chrisloh65 said:
And the larger portfolio you have, the more closely you should watch it grow (instead of just investing into passive index ETFs) because nobody has more interest in growing your own portfolio than you yourself.
This is actually not true, and if anything it’s the opposite of what’s happening at the biggest real-money investors. My absolute favorite example is NVPERS, the Nevada Public Employee Retirement System, which manages somewhere around thirty billion dollars... and it’s all run by one dude, who sticks it entirely in indexes.
The gargantuan CALPERS fund next door in California—which runs north of three hundred billion dollars—did the same thing at the start of this year: they pulled nearly all of their equity investments away from active managers and moved them to passive index-tracking strategies. (They do still have some allocation to private-equity and other more esoteric asset classes, but after the scandal around their recently-departed CIO, I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut their private-equity business substantially as well.)
So, Chris, look, I understand you have a very high opinion of your own trading ability, but extending your experience to other professional investors much larger than you just makes you look silly.
Shiny Things,
I am talking about managing your own portfolio, and the larger portfolio you have, the more closely you should watch it grow (instead of just investing into passive index ETFs) because nobody has more interest in growing your own portfolio than you yourself.
However, all those that you quoted are people managing funds for other people and pocketing profits from managing other people's money, so you are basically talking about "Orange" in response to what I am talking about "Apple", looks like you have difficulty in comprehension?
Furthermore, if people are willing to let me manage Billions of $ and I can collect multiple-Millions $ salary every year by just putting into passive index ETFs (like those you quoted), why not? I will then have ZERO responsibility and don't have to justify why I underperform in active investing and still collect big fat salary year in year out with ZERO responsibility! So simple you also don't understand regarding the psychology of those you mentioned? No wonder you said those people like those managing CALPERS fund has it too good! Collect Multiple-Millions $ but ZERO responsibility by just investing in passive index ETFs!
chrisloh65 said:
And if you can grow your large portfolio faster, why need to work for people?
This is a facetious point, but I’m going to give it a more sensible answer than it deserves: because running other people’s money gives you a larger base for your compensation.
For example, Chris, if you were actually as good a trader as you claim you are, you’d make a lot more money as a PM at a hedge fund than you would running your own portfolio. You’d be earning 1.5-and-15 (it’s not 2-and-20 any more) on a much larger pool of assets.
I am not from a finance/investment background, so I never thought about doing a job as PM at hedge fund nor any investment banking companies (nor do I believe anybody would consider me since I don't have the pre-requisite finance/investment qualifications). However, I am very happy to have achieved FI now based on high returns I generated from my investments and can generate more than enough returns annually (to spend as living expenses and with cash to spare) from managing my own portfolio without having to do a job and see the colors of other people's face.
Shiny Things,
Since you are working in the investment/finance sector and since you talk as though you are such a damned good professional investor,
why are you not working as a PM at a hedge fund to make a lot more money since you keep dreaming about how much more money you can earn as a PM at a hedge fund and even advocating us to do so if we could? That would be very much better than doing your current much lower paying job or earning pittance from writing books or soliciting consultancy from HWZ to earn pittance consultancy fees right?
Oh, don't tell us you are NOT the "good professional investor" you are portraying yourself to be here and you are not good enough to be a PM at a hedge fund so no choice no chance to earn a lot more money as a PM that you keep dreaming about?
Probably that is the difference between you and me:
I am not from investment/finance sector so not eligible as PM of hedge fund based on qualifications (but I have achieved FI), but
you are from investment/finance sector but you are NOT good enough to be PM of hedge fund even though you have the investment/finance qualifications (hence you have not achieved FI and have to continue to work on a job and see the colors of other people's face)!
No wonder you want to keep continuing singing praises that investing in passive index ETFs is the best (since you don't want to admit that those PM of hedge funds are so much better than you and you cannot make the cut among them to earn that much more money like them that you keep dreaming about)!
Heck, how good it would be to be a PM of a hedge fund or any investment fund (like CALPERS) but you can just invest everything into passive index ETFs and collect big fat salary with zero responsibility right?!
