1) As we try to unscramble the complexity of markets, we are always seeking a measure of order from the apparent randomness.
It is interesting to us how markets (mis)behave. As Benoit Mandelbrot said, the chaos and irregularity of the world is something to be celebrated.
2) A self-described “wandering scientist,” pursuing what he called “unpredictable interests,” Benoit Mandelbrot moved across many disciplines at once to find new insights.
3) He spent much of his life as an outsider, seeking to extract an element of order in physical, mathematical, or social phenomena characterized by wild variability.
1) If you review all the big declines in bond yields since the beginning of the secular downturn in interest rates in 1981, you find something very interesting.
1) Do you ever find yourself striving for perfection, and then being disappointed because it always eludes you?
THREAD 👇
2) As a young student in Hamburg, Peter Drucker went to see the opera every week.
He had very little money, but showing up an hour before the performance meant scoring any of the unsold cheap seats allocated to university students for free.
3) Upon one evening, he sat for Falstaff.
“I have never forgotten the impression that evening made on me,” he said, totally overwhelmed by Giuseppe Verdi’s comic opera.
Bystanders look for a long time—free of constraints, unobscured by their own judgments, waiting patiently to grasp the essential truth. stray-reflections.com/article/177/Th…
2) What we see is that the ICT revolution is far from complete and that rather than a dystopian, divisive future, what lies ahead is a green socially sustainable golden age. stray-reflections.com/article/173/Fu…
3) We also see through the mist of the pandemic. The outlook is uninspiring, even with the vaccine breakthroughs. stray-reflections.com/article/175/Th…
1) This year has been difficult for many investors, whether you are a novice or an experienced risk taker.
It would be useful to revisit today's money masters and see how they dealt with gut-wrenching loss.
It always helps renew my ambition. THREAD 👇
2) Paul Tudor Jones lost $10,000 when he was 22, and when he was 25 he lost about $50,000, which was all he had to his name.
3) In 1979, PTJ's fourth year in the business, he lost over 60% of the equity in his clients’ accounts on a single cotton trade that went horribly wrong.
“I am not cut out for this business," he said. "I don’t think I can hack it much longer.”
1) Shortly after I graduated from university, I landed a job as a bank teller in Toronto.
It was, surprisingly enough, one of the best things that happened to me.
2) I was shy growing up. I was always the quiet one among friends.
But as a bank teller I was forced to interact with everyone. This helped me break out of my shell.
3) lt was a small neighbourhood branch with a sociable atmosphere.
The branch manager was Italian, the two personal bankers were Indian and Spanish, the financial advisor was Greek, and my two side-kicks at the till were Irish and Canadian.
1) The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “Be silent for the most part.”
What did he mean? Allow me to explain.
Thread. 👇
2) On August 29, 1952, the piano virtuoso David Tudor walked onto the stage of the barn-like Maverick Concert Hall on the outskirts of Woodstock in New York.
He sat at the piano, propped up six pages of blank sheet music, closed the keyboard lid, and clicked a stopwatch.
3) Thirty seconds passed.
The audience, a broad cross-section of the city’s classical musical community, waited for something to happen.