Wall Street Financier: Notes from High Altitude©
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
This month Cambridge Associates (CA) introduced some nuanced Investment-Level Benchmark by vintage years, Gross/Net IRR quartiles and sector analysis. CA is also making a breakdown between “Gross IRRs” and “Net IRRs”looking for the lowest “fee drag”. CA is gauging the effect of fees on LP returns: ” fund-level fees cost …
I take a lot of pride in our file and rank folk that fight the good fight in finance and that have proven themselves. I hurt to see veterans getting booted and replaced with 24-year old paper boys with Harvard degrees for whom a bad day is a day fighting …
This is a nice overview of where we are and maybe where we are heading. Remember what I often said: watch what your competitors are doing, but not necessary do what they do. Here are some stick points that resonated with me: “Many people are bullish for rate sensitive financial …
A lot of people have read Tim Feriss’s best seller book, Tools of the Titans, and found practical advice from Tim’s guests, which are some of the world’s top class performers. I think an important issue to those interviewed was answering the question of how to deal with the information …
The snake came in today dapper as always dressed in his expensive navy suit. What are we doing today ? Listening to this big CEO and his “United States of ME.” He puts everyone on emotional quicksand. Perfunctory management of human capital. Guy is great in the waste management department. …
Today was Inauguration Day: The greatest strategist alive, Max Cantor, was sworn in (just kidding, the Inauguration was that of the 45th President of the United States). I can draw a parallel between the victory of Donald Trump and the disorientation felt by the global elites at the World Economic …
Greenlight Capital (GC) Q4 letter, is a good read-always and especially now. Einhorn has remarkable prescience and he didn’t do too badly either. GC generated 9% of gross alpha for 2016. He has lost money on shorts, shorting tobacco firm Reynolds American (RAI). Shorting tobacco “can be hazardous to portfolio …
Someone once told me that legendary Sisyphus was not punished, but in fact, rewarded by the Gods by having to push up the giant boulder uphill for eternity. That someone even kept a Sisyphus man and boulder miniature replica on his desk. You can read about the various interpretations of …
“[You] can’t top this” is a line I used to attain an advantage in countless negotiations. I’d set out my agenda, escalating point-by-point. You can’t top this. I let it set so they have the last word. Sometimes I throw my counter-parties a bone [no sweetener] to see if they …
If you’re not familiar with a WSJ article on Bridgewater Associates (BA) culture, click the link. Today, Henry Blodget of Business Insider published a Q&A interview with Ray Dalio which represents Dalio’s rebuttal to the earlier Journal report. I’ll comment on BA’s self described “idea meritocratic way” and Dalio’s apparent critique …
