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Thanks for all of your insights here, this was very interesting to digest. I just started reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" and it is solid so far. How

Thanks for all of your insights here, this was very interesting to digest. I just started reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" and it is solid so far. How good of an investing primer would you say it is for a novice? Are there other good books you'd recommend? Also, I do modeling for advertising as part of my day job, but I've always been curious how much of that analysis/optimization skillset is applicable to trading and risk modeling. Are there any good introductory primers you'd recommend? Lastly, in The Big Short movie, how accurate is the scene where they first have discussions with Goldman about the bespoke instrument? It looks like the quant sits there listening, the two Goldman folks whisper a bit, and then they say they'll do it under XYZ terms. I'm guessing in real life they'd meet, Goldman would go back and model stuff on their end to determine the terms, then come back with what they'd be willing to do and it wouldn't happen in the span of a conversation like that. Can you shed any light?

iaw 11y ago
I'm glad I could provide value. For finding good resources on personal investing (these sites will have the standard suggested reading): www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance www.bogleheads.com If you want to apply your abilities to investing it's a little harder. The theme of Malkiel's book is that there is no way to regularly beat the market, and I agree with him. There are opportunities but they require a great deal of effort, resources, and risk tolerance. Look into George Soros shorting the pound (I think that's the story), what I typically do now is follow along with what the big boys are doing publicly, evaluate it on my own, and then make an investment there. I avoid leveraging, futures, or going short because I will never be able to devote as much time to valuing them as other market participants. I have recently purchased a fair amount of Alcoa based on some "activist investor" market theses. What you want to do is learn the basics (how to invest personal money in the standard fashion, based on Malkiel and Bogle). Then come up with a riskier strategy on top of that that either leverages someone elses analytical hard work or requires minimal effort on your part. There are hundred of people you'd be competing with working hundred hour weeks if you were to try to play the leveraged game (doesn't mean you can't win thought). I never worked with Goldman or their ilk so I can't speak from personal experience. My guess would be that there was no personal meeting, just an email exchange followed by some quant analysis, followed by negotiation (in person, over phone, or over chat). You're definitely right that that scene was a hollywood fiction. If you want to chat more feel free to email me at iawHackerNews at gmail dot com.

iaw 11y ago

I'm glad I could provide value. For finding good resources on personal investing (these sites will have the standard suggested reading): www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance www.bogleheads.com If you want to apply your abilities to investing it's a little harder. The theme of Malkiel's book is that there is no way to regularly beat the market, and I agree with him. There are opportunities but they require a great deal of effort, resources, and risk tolerance. Look into George Soros shorting the pound (I think that's the story), what I typically do now is follow along with what the big boys are doing publicly, evaluate it on my own, and then make an investment there. I avoid leveraging, futures, or going short because I will never be able to devote as much time to valuing them as other market participants. I have recently purchased a fair amount of Alcoa based on some "activist investor" market theses. What you want to do is learn the basics (how to invest personal money in the standard fashion, based on Malkiel and Bogle). Then come up with a riskier strategy on top of that that either leverages someone elses analytical hard work or requires minimal effort on your part. There are hundred of people you'd be competing with working hundred hour weeks if you were to try to play the leveraged game (doesn't mean you can't win thought). I never worked with Goldman or their ilk so I can't speak from personal experience. My guess would be that there was no personal meeting, just an email exchange followed by some quant analysis, followed by negotiation (in person, over phone, or over chat). You're definitely right that that scene was a hollywood fiction. If you want to chat more feel free to email me at iawHackerNews at gmail dot com.