A quick comment here. The prices of luxury Swiss watches languished in the early to mid 1990s. That was when I started collecting, small and unimportant pieces, mind. Stainless steel sport watches, divers watches, some classic three hand watches. The later part of the 1990s saw a renaissance for the Swiss watch industry. Companies who [...]
One time I was with a colleague in Japan interviewing managers. My colleague Patrick knew his way around Tokyo, well, somewhat, so we only spent 25% of the time lost instead of the usual 50%. This was early 2006 when Japanese hedge funds were facing a particularly horrible time. The January and February losses on [...]
One time I was with a colleague in Japan interviewing managers. My colleague Patrick knew his way around Tokyo, well, somewhat, so we only spent 25% of the time lost instead of the usual 50%. This was early 2006 when Japanese hedge funds were facing a particularly horrible time. The January and February losses on [...]
In the investment business, the need to distinguish between skill and luck is very important. But why?
I am in the investment business. My job is to find and invest with fund managers whom I consider to be good investors. But what makes a good investor? This is a lengthy subject which has been dealt with [...]
A word about alpha and betas in investment returns
The Math
In mathematics, half the problem is giving things names. The investment management industry has borrowed a naïve model, applied it to very complicated problems and then expect to make sense of the results.
What is alpha and what are betas?
The terms alpha and beta come from the [...]
In the investment business, the need to distinguish between skill and luck is very important. But why?
I am in the investment business. My job is to find and invest with fund managers whom I consider to be good investors. But what makes a good investor? This is a length subject which has been dealt with [...]
An ex-colleague of mine sent me an email today. He was trying to interest me in investing in an apartment in Singapore somewhere near the Singapore River. This was good news and bad news.
Calling the direction of a market is usually a perilous endeavor. When I moved to London in 1999 I thought that the [...]
An ex-colleague of mine sent me an email today. He was trying to interest me in investing in an apartment in Singapore somewhere near the Singapore River. This was good news and bad news.
Calling the direction of a market is usually a perilous endeavor. When I moved to London in 1999 I thought that the [...]