吃喝玩樂 - Diary of a Growing Boy: I-kill-you-later!
interesting perspective. i always believe that we can learn much from history.
it is just another example that there are simply too many "senior investment bankers" in the world, and how much damage unemployed bankers can do when they're driven into other professions.
It wasn't too long ago when young twenty-something, fresh out of school, barely knew the difference between being good and being nice got paid half a million a year selling products they have no hope of deciphering. That generation was often praised as the rising star in the financial world who will redefine what young people should aspire to do.
It wasn't too long ago when lots of people on public transportation talked about what a wonderful day of killing they had in the stock market and they decided to take some time off for a trip to Europe for some new shoes and bags. A job was only a job. Performing one's duty at work as contracted (and the reason of getting paid the salary!) is not anything important.
And now, lots of people lost a significant portion of their networth. Instead of asking what they can do better next time, there are lots of finger pointing. The danger of being greedy is the one thing that we should have learned from history but no one wanted to be reminded.
I lost money too but I know exactly how I got myself into the mess. Other than myself, I cannot blame anyone. Who said not to sell GBP when it was trading at 1.85? I hope people can really learn from this financial tsunami. It's going to be a while before we can reach the other side of the rough sea.
lambda, it seems like you and i are (were! i'm quitting) in the same industry.
i agree with you 100%. i've walked out of one stream of this industry before, and got lured back by the pay and relatively easy lifestyle of another stream. the over-capacity in the whole industry never ceased amazing me. it has always been clear that there are too many people doing things and making decisions that they are in *no way* qualified to do / make, period.
if there is one thing that we should have learned from the euphoric run-ups to '97, '00?, '07, it is that greed is f&@(!#*king NOT good.
btw, i've been watching this kinda retail Luxembourg based fund named Superfund. it claims to invest in managed futures and returned 35% in 08 and 2.8% YTD. it's also sponsoring major glitzy events. :P (this may not be the right forum, but i haven't found better ones online anyways - ) does anyone know how it works?
Lucky you! I cannot quit till they tell me to go as I have a mortgage.... And no, it's not an investment. I actually have the entire family, three generations living under the same roof!
Anything that pays more than riskfree rate should set off the alarm. Oops! There's no such thing as riskfree anymore (or ever has been?) I worry if the US gov't will go bankrupt after bailing out all the financial super one stop shops. Docs on website probably won't give you much details. I say call a banker for the subscription papers.
Superfund used to be called Quadriga and they are a CTA...which means very high volatility. I've seen -20% for monthly returns from them. Their peers would be Man AHL, Winton...etc. Only touch CTAs if you can stomach the volatility.
Superfund is still called Quadriga (firm name vs fund name or something like that). Yes, high volatility, monthly trading, and very opaque. (Man Inv is far more mom-and-pop-friendly, if you will.) Having watched these funds passively for a few years, I am intrigued by this Superfund / Quadriga firm. Flamboyant, European, high return, secretive operations. yummy recipe...!