Substack Library

Glossary

Discontent

I’m thinking Canada, he said, looking up to judge my reaction.

A Covid Hangover

When I was an adult, I asked my father––a tall, lean man with a shock of white hair–– how he invested money when I was a kid. His answer was simple: he didn’t. In part, this was probably because the markets didn’t interest him. In part, I suspect this was because he grew up during the Great Depression. For him, stocks losing 90% of their value wasn’t an aberration, it was life.

US & China Entwined

What’d you think when Reagan called you guys the evil empire?

Deflationary Locusts

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How Not To Die On Vacation

Forty feet, said Henry. 

All Companies Die

“With liquidity like it is, it’s crazy not to get funding.”

Biden’s Big Bet

Regarding the plan, when Biden said Xi and Putin believe democracy can’t “compete in the 21st century” that rang true to me. My mind flashed back to a conversation I had had years before in an elegant Beijing restaurant. My interlocutor was a financially savvy Chinese acquaintance who had earned an advanced degree in the US, worked in New York for a period and then returned home. He was bald, wore a stylish black blazer and had a thoughtful manner. This was years before Trump and George Floyd.

Four Big Forces and the Cherished Oddball

Macro investors distill the big forces flowing across economies into a collection of investments. This process is a bit like painting a picture of what the future might bring.  However, unlike painting, whose veracity is often only seen clearly many years later, an investor can test the accuracy of their theory daily, the same way an athlete can check their prowess in competition.  

Playing Chess with Putin

The US leveled sanctions on Russia this week, using what was regarded as the “nuclear option,” targeting Russia’s bond market. Based on both market pricing and the tenuous connection many Russians will make between financial conditions and Putin, I suspect the bomb missed the mark.

Man’s Search for Money

While almost everyone worries about money, most people don’t like talking about it. Money triggers emotion, the topic is shrouded in lingo and some of the underlying concepts are indeed tricky. In a sense, money is a bit like sex, central to human existence, yet viewed as something private, best discussed, if discussed at all, behind closed doors with a specialist or a life partner.