• Jan 27, 2019
• Finance

Performance Prediction and Factor Models (Chapter 22, Part 2)

In Part 1, we saw that statistical tests need 20+ years of data to reliably separate skilled managers from lucky ones. But the problems run even deeper. This section of Chapter 22 covers the traps that make performance evaluation even less reliable than the basic statistics suggest, and what actually works for predicting who will trade well.

• Jan 27, 2019
• investing

Real Estate Finance 101: Loans, Funding Sources, and How REITs Fit In

Real estate finance sounds intimidating, but it really comes down to a few core ideas. Chapter 12 of Mike Hartley’s book walks through the fundamentals, and honestly, this is stuff that’s useful whether you’re investing in REITs or just trying to understand how money moves through the real estate world.

• Jan 27, 2019
• finance-books

Relative Value in Credit: CDS Basis and Credit Term Structure

This is a retelling of Chapter 7 (Part 1) from “Trading the Fixed Income, Inflation and Credit Markets: A Relative Value Guide” by Neil C. Schofield and Troy Bowler (Wiley, 2011, ISBN: 978-0-470-74229-7).

• Jan 27, 2019
• finance

Risk Profiling in Behavioral Finance

Chapter 10 of “Behavioral Finance for Private Banking” is where everything from the earlier chapters comes together. All the biases, prospect theory, loss aversion, mental accounting, it all converges here. Into one practical question: how do you figure out how much risk a client can actually handle?

• Jan 27, 2019
• finance

Stocks and Asset Classes Explained Simply - Behavioral Finance Chapter 12 Part 1

Up to this point in Behavioral Finance and Investor Types, Michael Pompian has been talking about psychology, biases, and investor personalities. Chapter 12 switches gears. Now he lays out what you can actually invest in. Because knowing your own biases is great, but at some point you need to understand the tools on the table.

• Jan 27, 2019
• book-review

Systems Thinking for Evaluation: How to Know if Your Change Efforts Are Working

You built a plan. You started doing the work. But how do you know if it’s actually working?

Chapter 12 of Systems Thinking for Social Change by David Peter Stroh tackles evaluation. Not the boring, fill-out-a-form kind. The kind that actually tells you whether your change efforts are making things better or just moving numbers around on a spreadsheet.

• Jan 27, 2019
• software-engineering

The Random Walk and the Noise: Volatility (Chapter 20)

The Pulse of the Market

In Chapter 20, Larry Harris tackles Volatility. Most people see volatility as “risk” or “scary price swings,” but Harris breaks it down into two very different components.

• Jan 27, 2019
• finance

Trading and Exchanges Chapter 8: Gamblers, Speculators, and Fools in the Market (Part 2)

In Part 1 we covered the “normal” reasons people trade: investing, borrowing, exchanging assets, hedging. Those are utilitarian traders who use markets to solve real-world problems. Now we get to the uncomfortable half. Gamblers, speculators, fools, and everyone in between.

• Jan 27, 2019
• Book Retelling

Atlas Shrugged Retelling: Part III, Chapter 6 - The Concerto of Deliverance

There is a moment in this chapter where Hank Rearden carries a dying boy up a slag heap in the dark, and it might be the most human scene Ayn Rand ever wrote.