Weekend Reads Posted on August 26, 2017August 25, 2017 By Matt Some fun reads and shameless self-promotion I take the L on high yield A discussion of taxing bitcoin. Isn’t avoiding tax part of the point of an anonymous currency? Bill Nye may have had his face ripped off by Hollywood accounting Shocker: A third of high-end real estate deals may… Read more
Due Diligence Wrongness and a Strange Animal Posted on August 25, 2017 By Matt Investing is such a strange animal. You can be wrong and still make money. You can be right and still lose money. I have been wrong on high yield bonds for the last couple of years. I didn’t like the energy component of the space. Oil prices were falling due… Read more
News For William’s First Day of Second Grade Posted on August 22, 2017 By Matt Today’s post is a departure from the norm of investment news and snark. I’m going to share a bit about my son, William, and ask you to spend a minute of your day to think about his cause. William was born in 2010 with Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease, or… Read more
Due Diligence No, the Secret Sauce Posted on August 15, 2017 By Matt “I thought you guys had some sort of insider’s edge and that’s how you get returns for your clients’ investments…?” My friend was grilling up burgers and dogs for his kid’s birthday party while picking my brain about investing. He was surprised to find out how vanilla our investment philosophy… Read more
Opinion Who is Holding Your Leash? Posted on August 11, 2017 By Matt On PIMCO’s blog, Gene Frieda writes that “markets do not explode every time volatility is low, but volatility has always been extremely low when markets have exploded.” This reminded me of the variable or intermittent reward system I stumbled upon when researching training techniques for my dog. The idea is… Read more
Chasing Risk Posted on August 4, 2017 By Matt I read the Howard Marks memo last weekend and you should, too, if you haven’t already. The memo got me to revisit some of my investing viewpoints. It’s easy to listen to the same investment philosophy on repeat. My fear is that one day I’ll look up and find… Read more