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Einstein's Scribbled Theory On Happiness Sells For $1.6 Million – 195x Highest Expectations

A scribbled note by Albert Einstein which described his theory on the key to happy living was sold at auction in Jerusalem for $1.56m.

According to The Telegraph, the winning bid for the note far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of between $5,000 and $8,000,according to the website of Winner’s auction house.
“It was an all-time record for an auction of a document in Israel,” Winner’s spokesman Meni Chadad told AFP…Bidding in person, online and by phone, started at $2,000. A flurry of offers pushed the price rapidly up for about 20 minutes until the final two potential buyers bid against each other by phone. Applause broke out in the room when the sale was announced.
The newspaper reports that Einstein was on a lecture tour of Japan in 1922 and had recently been awarded the Nobel prize. Einstein didn’t have cash to pay a tip to a bellboy in the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, so he gave him two notes, predicting they would be worth more than a tip. He is reported have said.

 “Maybe if you’re lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip.”

The Telegraph continues, Einstein dedicated his life to science, but suggested in the notes that fulfilling a long-term ambition doesn’t necessarily guarantee happiness.
The note said.

“A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.”

The anonymous buyer was from Europe.
The notes were sold by an anonymous Hamburg resident who commented “I am really happy that there are people out there who are still interested in science and history and timeless deliveries in a world which is developing so fast.”
On the second note was written “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. It sold for $240,000.

12 Things Nassim Taleb Has Said About Economists

  • An economist is a mixture of 1) a businessman without common sense, 2) a physicist without brain, and 3) a speculator without balls.Taleb
  • A prostitute who sells her body (temporarily) is vastly more honorable than someone who sells his opinion for promotion or job tenure.
  • The artificial gives us hangovers, the natural inverse-hangovers. The joys of post-exercise, breaking a fast, meeting a friend, helping someone in trouble, or humiliating an economist are examples of inverse hangovers. Antifragility = series of earned inverse hangovers. They don’t come for free.
  • Those with brains no balls become mathematicians, those with balls no brains join the mafia, those w no balls no brains become economists.
  • To have a great day: 1) Smile at a stranger, 2) Surprise someone by saying something unexpectedly nice, 3) Give some genuine attention to an elderly, 4) Invite someone who doesn’t have many friends for coffee, 5) Humiliate an economist, publicly, or create deep anxiety inside a Harvard professor.
  • A trader listened to the firm’s “chief” economist’s predictions about gold, then lost a bundle. The trader was asked to leave the firm. He then angrily asked him boss who was firing him: “Why do you fire me alone not the economist? He is too responsible for the loss.” The Boss: “You idiot, we are not firing you for losing money; we are firing you for listening to the economist.”
  • Discussing growth without concern for fragility: like studying construction without thinking of collapses. Think like engineer not economist.
  • OPEN DISCUSSION: Back to skin in the game. It looks like skin in the game does not necessarily work because it makes people more careful, rather but because it allows the risk taker to exit the gene pool and stop transferring the risk to others. A bad driver exposed to harm would eventually die and stop killing people on the road; shielded from harm he would keep killing others ad infinitum, as if he were an economist a la JS or PK. (more…)

16 +1 Differences Between Good Trades & Bad Trades

Good Trades are made by managing the mind, ego, and emotions.

1. A good trade is taken with complete confidence and follows your trading method; a bad trade is taken on an opinion. 
2. A good trade is taken with a disciplined entry and position size; a bad trade is taken to win back losses the market owes you.
3. A good trade is taken when your entry parameters line up; a bad trade is taken out of fear of missing a move. 
4. A good trade is taken to be profitable in the context of your trading plan; a bad trade is taken out of greed to make a lot of money quickly. 
5. A good trade is taken according to your trading plan; a bad trade is taken to inflate the ego.
6. A good trade is taken without regret or internal conflict; a bad trade is taken when a trader is double-minded.

Good trades are just one trade inside a robust methodology that gives the traders an advantage int eh long term.

7. A good trade is based on your trading plan; a bad trade is based on emotions and beliefs. 
8. A good trade is based on your own personal edge; a bad trade is based on your opinion. 
9. A good trade is made using your own timeframe; a bad trade changes timeframe due to a loss. 
10. A good trade is made in reaction to current price reality; a bad trade is made based on personal judgment. 
11. A good trade is made after identifying and trading with the trend; a bad trade fights the trend. 
12. A good trade is made using the trading vehicles you are an expert in; a bad trade is when you trade unfamiliar markets. (more…)

9 things know yourself in order to obtain success in trading

  • An aspiring trader has to understand what her/his hook is and construct her/his style of negotiation around this hook. Ask yourself some questions and determine what about the markets attracts you to it.
  • Do you like the adrenaline and the emotion of the competition? Or do you prefer a more controlled form of making decisions?
  • Are you more academic and inclined to perform investigations of the market? Or do you feel more comfortable trusting your instincts and intuition?
  • Are you set by defined rules and prefer to use a calculator? Or are you more qualitative in making your decisions?
  • Are you interested in international matters?
  • Are you interested in the ins and outs of individual companies? Or are you interested in economic theory?
  • What is it that you want from trading, to be the next George Soros? Do you want the liberty of working from home? Do want an additional source of income and profit?
  • Responding to these questions will help you easily in defining what type of trader you will become.
  • To determine what motivates you in the markets. But this is just the beginning. Once you know what motivates you, you can begin to determine the type of markets in which you should operate, the trading profile that you should adopt, and the additional preparation so that your trading will go further than just the basics. This is the best way to become a successful trader, the comprehension of the markets, the strategy, and the profile that best adjusts for you, by this manner you will maximize your profitability.

Tip from a billionaire: going to the bathroom wastes too much time

Michael Bloomberg has handed out some tips on his formula for success:

  • You make your own luck
  • The harder you work, the luckier you get
  • Try to be the first one in in the morning and the last one to leave at night
  • Take the fewest vacations
  • Take the least time away from the desk to go to the bathroom or have lunch

DAVID TEPPER: If You Invested $1 Million In My Hedge Fund In 1993 You Would Have $149 Million Today

David Tepper, who has been running distressed debt hedge fund Appaloosa Management for the past twenty years, is crushing it this year. 

 Meanwhile, the S&P is up about 19.7% this year. 

Tepper was up 5.5% in July net of fees. 

He’s still bullish on stocks.

He told Wapner that he finds them “reasonable” and that he’s still long.   (more…)

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