Make Something Happen
You hear it often. It’s well intentioned, of course. It can even serve as a motivator at times too. But it’s often used when impatience and frustration are capitulating. Coherent plans be damned. Forget long-term ramifications. Just make something happen! The pressure to perform is real, but it’s often self-induced by spending more than you […]
The Price of Admission
These are the kinds of market days where you learn whether you’re prepared or not. Are you comfortable with the risk you’re taking? Is the drawdown too steep for you? Do you have the urge to change your investment approach? Are you looking at other approaches to switch over to? Did you know that days […]
The 1 for 15 Slump
My son turns two today. He loves baseball and now knows he’s the same number as Derek Jeter. Hence, this Jeter-inspired post. Derek Jeter won one World Series title in his last 15 years in the league. Not many people think of him going 1 for his last 15. They remember the sheer dominance and […]
The Critical Component to Investing Performance
Most people believe IQ and cutting edge tactics account for superior investing performance. I think it’s the ability to control one’s emotions, especially in times of high stress and pressure. Sometimes this pressure is exogenous. Markets get crazy. Your biggest position reports very poor earnings. Your best trader leaves for another firm. More often than […]
The Coast is Never that Clear
Just when you think you’ve got the wind at your back and nothing can go wrong, the markets will likely deliver a healthy dose of reality. You can never get too comfortable in this game. Like the old Atari game Asteroids, it’s our job to move out of harms way and manage the damage. In […]
Let’s Go Back to 2013
It’s January 2013 and the general feeling about the stock market is much less cocky than it is today. We’re 4-5 years removed from the Financial Crisis when stocks lost half of their value. Fear and cautiousness are still in the air — and this is after a ~90% rally off the March 2009 lows (using […]
The Chase
We chase returns. It’s in our blood. We extrapolate the recent past expecting it to continue just like it has. It feels good to imagine our money growing at the rate the stock market or some startup has over the past several years. “Wow, if we invested $10k in this three years ago, we’d have […]
Put it on the Line
I’ve built software. I’ve consulted. I’ve coached. I’ve been an employee. I’ve given interviews. I’ve written papers, blogged and podcasted for years. None of it compares to backing your own ideas with your own money and doing it for other like-minded people who trust you. “When you make something truly for yourself, you’re doing the […]
How’s Your Resolution Going?
As an avid sports fan my entire life, I’ve seen many great players never win the big one. Hell, I’ve seen many teams comprised of great players never win the big one. The in-fighting. Backstabbing. Competing egos. Power-trips. The overall locker room drama affects the quality of the end-product. No one can win under these […]
Volatility by Design
The past couple of months have been tough on trend-followers, myself included. The sharp reversals in interest rates, equities and currencies accounted for most of the losses. While the very recent performance has been painful, these “losses” from a trading perspective have simply been giving back some of the profits made over the past few […]