Well, if you ask the NFL owners it isn’t.
But a recent research paper sheds a different light on the business of investing in the NFL.
ETFs are where it’s at (in terms of new assets)
This is a great chart from the Dorsey Wright guys at alletf.com showing the growth in ETF assets through August 2011.
Takeaways: AUM growth ramping (in spite of a tough August), Blackrock ($BLK) is still a beast, and total number of ETFs at 1301, up 255 from this time last year.
Read ETF Assets Update (alletf.com)
Launch your fund with the help of your friends (and $$ off)
Cale Smith is a long time Tradestreaming supporter as we are of him and his efforts.
He’s a money manager and growing a movement, SpokeFund, to assist others in getting their ideas and businesses off the ground.
It’s an interesting bootstrapping model — one that aligns the small business owner/asset manager and investor — and one we spent considerable time understanding and learning about in one of Tradestreaming’s live events. (See the presentation deck From the Ground Up: Building a Successful Money Management Business.)
Think of Spoke Fund as Lean Startup for investment businesses.
Now for the good part…
Continue reading “Launch your fund with the help of your friends (and $$ off)”
Making sense of the Google, Motorola Deal – with Dan Hoffman
We’re doing something a little different with this interview.In the wake of the announcement that Google ($GOOG) was buying Motorola Mobility ($MMI), I wanted to understand the deal dynamics better.
I spoke with Dan Hoffman, CEO and President of M5, a managed VOIP solutions provider.Dan’s an Internet pioneer, founding an early ISP. M5 services enterprise clients with cloud telephony, on the forefront of telecommunications service.
In this interview, we address
- trends in software, hardware, and cloud
- value of the Motorola patent portfolio
- how Dan’s firm is leveraging technology advances, regardless of who ultimately wins
- how this acquisition would impact Apple ($AAPL) and Microsoft ($MSFT) Continue reading “Making sense of the Google, Motorola Deal – with Dan Hoffman”
Tradestreaming in the European Financial Review
As Tradestreaming — and our methodology of learning from investing experts — is gaining momentum, other periodicals are taking notice.
I appeared in this quarter’s print edition of the European Financial Review. I essentially wrote about Tradestreaming — how investors are taking advantage of the new media and research tools that social media is enabling.
As regular readers would recognize, I wrote about 3 strategies that investors can employ today to begin making better investment decisions (Ride the Long Tail, Piggyback the Pros, Commune with Experts)
I also included a paragraph about what I think the future has in store for investors: Continue reading “Tradestreaming in the European Financial Review”
Busting jackass myths to find more profitable investment strategies – with Mike Dever
I’ve been a fan of Mike Dever and his firm, Brandywine Asset Management since I first 
began learning about mutual funds 20 years ago. Mike joins us today on Tradestreaming Radio to discuss his new book, Jackass Investing— a book with 30 years of hard-earned investment experience. Mike describes multiple myths investors (and the media!) have about investing — and then proceeds to bust them. In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- why conventional investment wisdom requires investors to take unnecessary risks
- why some investors continue to believe in myths and underperform
- how to open up to new strategies to give you greater diversification
- what “return drivers” are and how they enable profitable investments Continue reading “Busting jackass myths to find more profitable investment strategies – with Mike Dever”
Insight into the Twitter hedge fund
This is interesting. Here’s an interview with Paul Hawtin, founder of Derwent Capital Markets (the Twitter hedge fund).
I find this compelling because it’s one of the first hedge funds that’s designed (so publicly, at least) to trade on changes in social media sentiment.
According to MoneyScience, you’ll learn:
- How the Twitter hedge funds’s signals are computer
- Operational set up and infrastructure of Derwent
- Trade generation
- The “Michael Jackson” Test: Is the Twitter hedge fund an automated black box?
- Risk Management
- Will large scale analysis of social media be part of quant trading and investing from now on?
- Who is invested in the Twitter hedge fund?
- Capacity, Target return
Making 16% a year investing in taxi medallions – with Andrew Murstein
Did you know corporate taxi medallions in New York City fetch close to $1M?
Continuing to look at alternative investments, I stumbled upon investing in taxi medallions. The data show that a NYC taxi medallion would have returned 16% per year on average for the past 60 years — smoking traditional asset classes.
Medallion Financial’s (Nasdaq: TAXI) CEO, Andrew Murstein joins us to talk about the particulars of the taxi business and how he’s grown his firm into the largest financing arm of taxi medallions.
You’ll learn:
- how to purchase a medallion
- how much a taxi driver makes
- how to finance a medallion
- why industry dynamics have made taxi medallions great investments over the long term
- what the future holds for the investment
Continue reading “Making 16% a year investing in taxi medallions – with Andrew Murstein”
3 ways to improve your chances with mining stocks
I’ve been interested in learning more about investing in mining companies for a long time.
For me, the mining industry offers huge returns/losses (not unlike biotech).
A successful investor must be able to grapple with 3 things that sets the mining industry apart from its industrial competitors: Continue reading “3 ways to improve your chances with mining stocks”
Radical social investing needs parallel educational framework
Interesting post by SellPuts at Hedge Accordingly about the impact of social investing. Investors have seen an onslaught of new financial startups, research platforms, and tools to share all this.
But, nothing tries new investing tools and strategies like big movements drops in the stock market.
The article discusses the radical impact of social investing on retail investors, using an car metaphor (beware, money quote): Continue reading “Radical social investing needs parallel educational framework”