Posts Tagged ‘Risk’

Edge Is Everything

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October 17, 2017

I have been meaning to read Ed Thorp’s new book A Man for All Markets. Short on time in recent weeks, I settled instead for a succinct interview with Thorp in Jack Schwager’s book Hedge Fund Market Wizards. Below are highlights in which Thorp shares his thoughts on position sizing and risk management. Key takeaways: (1) […]

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Columbia Interview with Kingstown – Part 1

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July 3, 2017

Greetings! It has been a very long time since our last PM Jar article. In 2015-2016, a variety of opportunities emerged in the marketplace, and I was busy actively investing and implementing PM Jar concepts at Marram Investment Management. If you are curious about this implementation process and its outcome, here’s a link to Marram’s […]

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Soros’ Alchemy – Chapter 4

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March 30, 2016

Seth Klarman of Baupost wrote in a 1996 Letter that one should always be cognizant of whether seemingly different investments are actually the same bet in order to avoid risk of concentrated exposures. In other words, the task of risk management involves identifying (and if necessary, neutralizing) common risks underlying different portfolio holdings. One such […]

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BlueCrest’s Michael Platt

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December 19, 2015

Michael Platt and BlueCrest Capital have been in the headlines recently as the latest hedge fund billionaire to return external capital and morph into a private partnership / family office. Below are portfolio management tidbits from Platt’s interview with Jack Schwager in Hedge Fund Market Wizards. Capital Preservation, Risk, Team Management “I have no appetite […]

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Whitebox on Risk & Risk Management

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March 21, 2015

There must be something in the Whitebox water supply: it’s producing an army of investment math nerds with acute self-awareness and sensibilities, led by their fearless leader Andy Redleaf. Those of you who have not yet seen Whitebox’s “10 Enduring Principles To Interpret Constant Market Change” are missing out — it is absolutely worth three […]

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Cross-Pollination: Volatility & Options

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February 1, 2015

In our continual search for differentiation in this fiercely competitive investment biosphere, we remain intrigued by the idea of cross-pollination between investment strategies. After all, regardless of strategy, all investors share a common goal: capital compounding through the creation of return asymmetry over time. Fundamental investors often shy away from options and volatility, labeling them […]

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Howard Marks’ Book: Chapter 19

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November 11, 2014

This concludes our series on portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 19 “The Most Important Thing Is…Adding Value” Trackrecord, Compounding, Capital Preservation “It means relatively little that a risk taker achieves a high return in a rising market, or that a conservative investors […]

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Howard Marks’ Book: Chapter 18

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October 7, 2014

Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 18 “The Most Important Thing Is…Avoiding Pitfalls” Risk, Volatility “…trying to avoid losses is more important than striving or great investment successes. The latter can be achieved some of the time, but the occasional failures […]

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Howard Marks’ Book: Chapter 17

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August 9, 2014

Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 17 “The Most Important Thing Is…Investing Defensively” — a rather apt topic given today’s market environment. Psychology, Capital Preservation, Expected Return, Risk, Opportunity Cost “What’s more important to you: scoring points or keeping your opponent […]

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Baupost Letters: 2000-2001

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July 1, 2014

This concludes our series on portfolio management and Seth Klarman, with ideas extracted from old Baupost Group letters. Our Readers know that we generally provide excerpts along with commentary for each topic. However, at the request of Baupost, we will not be providing any excerpts, only our interpretive summaries. For those of you wishing to […]

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Cliff Asness on Volatility, Risk & Loss

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May 18, 2014

The debate on the relationship between volatility, risk, and permanent impairment of capital rages on. Below are some thoughts on the subject from Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, extracted from an article titled “My Top 10 Peeves” published earlier this year in the Financial Analysts Journal. “Volatility” Is for Misguided Geeks; Risk Is Really […]

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A Chapter from Swensen’s Book

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February 27, 2014

Given his reputation and the title of the book, we would be remiss not to feature excerpts from David Swensen’s Pioneering Portfolio Management. Below are portfolio construction & management highlights from Chapter 6: Portfolio Management. The manager anecdotes in this chapter are fairly interesting too, providing readers a window into how an institution (Yale/Swensen) evaluates its […]

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Wisdom From James Montier

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February 1, 2014

I have a confession to make: I have a huge crush on James Montier. I think the feeling might be mutual (see picture below, from a signed copy of his book Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investment.) Jokes aside, below are some fantastic bits from his recent essay titled “No Silver Bullets.”     […]

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Klarman’s Margin of Safety: Ch.13 – Part 3

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January 13, 2014

This is a continuation in our series of portfolio construction & management highlights extracted from Seth Klarman’s Margin of Safety. In Chapter 13 (Portfolio Management and Trading) – Part 3 below, Klarman shares his thoughts on a number of portfolio construction and management topics such as risk management, hedging, and correlation. Portfolio Management, Risk “The challenge of successfully managing an […]

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Klarman’s Margin of Safety: Ch.13 – Part 2

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January 8, 2014

This is a continuation in our series of portfolio construction & management highlights extracted from Seth Klarman’s Margin of Safety. In Chapter 13 (Portfolio Management and Trading) – Part 2 below, Klarman shares his thoughts on the illusory nature of liquidity, and the tricky task of knowing when to sell. Liquidity, Catalyst, When To Buy, When To […]

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How Selective Is Too Selective?

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December 14, 2013

A very smart friend and I were trading emails recently (comparing notes on a particularly hairy investment) and our conversation veered toward the issue of selectivity in an increasingly expensive and upward moving market. We reminisced about the good ol’ days (2008-2010) when fairly good businesses would trade at 5x FCF, or banks with clean […]

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Asymmetry Revisited

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November 22, 2013

Return asymmetry is a topic that emerges over and over again on PM Jar. It’s a topic that spans across investments strategies and philosophies (see the end of this article for links to previous PM Jar articles on return asymmetry). This is no coincidence – creating (positive) return asymmetry over time is the hallmark of […]

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Howard Marks’ Book: Chapter 15

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November 10, 2013

Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 15 “The Most Important Thing Is…Having a Sense for Where We Stand.” Cash, Risk, Opportunity Cost “The period from 2004 through the middle of 2007 presented investors with one of the greatest opportunities to outperform […]

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Baupost Letters: 1999

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October 9, 2013

Continuation in our series on portfolio management and Seth Klarman, with ideas extracted from old Baupost Group letters. Our Readers know that we generally provide excerpts along with commentary for each topic. However, at the request of Baupost, we will not be providing any excerpts, only our interpretive summaries, for this series. Sizing, Catalyst, Expected […]

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The Managing vs. Marketing of Risk

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July 11, 2013

There’s something in the Santa Barbara water (or wine) that produces some extremely thoughtful investors/writers. Some of you already know that I’m a fan of Eric Peters of Weekend Notes (who resides in Santa Barbara). A friend recently told me about Stephen Duneier of Bija Capital Management (another Santa Barbara resident) who also has been writing […]

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