As you know, some of the best intelligence comes from unexpected places. Recently my client Khushro Ghandhi and I were talking about politics and the market. To say I get an education every time I speak with him would be an understatement, as you’ll soon see. One day, to make his point he said to me “E.J., believe me I know how the left thinks, I was one of them, I’m a reformed Marxist!” That got my attention. I love my conversations with Khushro because what he says is from his heart. He has learned his beliefs from personal inflection, studying, and not being afraid to question “the system.” … [Read more...]
Big Money, Big Costs
Great piece by Jason Zweig of the WSJ on the trouble with private equity funds: Trying to get your money out. For years now, big banks and brokerage firms have been urging their wealthiest individual clients to get into private-equity funds. Buying such a prestigious fund can make you feel like a big cheese with privileged access to the high returns corporate deal making can generate. Trying to sell one, however, can make you feel like a tiny mouse in a giant glue trap. Consider J.C. Flowers II L.P., once one of the most glamorous of the buyout funds. By July 1, investors must decide whether … [Read more...]
Russian Navy Testing New Advanced Torpedoes
Source: TASS Russian News Agency The Russian Navy is expected to adopt for service the advanced Futlyar deep-water torpedo that is undergoing its state trials now, a source in the defense industry told TASS on Wednesday. According to the source, the Futlyar is an upgraded variant of the Fizik homing torpedo that has entered service recently. "The new variant of the torpedo is undergoing state trials at Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, which are due for completion later in the year. If the torpedo passes the tests, it will enter service and its full-scale production should begin in 2017," … [Read more...]
“So I Thought I Would Teach Myself About…”
The Newport Daily News had a wonderful feature on Middletown, RI resident, Pete Babcock, whose 42-year career in the NBA culminated in a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Babcock got his start when he dropped out of law school. “I always was enamored with the NBA, and the Phoenix Suns were a relatively new team,” Babcock said. “They started in 1968 as an expansion team. In those days you could buy a general admission ticket for $3.50 and there were like 3,000 people at the game, so you could go sit anywhere you wanted to sit. I just thought if there were anything in the world, this … [Read more...]
Help Isn’t Coming!
“Help Isn’t Coming!” heads the introduction to The Ultimate Situational Survival Guide. “It may sound harsh, but the reality of most crisis situations is that you’re going to have to be your own first responder.” And that in a nutshell is how I want you to think about your money and your investments. As your survival guy I’m taking full responsibility to provide you with all of the information I believe is necessary to help make you a better survivalist. The minute you start thinking this way, as a survivalist, the minute your entire view of the world changes. It happens that fast. Your job … [Read more...]
Van Morrison’s Keep It Simple
Van the Man’s Keep It Simple: Whoa we got to get back to something simple just to save yourselves Well got to get back to something simple just to save yourselves Well you got to keep it simple, keep it simple just to - and that's that … [Read more...]
Puerto Rico Bond Default?
Puerto Rico’s potential bond default could be an owner’s manual for overburdened U.S. states. Two days before a potential historical default, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla made it clear that the commonwealth won’t pay bondholders even as Congress votes on a bill allowing the island to restructure its $70 billion in debt. “On July 1, 2016, Puerto Rico will default on more than $1 billion in general obligation bonds, the island’s senior credits protected by a constitutional lien on revenues,” Garcia Padilla wrote in a editorial posted on a CNBC website. The lapse will mark the … [Read more...]
Computers Beat Hedge Funds in Rout of Risk Takers
Hedge funders and traders made big mistakes around the Brexit (more on this here) referendum because they bet on the outcome they preferred, not the reality of the vote. Computer based trading strategies did quite well however, because they tuned out the emotion of vote and focused on actual market trends. The Wall Street Journal reports: Equity hedge funds fell 2.1% on Friday alone, according to data from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research. The losers generally appear to have been hedge funds too heavily weighted toward cyclical stocks such as airlines or financial stocks that were hard hit … [Read more...]
Hedge Funds, Pensions and their Union Handler
Hedge Fund managers are under pressure from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), for supporting charters schools and pension reform. Some pension funds have withdrawn money from hedge-fund managers criticized by the teachers union. And some hedge-fund managers stopped making donations to advocacy groups targeted by Ms. Weingarten. Hedge funds, reluctant to buckle to the pressure, say Ms. Weingarten is doing a disservice to the teachers she represents, because funds should aim solely to earn the highest possible return on their assets. The personal … [Read more...]
A Love Story about Private Wealth
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better love story than this courtesy of Seth Siegel at the WSJ: How does one overcome almost unimaginable horror and trauma? For Holocaust survivors Howard and Lottie Marcus, the healing came, in part, from the hope that they could help to provide refuge for other Jews who might find themselves at risk. But after restarting their broken lives in America, this modest couple could never have imagined that they would end up giving what is likely the largest single charitable gift in Israel’s history—$400 million—to be announced June 24. Howard and Lottie were … [Read more...]
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