Archives of “portfolio manager” tag

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Remembering Legendary Investor Sir John Templeton

  
Analysis, Education, Video
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The brief video below is in appreciation of Sir John’s life and the influence he still has on Franklin Templeton Investments’ perspective and our employees.  Enjoy!

 The 29th of November marks the anniversary of what would have been Sir John Templeton’s 100th birthday, someone who helped shape my career as a portfolio manager, and who I admire greatly as a human being.  I first met the late Sir John more than three decades ago when I was working as an analyst for a broker based in Hong Kong. I traveled a few times to Nassau to make presentations to the Templeton portfolio teams, which is how he and I first became acquainted.

One day Sir John approached me to manage a new emerging markets group that he was starting and was very excited about. I jumped at the opportunity. This was a great chance to do things globally rather than just focus on Taiwan (where I was head of the country’s first investment management company at the time), and there weren’t many—if any—other portfolio managers focusing on global emerging markets. So, it was quite an opportunity!  This year is the 25th anniversary of what’s now the Templeton Emerging Markets Group. The markets certainly have changed a lot since then, but our core investment philosophy remains true to Sir John’s timeless approach. (more…)

Trading Quotes

  
  Education
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“Jesse Livermore described Wall Street as a ‘giant whorehouse,’ where brokers were ‘pimps’ and stocks ‘whores,’ and where customers queued to throw their money away.”
The Economist

Another psychological aspect that drives me to use timing techniques on my portfolio is understanding myself well enough to know that I could never sit in a buy and hold strategy for two years during 1973 and 1974, watch my portfolio go down 48 percent and do nothing, hoping it would come back someday.
Tom Basso

With the title alone causing hysterics, placing this on your coffee table will elicit your guests to share their best dot-com horror story. How they invested their $100,000 second mortgage in Cisco Systems at $80 after reading about it, waiting for it to become $500 (as predicted in this very book) only to see it dive to $17. Just the thought of this book gives me the chuckles.
Amazon.com Review of Dow 36,000

You will run out of money before a guru runs out of indicators.
Neal T. Weintraub

There is little point in exploring the Elliott Wave Theory because it is not a theory at all, but rather the banal observation that a price chart comprises a series of peaks and troughs. Depending on the time scale you use, there can be as many peaks and troughs as you care to imagine.

If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.
Clint Eastwood

You have to say, “What if?” What if the stocks rally? What if they don’t? Like a catcher, you have to wear a helmet.
Jonathan Hoenig, Portfolio Manager,
Capitalistpig Hedge Fund LLC

There is no greater source of conflict among researchers and practitioners in capital market theory than the validity of technical analysis. The vast majority of academic research condemns technical analysis as theoretically bankrupt and of no practical value…It is certainly understandable why many researchers would oppose technical analysis: the validity of technical analysis calls into question decades of careful theoretical modeling [Capital Asset Pricing Model, Arbitrage Pricing Theory] claiming the markets are efficient and investors are collectively, if not individually, rational.

The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts.
Bertrand Russell

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

Forecasts are financial candy. Forecasts give people who hate the feeling of uncertainty something emotionally soothing.
Thomas Vician, Jr., student of Ed Seykota’s

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.
Babe Ruth

The Henry theory— statistically corroborated, of course—is that assets, once in motion, tend to stay in motion without changing direction, and that turns the old saw— buy low, sell high—on its ear.

Enron stock was rated as “Can’t Miss” until it became clear that the company was in desperate trouble, at which point analysts lowered the rating to “Sure Thing.” Only when Enron went completely under did a few bold analysts demote its stock to the lowest possible Wall Street analyst rating, “Hot Buy.”
Dave Barry
February 3, 2002

“If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”
Erica Jong

“No matter what kind of math you use, you wind up measuring volatility with your gut.”
Ed Seykota

Hedge Fund Job Titles Defined

  
  Education
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Hedge Fund AnalystA person who spends their day tracking the activities of people whose job they would have liked.
Quantitative ResearcherA person who can attach probabilities to future events by looking backwards.
Portfolio ManagerA person who has an enormous breadth of knowledge across a range of industries and is an expert in none of them.
StrategistA person who spends their day looking down at global events from 25,000ft but never has to land to take an active decision themselves (see “ Journalist” and “Consultant”).
Head of Quantitative SolutionsA person qualified to Ph.D level who used to earn an annual bonus at a CTA.
Head of RiskThe person who stops portfolio managers earning a bonus.
In-House MarketerA person who can ascribe someone else’s success in the firm to their own activities.
Chief Operating OfficerThe person who is thought to keep hedge funds running as businesses.
Deputy Chief Operating OfficerThe person who actually keeps hedge funds running as businesses.
Chief Investment OfficerThe guy whose name is on everyone’s business card.
Head TraderChief Algo Selector
Compliance OfficerFulfills the statutory requirement to have a fifth column in every firm in the financial sector.
Head of ComplianceChief Snitch
Head of TechnologyThe only person in the firm authorised to have self-defined mission-critical costs no-one else understands.
Head of Investor RelationsThe person that works with the most important existing clients to tidy up the s*** created by the CIO.
Chief Executive OfficerThe person individually chosen by the founder and Chief Investment Officer to buy the paperclips and liaise with the auditors.

H + W + P = E

  
  Education
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Understanding your own trading psychology is critical to being a successful portfolio manager. 
Are you focused on trying to make money? Or are you more focused on trying not to lose money?
The truth is that making money is the easy part. It is keeping it that is so hard.
Statistically, you are going to make money half the time anyway as I have found that discretionary traders make money on approximately 45-55% of their trades. That is not my opinion – that is what the data say.
The difference between being profitable and not profitable or modest and substantial returns is not about the frequency of being “right.” It is about how much do you MAKE when you are right and how much do you LOSE when you are wrong.
Don’t trade to be right. Trade to make money. In order to make money, you have to lose less.
As a trading psychology coach, the formula I use with my clients is as follows:
H + W + P = E
Hoping + Wishing + Praying = EXIT THE TRADE! 

Eternal Truths About Trading Success

  
  Education
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truthToday afternoon  once again  read  small book from the late 1800s written by Dickson G. Watts and reprinted by Traders Press. Entitled “Speculation as a Fine Art and Thoughts on Life”, the book begins with a description of the “qualities essential to the equipment of a speculator” (p. 8). Here is the author’s perspective, written well over a century ago:

* Self-Reliance – “A man must think for himself, must follow his own convictions…Self-trust is the foundation of successful effort.”

* Judgment – “…equipoise, that nice adjustment of the faculties one to the other…is an essential to the speculator.”

* Courage – “…confidence to act on the decisions of the mind…be bold, still be bold; always be bold.”

* Prudence – “The power of measuring the danger, together with a certain alertness and watchfulness, is very important.”

* Pliability – “The ability to change an opinion, the power of revision.” (more…)

Trading as a way of life- VIDEO

  
Education, Video
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Jihan Bowes-Little is a California-born writer, recording artist, and professional risk-taker. He began his career as a Trader at Goldman Sachs and is now a Portfolio Manager for Bluecrest Capital. Simultaneously, he launched a career as a Hip-Hop and Spoken Word artist, signing to Warner Music earlier this year. His recently completed first novel, ‘The Trade’, chronicles his unusual and colourful double-life. He lives in London, where he also founded Roark Entertainment, an Investment and Advisory firm for Artists and Creative Entrepreneurs.

Pride-Fear -Greed-Hope :Video

  
Education, Video
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Some great videos about these emotions by Scott O’Neil. He is President of MarketSmith Incorporated, a stock research tool developed by a team of investment professionals at William O’Neil + Company, a Registered Investment Advisor for Institutional Money Managers providing equity market buy/sell recommendations and independent research. Scott is also a portfolio manager with O’Neil Data Systems, Inc.-Forbes

4 Points to be Successful Traders

  
  Education
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1) Diversify: If you have a pattern you  trade successfully, you don’t have to grow your size. Instead, look to diversify  to a different pattern (different market, different time frame) not correlated  with the first. You’ll smooth out your returns, as one pattern makes money while  the other experiences drawdown. You’ll also achieve the portfolio manager’s goal  of superior return for less risk exposure.
2) Review Entries: Review your trades for the week and see how much heat  you took on your winners. This will give you an idea of how good your entries are.
3) Review Exits: Review your trades for the week and see if the market  went in your favor or against you after you exited. This will give you an idea  of how good your exits are.
4) Work Orders: Get into the habit of working orders to buy at bid, sell  at offer or to place orders between the bid and offer to avoid paying a price  that is out of line with “fair value”. For the frequent trader, the single tick saved by good execution adds up over time.
The successful traders I’ve worked with never stop working on themselves. This is equally true of successful athletes, musicians, and chess champions. Small, steady improvements can create massively greater performance over time.

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