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Thread: How do you guys know so much?

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    Moderator charlie61's Avatar
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    Default How do you guys know so much?

    Every time I go into Dollar Den, my jaw hits the floor at what you guys who frequent DD know--especially Melonie (of course).

    I consider myself relatively well-informed, but you guys seem to know every nook and cranny of the economic world.

    How would you recommend getting better-informed about relevant issues? Whether it be taxes, IRS info, the stock market, etc.

    What are your favorite resources for information? Websites? Books? Classes? How did you go from and to and

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    Moderator charlie61's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Haha I'm a big fan of the underused smilies...

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by charlie61 View Post
    What are your favorite resources for information? Websites? Books? Classes?
    Wesbites: respected news sources and industry blogs. Forums populated by people who have been doing what I do for longer than me. However, there's much garbage around and many people who speak loudly and are convinced they're right (Taleb being the king). Learning how to sort the wheat from the chaff is quite important.

    Books: Textbooks. Biographical works

    Classes: Uni. School of hard knocks


    Career progression in finance:

    : Oshit I don't know anything
    : All these people know more than me. Better start listening and learning and reading.What do all these funny words mean?
    : I know more than the newbies - yes! let's see if I can critically evaluate all the stuff I read in analyst reports and websites
    : I know more than some of my colleagues! I can tell good from bad trading strategies!
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

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    Veteran Member person's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    and then
    : Now I know enough to know how much I don't know
    and
    : SW
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

  5. #5
    Moderator charlie61's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Haha I like it! Right now, I'm definitely at the stage.

    Specifically, which websites/books/etc. were/are most helpful to you? Which would you recommend for dumbtards like myself?

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Now I know enough to know how much I don't know
    ain't that the truth ...


    which websites/books/etc. were/are most helpful to you
    actually, my BEST source of information has always been Manhattan bankers, brokers, attorneys & politicians drunkenly discussing issues amongst themselves in VIP rooms ... all the while assuming that the big titted blonde on their lap was way too dumb to even begin to understand what they were talking about !

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    Moderator charlie61's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    ain't that the truth ...




    actually, my BEST source of information has always been Manhattan bankers, brokers, attorneys & politicians drunkenly discussing issues amongst themselves in VIP rooms ... all the while assuming that the big titted blonde on their lap was way too dumb to even begin to understand what they were talking about !
    HA! I LOVE IT!

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    A bunch are more technical books, probably not good for personal investing adivce. Ozonomics for me was great, because I don't have an economic background and it was entertaining as well as easy to understand. A Random Walk Down Wall Street is good for historical perspective and an overview of the various "techniques" you'll hear people talking about - highly recommended. Emanual Derman's biography is a great read.

    Websites... off the top of my head
    - Bloomberg and Reuters for news
    - Mish's (http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/) for editorials
    - Marketwatch for news
    - Implode-explode for news and editorials
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    actually, my BEST source of information has always been Manhattan bankers, brokers, attorneys & politicians drunkenly discussing issues amongst themselves in VIP rooms ... all the while assuming that the big titted blonde on their lap was way too dumb to even begin to understand what they were talking about !
    That's cheating. I need to grow some tits

    But yeah. I used to trade commodities. A large part of that game is drinking heavily with brokers and your competitors to try and get information
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Ozonomics: http://www.james5.org/2007/09/29/ozo...ew-and-quotes/ (For you Americans, vastly oversimplifying, the "Liberal" party is like your Republicans and the"Labor" party is sort of like your Democrats)

    Random walk Down Wall Street: http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Do.../dp/0393330338

    E-Man's biography: http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Quant-.../dp/0471394203
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by person View Post
    Wesbites: respected news sources and industry blogs. Forums populated by people who have been doing what I do for longer than me. However, there's much garbage around and many people who speak loudly and are convinced they're right (Taleb being the king). Learning how to sort the wheat from the chaff is quite important.

    Books: Textbooks. Biographical works

    Classes: Uni. School of hard knocks


    Career progression in finance:

    : Oshit I don't know anything
    : All these people know more than me. Better start listening and learning and reading.What do all these funny words mean?
    : I know more than the newbies - yes! let's see if I can critically evaluate all the stuff I read in analyst reports and websites
    : I know more than some of my colleagues! I can tell good from bad trading strategies!
    Then you reach enlightment/Nirvana. Where all the financial knowledge you gained didn't help to beat a simple Total Return Index. The time that could have been spent with
    * Family/Friends
    * Real life skills that helps you become the top earner in your industry (Obviously doesn't apply if you already are in the Finance/Trading industry)

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    Veteran Member person's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    If you believe Xan, then you just put all your money into buying DJI and just sit back and post on SW and shake your fist at . It's a matter of personal responsibility that you learn enough to convince yourself whether this is a good idea or not and why.
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by person View Post
    If you believe Xan, then you just put all your money into buying DJI and just sit back and post on SW and shake your fist at . It's a matter of personal responsibility that you learn enough to convince yourself whether this is a good idea or not and why.
    Maybe you are an Aussie and probably don't know much about US indices, but the minute anyone talks about DJI being an index to anything (other than mass media), it shows their cluelessness about
    * Stocks
    * Return/Risk or Sharpe Ratio
    * Separating Luck from Skill
    * Separating Price and Value of an asset
    * Random Walks and correlations
    * Owners Earnings
    etc.

  14. #14
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    ^^^ I have to admit though that Xan may have been right about the 'value' of investing in Citigroup on a dollar cost averaging basis many months ago ... assuming of course that their stock shares will be bouyed significantly by the impending $700 billion infusion of US taxpayer bailout money.

    However, on a personal basis, I always come up against ethics problems i.e. profiting from investments whose gains specifically depend on gov't mandated bilking the US taxpayer ... i.e. Citigroup / JP Morgan Chase / Bank of America in the financial arena, Archer Daniels Midland / Pacific Ethanol in the corn ethanol arena, Evergreen / REC in the solar arena, etc.

    ... I include this historical tidbit purely for entertainment purposes ... i.e. how things have changed since Democrats obtained majority control of congress in 2006 (when this article was written)




    of course, if you look at the performance of the 'blue' stocks mentioned in that old news story 2 years later, only Apple Computer has really earned significant gains for investors.



    ~
    Last edited by Melonie; 09-27-2008 at 05:42 PM.

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    Veteran Member person's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by xanfiles1 View Post
    Maybe you are an Aussie and probably don't know much about US indices, but the minute anyone talks about DJI being an index to anything (other than mass media), it shows their cluelessness about
    * Stocks
    * Return/Risk or Sharpe Ratio
    * Separating Luck from Skill
    * Separating Price and Value of an asset
    * Random Walks and correlations
    * Owners Earnings
    etc.
    You know, you could always say "DJI does not match the concept of 'Total Return Index' which I was talking about, which actually refers to *etc* *etc*" instead of throwing baseless insults around.

    In my estimation, I know quite a bit about your laundry list of things I'm allegedly clueless about, but obviously we're using different terminology.

    Okay... just found what you're taking about (http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/html...Roverview.html) and I'll have to read some more literature on factoring dividends as well as price movement into measuring company performance. At first glance I don't see how looking at indexes which factor this in is such a life-changing experience, but unlike you I'm not willing to jump to conclusions and will go do some reading and talk to some index traders I work with. Thanks for pointing out the distinction between a market cap index and a total return index.

    Anyway - enough thread derailing!
    Last edited by person; 09-27-2008 at 06:27 PM.
    Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor
    - Dr John Zoidberg

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    Veteran Member StuartL's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    All I can say is that I have sat dozens of personal finance exams over the years and have 7 professional qualifications. I also read economic books a lot.

    But honestly, I would agree with the sentiments above ... The more I know, the more I realise that I don't know. Imagine Rummy and his 'known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns'. It's a bit like that for me. That might not be helping much though!!

    I'd suggest that you start with somewhere like financialsense.com, buy the economist for a while and err, wish for luck.

    Good luck,

    Stuart

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    The two methods that helped was:

    The Wall Street Journal and Motley Fool.

    Motley Fool explains things in easy-to-understand language and is very informative.

    I learned a lot from the Wall Street Journal because usually it will explain terms in the article.

    Overall, I would just try to read as much as possible and have a basic book on finance to help you get through all the terminology.

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    Moderator charlie61's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Thanks guys! Great ideas for getting started.

  19. #19
    Bianca O'Blivion
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Quote Originally Posted by person View Post
    That's cheating. I need to grow some tits

    But yeah. I used to trade commodities. A large part of that game is drinking heavily with brokers and your competitors to try and get information
    Heh heh, I bow before Melonie's financial expertise.

    I also get a lot of info from customers, but I just ask or easedrop. & I always pester my sugar daddies- my last was in the Petro Chemical Industry so I got a lot of info from him.

    Even if you can't hustle a customer for money, you can gain knowledge from him!!!!!

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    Member Ook's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    I've had a bunch of classes in economics, law, finance, and accounting over the last 25 years, but I mostly keep up by reading. I started my first business when I was 12, and have had a couple of successful ones since then- I think I've probably learned more practical stuff from that than any class I've taken.

    I strongly recommend subscribing to "The Economist"*. Publications like the Wall Street Journal and even the Financial Times are too day to day to get any perspective on things and are just plain boring as hell- The Economist is much better written and comes out once a week on Saturday.

    *And you'll get the most interesting junk mail of your life if you subscribe to it! :-)

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    I learned from the school of Personal Finance hard knocks. Did everything wrong, filed BK, and build my credit back up, read voraciously on investing, building passive income, and completed the PhD course of stock market trading at Investools.com

    I'm a technician, not an investor in the stock market. I read charts
    Rebecca Avalon







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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    I don't know nearly as much as, say, Melonie, but my former (still kinda current) love-interest knows his shit and he taught me so much.

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    With hindsight, I would add that 'The Essays of Warren Buffett' by Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham is pretty much the best book ever put together about management, business, finance and investing. Read that 3 or 4 times and you will know virtually all that you may ever need about finance.

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    Read Milton Friedman's books. Yes, yes, I know he was a doctrinaire "free market capitalist". All to the good afaic. But he explained a LOT in relatively easy to understand terms.
    Read the Business Section of a GOOD newspaper- the Washington Post or N.Y. Times. Read the WSJ. Watch Cramer and Kudlow on CNBC.
    Last edited by Eric Stoner; 09-30-2008 at 07:26 AM.

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    Default Re: How do you guys know so much?

    ::taking notes::

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