I strive to be smart, wise, analytical, creative, intuitive, and informative. I hope to help make you a better active investment management pro.
I recommend you start with the Best of the Blog.
Awesome Statistic About Derivatives
I wanted to share with you an awesome statistic about derivative securities which comes courtesy of that investment industry scion, Mark Möbius, and the magazine that quoted him, Bloomberg. And by awesome, I don’t mean good. I mean awe-inspiringly bad. The total value of derivatives securities around the world exceeds total worldwide gross domestic product by…[drum roll please]…10! Holy poo! Imagine if the total value of mortgages in the world exceeded the underlying collateral by a factor of 10! Folks, these derivative...
read moreTop 5 Problems Facing the Economy 1
Yesterday I promised that I would write in-depth about what I saw as the top 5 problems facing the economy. Today I will write about what I feel is the number 1 problem: the lack of ethics on the part of society, especially in business. The lack of ethics is cancer and it is eating away at the fabric of our culture. There has been such an emphasis in our culture on the quantitative that the qualitative has nearly been left behind. This manifests itself in many ways, almost too numerous to name. One way is the tremendous dissatisfaction that...
read moreTop 5 Problems Facing the Economy
Here are what I feel are the top 5 problems facing the economy right now: 1. Lack of ethics on the part of society, especially in business 2. Chronic fat – that is, consuming beyond our means 3. Lack of financial market transparency 4. Politics trumping “what needs to be done” 5. Endemic unemployment Over the next week each day I will take on one of these issues in an in-depth fashion. Folks, these are very, very big problems and are things that need to be addressed for the long-term health of human progress. Jason...
read more28 May 2011: Investment Advisor Jason Apollo Voss Intuitive Investing Interview
Very good news, the most in-depth interview with me yet about “The Intuitive Investor: A Radical Guide for Manifesting Wealth” has appeared in the June 2011 issue of “Investment Advisor” magazine! Herein, I discuss: Why using your intuition is critical for investing success The Four Principles of The Intuitive Investor Intuitive investing and risk management And more Big thanks to everyone involved: Michael J. Gelb, Olivia Mellan, Sherry Christie and Danielle Andrus.
read moreConsumer Spending is Slowing
U.S. Department of Commerce figures for the month of April show that consumer spending is slowing. Specifically, consumer spending rose 0.4% relative to March. Consensus expectations from economists were for a rise of 0.5%. If you adjust the data by inflation then spending only rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, consumer incomes rose 0.4% – exactly matching the expectations. Analysis: The above data are being explained by commentators as the result of rising commodity prices (like food and gasoline) putting a damper on spending. Whatever the...
read moreAbsolute Unemployment Numbers Show Carnage
While the rest of Wall Street digests the latest Department of Labor jobless claims figures (up by 10,000 to 424,000), I wanted to spend some time talking with you about absolute unemployment numbers. All of the following data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report entitled, “Employment loss and the 2007-09 recession: an overview.” Folks, get you air sickness bags, as there is going to be some turbulence. From peak employment levels in January 2008 (138 million total people employed), the United States shed 8.8...
read moreOil Prices Are Manipulated by Speculators
U.S. commodities regulators have brought a civil law suit against a small group of oil speculators who are believed to have manipulated oil markets in early 2008 and netted gains of $50 million. Here we are talking about only 2 traders and 3 trading firms! Specifically the culprits are: James T. Dyer, Australia Nicholas J. Wildgoose, United States Parnon Energy, United States Arcadia Petroleum, United Kingdom Arcadia Energy, Switzerland These five entities are thought to have raised oil prices, and consequently, oil prices for every single...
read moreNew Measure of a Country’s Success
Long-time readers of my blog will know that I think that exclusively quantitative methods, in investing especially, are domed to failure. It’s because quantitative methods measure facts and facts, by definition, took place in the past. But investing unfolds in the future. But facts are excellent at evaluating those past events when measuring is important. Take for example measuring the success of a country at providing for its people. The standard measure of success is gross domestic product (GDP). GDP simply measures total...
read moreTelevision Is More Important Than Movies
I went to go see a movie today and noticed something that I thought was very interesting: television is now more important than movies. How could I tell? All of the video in the lead up to the movie trailers was about upcoming television shows. Now I know that the networks just have announced their fall series. However, as I thought about it, the more I realized that it has been this way for several years. Even more surprising was that Ridley and Tony Scott have stooped and made Gettysburg for the History Channel. I say...
read moreLinkedIn is Not Worth $8.9 billion
Normally I am loathe to write about a specific stock. My usual focus is on equity investments for what they really are: partial ownership of a business. But LinkedIn (ticker: LNKD) shares soared in their first day of trading yesterday 104.4% (= $94.24 close ÷ $45 IPO price – 1) to close at a market cap of $8.9 billion! This, for a company whose profits last year were a scant $15 million. Just from that alone it should be obvious that LinkedIn is not worth $8.9 billion. Let’s work out the math, though, to put everything in...
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