures (here is the chart). "Rule #1 in all investment allocation decisions is don't lose money. Risk management is the name...

Weekend Linkfest

Is the stock market decline nearing an end?----I love my iPhone, and will probably trade in my old one via Flipswap for the new one. My favorite apps are:JottLightShazamUrbanspoonSeriously, how cool is it that you can hold your phone up to a speaker and it tells you what song it is? It's magic, I swear.----Don't Pay Alpha...

LinkFest

I really don't get most of these aggregators - here is a new one Streetread....I need less news that is more useful, not more news that is all noise! Sites like Abnormal Returns that thoughtfully filter the information are worth much more to me than the ones that simply combine ALL of the information.----Peter Thiel and Clarium are...

Arnott’s Diversified Portfolio

From an article over on IndexUniverse titled "Liquid Alternatives: More Than Hedge Funds" by Rob Arnott and John West.Below is how an investor could replicate their portfolio with ETFs.The Diversified Asset Portfolio is an equally weighted portfolio (10% each) of:STOCKS 20%International stocks - VEU, EFAU.S. stocks - VTI, SPYBONDS 60%Emerging market bonds - PCY, EMBTIPS - TIP, IPEHigh-yield bonds...

Buying a Dollar for $0.90

Long term readers know I am a big fan of buying closed-end funds at discounts and selling them at parity. Closed-end funds are one of the least efficient areas of the market, and many can and do trade at very large discounts to their NAV. ETFconnect.com is a good resource here.It was with great interest when a...

Results of the 2nd Book Cover Design Contest

35 entries of varying quality. . .Worth1000 book cover design contest.

What Will the 21st Century Look Like?

The markets are closed and I am outta here for some fish tacos, some beach, some surf, and some bbqing. If you need some weekend reading, here goes...This post below reminds me of Question #2 from Fisher's book:"What can you fathom that others find unfathomable?"Really interesting piece on market history from GFD Guide to Total Returns. From...