25 Things to Know About Investing From a Former Wall Street Hedge Fund Manager
By Gary Brode, Deep Knowledge Investing
The world of finance is complex and can be overwhelming for a lot of people. Even more challenging is the fact that you can’t opt out of having some level of financial knowledge. We all have to exercise some oversight of our own budgets, savings, and investments. Some financial products and services are fantastic and are managed by people with the proper incentive to look out for your interests. Others are managed by people more focused on extracting fees while providing you with little real help.
I’ve spent decades in the hedge fund business and now run Deep Knowledge Investing, a firm dedicated to helping you earn better returns in the stock market. I’m going to share with you some things to know about investing, and help you think about how to manage your portfolio more effectively. At a minimum, this eBook will help you identify the good service providers and products from the bad.
Chapter I: How Great Investors Approach the Business:
- The Hedge Fund Business is Like the NFL:
It’s both super-competitive and super-collaborative. During the season, NFL teams will do anything for an edge. During the off-season, coaches will share information about up-and-coming assistants and will even conduct seminars to explain their view of how to design and defend certain kinds of plays.
It’s the same in the hedge fund business except without the off-season. Portfolio managers will work insanely hard for a performance edge. However, we also share information including our best ideas. It’s common for us to send models and research notes to each other. When I was a junior analyst, I called hedge fund legend, Carl Icahn to share information about a stock. He called me back within 10 minutes happy to talk, and he couldn’t have been more gracious.