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Greatest Trade Ever

It is the end of the year and crisis or no crisis sycophants and foxhole investors are back at what they do best..Witness this precious piece from Gregory Zuckermann in WSJ on John Paulson’s lessons. The ignorance and the lack of polish shines through in another woeful attempt by a media person and countless ‘investors’ or shadows thereof. So i felt bound to finally take the plunge and make matters right. You see, this is not how the Greatest trades were made. ( Link to the article is really superfluous, you can meet umpteen such articles in the financial media and even find ranches in Texas that would hold dinner galas spouting much the same philosophy.)

However, the book is here and this does not claim to be a book review [AMAZONPRODUCT=0385529910]

Still Another Digression: (S.A.D.#9-1-1) There was that ‘ranch’ in South California too, but that’s been taken down in full after the 30 year OSA veils were lifted, Scooter Libby and others awakened and all the rest. And for investors outside the US, the same holds as we are all following the same crisis; the next tipping point for reforming the way financial markets and the budget for our home and hearth are run much the same way too.

1. Listen to your experts : And this is serious. The man who says the crisis teaches us to “Don’t rely on experts’, he s just taking time off to be a papa stooge. The experts not only have an edge on the information, they also have a ‘record’ behind them. But yes, don’t take one source for granted, be sceptical, trust your judgment

2. Bubble trouble – True. Everyone doing the same thing at the same time changes things. But the tectonic shift is not necessarily better always, or bad OR Black Swan either..and don’t ever use your nest savings..we are never even talking about it. Better still, for this take advice #1 and add to it..Dine with your experts..take an evening walk in the park with them, and don’t forge to be nice to them. This one also is not the excuse to shout and scream like Osama bin Laden, nor does that make you and your investments any better – or grade worthy – or worth selling low and buying high :)

3. The Contrarian point – is a studied viewpoint, not an allergic reaction to the expert’s makeup and Maria’s sartorial and travel lifestyle ( as ‘reported’ on CNBC. Drink it in with beer at dinner and wake up in the morning to drink another coffee..raving and ranting is counterproductive to gray cells..not the drinking

4. Focus on Debt Markets – That is a great lesson from this crisis. In fact that would even give us some breathing space when we try to avert the next crisis. There is an imperfect natural hedge there, and it saves us, esp when everyone starts thinking of OIL and GOLD too..those times or in a normal economy bubble or ultra mega size bubble, you need to see that the debt is at any time no less than 5 times the size of the entire Global Equity market investments and that is a lot, in fact what went out of equity went to bonds and then it will come back from there too..

5. Master new Investments – On the dot. Exchange Trading Funds are a good idea. Publicly traded debt in india, China and the N11, G8+3 not so much. So here, listen to more than one expert. Read us here. and don’t feel like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, Make the calls and ask around. That gets any thoughts of crises from developing, esp not overnight and not a crisis of the household budget

6. Use Derivatives to your advantage: Getting that safety net in place is harder to do with just CDs and real estate. You need to balance the equation more than once every year. Realign to a new fact or facts. Don’t sit on it. and then making a jump to new products is easier, and the ill-informed salesperson is unable to fool you into buying unsecured, unpayable. ETFs are a great place to start.

7. Reconstruction is the key. So is infrastructure. Keep your eyes open. 3 out of 5 ETFs are going to fail. Derivatives by their nature are going to leave someone stranded again. It will happen. So will real estate, and Lehman Bros. and in fact next time the cash buried in the backyard would not be safe either. Get used to a little higher risk. start small.

8. Experience counts. On the dot. But hero-worship kills, indiscriminately

9. Luck helps? See 1 to 4 above and redo the equation . Talk to us. Talk to your neighbourhood broker. All investment classes are inherently the same once you have figured them out. They make money if they are right. and if they are right they work for you. and your friends.

Paulson made his greatest trades after he had made a few winning trades every year. that is the only thing to learn, rest is the debate..and hating the experts is only handing America’s markets to the Osamas of the world..

Also if you are a corporate denizen, take a lesson from the lady that failed to catch Cadbury and her investment bankers..you go in with only one price and you come out empty handed.

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Lifestyle Infrastructure

One of our special themes at the Advantages weblogs has been our assertion that US, India, China and most of the rest of the world that is growing

is likely to do so on the basis of a consumption revolution. Below is out insight piece that opened the chapter on India's final coming out that was much awaited but wasn't really happening till 2009..

The Commonwealth Games Infrastructure Train

A few years ago, when the Indian women shot Gold in Commonwealth Hockey and our aim in general started consistently being medal grade, we won the bid for New Delhi to host the games in 2010. This business of infrastructure had been mystifying sportspersons for decades in India; none too easily supported by the overarching smell of rent and inadequate facilities for local sports persons historically.

Even today most sports would bow out in front of Cricket and that is not a full-fledged event at the CWG, though there is still a toss-up for the T20 version to be added. Like most other spheres of life, China has been doing it higher, faster and stronger, having already held the challenging Olympics in 2008 earning over $2b for Beijing, the host city.

The story is quite public and you must have all followed it at least since August 2009 when the first few fistcuffs were exchanged regarding the lack of preparations for the CWG event now just 6-7 months away. The Sports Minister and the Games Organising Committee Chair Suresh Kalmadi has variously ben painted and vilified while we look at the rejuvenated parts of Wembley in London and survive on facepaint and cheering the local IPL franchise in Cricket games. The painting of events apart we just thought it important for Sports and Tourist infrastructure worth $1.5 billion to be included in the India story at about this time.

This preamble would survive your taste buds and your snipping scissors in the mind and we�ll come back right after lunch is over for you..

And the Original piece..follow up article on our Lifestyle Economics stream

If you have been following the India story closely, India�fs new developments are focussed on Infrastructure and Retail along with giant leaps in the Entertainment business. You can look closely at the India stories athttp://advantages.us/inframils to get a flavor of what�fs happening in Indian Infrastructure

On the other hand Retail Lifestyle businesses are increasingly attracting investors�cRural Markets may grow at a faster pace at least on the Drawing board. �c Where is Investor access? Why is it still on the government to make it happen? The FDI limits and the others are fairly rational policies..but where are the investors?..

Nanos will roll into homes by July end and IPL teams are already applying for trademarks as it looks set to become the greatest sporting extravaganza in the world, already ranked at #2 behind the NFL season in the USA. The 3G challenge will tear at Telecom companies�f profits in the coming years�c

10-Year-Old Girl Scores Hole-In-One at US Kids Golf European Championship in Scotland
(The image is of a young indian golfer in Scotland)

BUT, Importantly, India caught on to serious lifestyle investments early in 2005, Today with the debut of Cox and Kings IPO..

Where it is now?

Towns like Jalandhar, Ludhiana in Punjab, Jaipur and Agra on the Golden Triangle and such state capitals, heritage and business towns like Ahmedabad, Surat and Nagpur present a unique opportunity for Indian hospitality business to scale up, esp as Indian railways, india�fs aviation footprint and the road infrastructure will follow in step with the boom. Note: The Indian Maharaja with TC, Maharajas Express with Cox & Kings, and the other two luxury trains have started first season bookings quite well and money is being spendt to add gym and pool to the Palace on wheels as well ( More here ) Golden Palace started from Bangalore is not doing so well apparently. The Maharajas Express for example is 84 persons at an average of $1000 per night for a 7 day- 8 night tour between Mumbai and Delhi

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