Finance Trends Letter

Today we continue our series, "Lessons from Hedge Fund Market Wizards" , with a look at Jack Schwager's interview with Scott Ramsey of Denali Asset Management.  Ramsey, a futures trader and CTA who works on the island of St. Croix, spoke to Schwager about his first foray into the markets, his evolution as a trader, and the process he stands by to protect and grow his clients' money. 1) . Ramsey started trading in college. He was roped into the OTC metals market via a broker's ad in the Wall St. Journal. The broker charged customers a flat fee to buy and sell as much as they wanted in a particular market for six month. At the time, Scott was a novice and didn't know about futures, so he traded metals in this fashion through the inflationary run-up of the late 1970s. 2) . Scott had to rethink his trading strategy after he bought silver at $50 an oz., only to watch it collapse to $26 following a long string of limit-down days. He sold as soon as the market...

Hi gang, just wanted to let you know that we'll have a new " Lessons from Hedge Fund Market Wizards " post up soon. In the meantime, you may want to check out the most recent posts from this series.  Dive in with this introductory post: key interviews and a trading webinar with Hedge Fund Market Wizards author, Jack Schwager . The videos found in this post contain some excellent insights and quotes from the traders and hedge fund managers interviewed in Schwager's latest Wizards book. Ready to learn from some of the most astute traders around? Here you'll find some choice trading and investing lessons from global macro trader, Colm O'Shea and noted hedge fund manager, Ray Dalio .  You'll find the first 3 posts in our " Lessons from Hedge Fund Market Wizards " series below. 1 . Jack Schwager shares insights from Hedge Fund Market Wizards . 2 . Lessons from Hedge Fund Market Wizards: Colm O'Shea .  3 . Lessons from Hedge Fund ...

  Greatly appreciated Marc Faber's advice to young people and his thoughts on "success", heard near the 8:00 mark of this interview clip.  Kids today might wonder if they need a college education, or the certification conferred by a degree, to do well in life. Given the rising costs (and diminishing returns) of higher education and the problems of widespread student loan debt in the US, this is a subject for serious consideration. Faber offers, "I don't think a degree is important. If you have parents that can pay for your degree, then take one. If I had to borrow a lot money to pay for the degree, I don't think I would take one...  "...I would try first to work for someone who is successful in any industry and acquire knowledge from them. Whatever the area, you should like what you do. If you like what you do, you'll do a better job than if you are indifferent towards your job."  Speaking to the idea of success, Marc adds, "I...

Hedge fund manager, Ray Dalio credits meditation as the key to his success.  Says the Bridgewater Associates founder, "Meditation has given me centeredness and creativity. It's also given me peace and health...  and it's given me open-mindedness."  "Meditation, more than anything in my life, was the biggest ingredient of whatever success I've had" . I was very interested to hear Dalio's take on the benefits of meditation, since he's obviously a very successful individual who assigns a great deal of value to this practice. It's also a subject I've been wanting to learn more about. While I am not a yoga practitioner and have never tried transcendental meditation, I've come to learn that my long walks through the forests may share some benefits associated with mindfulness meditation . For me, it's about taking time to exercise, relax, and just focus on the natural (or built) world around us. As Dalio notes, the key for...