Saturday, August 09, 2014

Fresh Perspectives in the Financial Media: The Aleph Blog

This series of posts began with a look at The Reformed Broker, a financial blog that offers insight for investors and money managers, not just traders looking for the headlines du jour.  Many thanks to Josh for his kind tweet following the post.

This post covers another site that is distinguished by its broad perspective and especially its offerings of wisdom as well as information:  the Aleph Blog of David Merkel.  Traders are inundated with market data and have plenty of information to sift through.  Wisdom, however is special:  it's the distilled experience of knowledgeable market participants who have been there and done that. 

Check out David's perspective on hot and cold industries and when it makes sense to play momentum and when it makes sense to invest in value.  So often, equity traders and investors take either a momentum or a value approach to markets, failing to adapt when one strategy takes the lead from the other.  Having a way of thinking that enables you to invest flexibly can help traders and investors avoid the large drawdowns that result from being out of sync with markets.

Yet another valuable piece of market wisdom is contained in the post on why the substance of investments matters more than the form.  There are many vehicles available for investing in companies, from mutual funds to ETFs to hedge funds.  When markets become relatively efficient, what matters greatly are things like the fees charged by the managers and the track records of the managers.  What also matters is the dry powder kept uninvested during those efficient times, so that money can be put to work when valuations become less rational.

Most of all, check out the list of best posts within Aleph Blog.  When a savvy writer takes the time to survey his work and curate the best of the lot, the odds are good that wisdom is there to be found.  David's 2004 post on what to look for during market tops is as relevant today as then.  That's the nature of wisdom: it never goes out of date.
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