Biographies
Biographies of famous people in the field of finance.
First woman to buy a seat on the NYSE
Aged 80 years died Muriel "Mickie" Siebert - the first woman, member of the NYSE. 1968. Mickey has always been the most recognizable figure on WS Muriel "Mickie" Siebert became the first woman, taking place on the NYSE. She was the founder and owner of a brokerage firm, bearing her name - Muriel Siebert & Co. Inc. Jane Macon, director Siebert Financial, talking about her death, called her "a fairytale woman, pioneer and pioneer in the men's business world ", which raised the bar for everyone, entering the financial world after her. Nevertheless, она «открыв дверь, always kept it for people, following her ". She bought a spot on the NYSE in December 1967 after months of struggling with business resistance with a purely masculine dominance. Meriel Seabert (Muriel Siebert) - first female broker on the New York Stock Exchange - died 24 August aged 80 years. Writes about this The New York Times with reference to the member of the Board of Directors of Siebert Financial Corporation Jane Macon (Jane H. Macon).
David Swenson investments — Innovative portfolio management
Let's continue to get acquainted with the legends of Yale University, and concurrently with the legends of the economic/investment world. After Bob Schiller, let's move on to his guest during the recording of the cycle. lectures on finance – Дэвиду Свенсену.
Mr. Svensen manages Yale University's investments with 1985 of the year, systematically stagning S&P 500 with less volatility. (although alas, I have never understood how to compare with stupid, Sorry, dynamics S&P, for such a comparison does not contain any logical load. at least just because, that shares — it's only part of the portfolio).
Basically, it was he who created the approach/process of managing pension funds and other similar, and his Pioneering Portfolio Management стала библией среди управляющих. Generally, if Warren Buffett is an image of a pop guru, then Svensen is a guru for professionals. A little later, Svensen's book was published. Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment for individual investors, but we won't get to it (in prinitzpe the main salt in the main book).
Several reservations at once. You are as a private investor or a small professional (up to several billion.), just can't follow Svensen's full ideas. Ибо а) you don't have 30 Yards, in) you have taxes, with) your horizon is not infinity.
And another series of flaps. An unsophisticated reader may have an incorrect idea of active/passive management and the risk that endowment funds take.. Actually, the same Svanson is very active in managing the portfolio, it's just that this activity is not in the field of catching a weekly makimum on S&P. AND, just in case, не забывайте, that period under review — it's the greatest bull market, and the share of shares and leverage in the portfolio is much higher, чем это кажется на первый взгляд. Plus do not forget, that is illiquid (alternative asset classes) "держится" better in times of crisis (here the greater illiquid, all the better, because illiquid so-so can fall on 100%, and illiquid that is not traded can not).
Девид Свенсен: interview 2009 of the year, Yule Endowment 2010
so.
1. Вступление.
Concept. Agency problem. Active management.
2. Instrumental tasks.
Independence. The Story of Yuel. Examples are successful and not very good.
Stability. Examples.
Additional income provides an advantage in the quality of education.
3. Investment and current objectives.
Since the endowment must perform two functions — to preserve/increase funds for the future and at the same time serve as one of the sources of funds for financing current operating activities, contradictions often arise. How much to spend, сколько инвестировать. This is decided by the investment policy. Generally, the chapter is intuitive, but it is worth reading as many people know about the nuances of the financial life of universities. For example, the usual CPI for the endowment is irrelevant, the university has a different cost structure, отсюда и необходимость обганять свой собственный CPI.
4. Investment philosophy.
Concept:
1) asset classes (asset allocation)
2) рыночный тайминг (timing)
3) selection of specific tools (selection)
Timing here is perceived as a short-term deviation from long-term targets for asset allocation. Hence the non-perception of this fragment seriously. By Prinytspu — more harm, what is useful. Wherein, both items No. 2 and No. 3 constitute the active part of the management (although again, and the asset allocation process itself — it's that passive control?)). And then he is born., IMHO, extremely sound thought — active management is useful on inefficient (alternative asset classes) markets and harmful in effective (stock).
And a very incessant chat is about rebalancing.. That's what I understood., that they rebalance every day. Everyone. Rebalancing has pros and cons, but it is one of the main means of risk management. For sale then, that has grown (since the share of this instrument has grown), bought then, that has decreased or increased at a slower pace. With individual stocks, it would be suicide on the principle of selling good., buy bad. But with asset classes, the idea is very sound..
5. Asset Allocation.
Description of asset classes, in substance and style.
Assets Mix and Mean-Variance Optimization. Testing.
6. Asset Allocation Management.
Rebalancing, Leverage, sad examples.
7. Traditional Asset Classes.
8. Alternatives to asset classes.
9. Asset Class Management.
Stories and examples, that active management is wrong (hitting Jim Kramer, what's on the avatar)). Useful as stories, and a little bit in terms of applying logic to facts. Plus examples of the organization of investment structures.
10. Investment process.
About that, how to structure the process (Invetition Committees, organizational structure, т.д.). Also about the decision-making process itself, what it should be aimed at and what will interfere with its purity.
Resume.
Absolute must read for managers. A very interesting mix of abstraction and specificity.
Necessary for the emergence of their own thoughts in the first place.
More excerpts (tagged by me).
Why exactly they are now impossible to establish.
1. The first theme centers on the importance of taking actions within the context of an analytically rigorous framework, implemented with discipline and under-girded with thorough analysis of specific opportunities. In dealing with the entire range of investment decisions from broad-based asset allocation to issue-specific security selection, investment success requires sticking with positions made uncomfortable by their variance with popular opinion. Casual commitments invite casual reversal, exposing portfolio managers to the damaging whipsaw of buying high and selling low. Only with the confidence created by a strong decision-making process can investors sell mania-induced excess and buy despair-driven value.
7. Investment returns stem from decisions regarding three tools of portfolio management: asset allocation, market timing, and security selection. Investor behavior determines the relative importance of each aspect of portfolio management, with careful investors consciously constructing portfolios to reflect the expected contribution of each portfolio management tool.
33. Investors debate the frequency with which portfolios should be rebalanced. Some follow the calendar, transacting monthly, quarterly, or annually. Others attempt to control transactions costs, setting broad limits and trading only when allocations exceed specified ranges. A small number pursue continuous rebalancing, a strategy that provides greater risk control with potentially lower costs than either the calendar or trading range approaches. Continuous rebalancing requires daily valuation of portfolio assets. If asset class values deviate by as much as one or two tenths of a percent from target values, managers trade securities to achieve targeted levels. Trades tend to be small and accommodating to the market. Since rebalancing requires sale of assets experiencing relative price strength and purchase of assets experiencing relative price weakness, the immediacy of continuous rebalancing causes managers to sell what others are buying and buy what others are selling, thereby providing liquidity to the market. In contrast, rebalancing strategies not as responsive to the market require larger and less accommodating transactions, increasing market impact and transactions costs.
Exclusive interview with prop trader Mike Bellafore (SMB Capital)

The Great Samurai Warrior has the perfect combination of aggression and discipline.. Too much aggression — and the warrior becomes at risk of defeat. Too much discipline, and the warrior will never be able to attack. Prop Trader Mike Bellafore — a beautiful samurai warrior behind his trading place.
By pressing the exit button in a career in law, Mike Sent a Sharp Analytical Mind to Wall Street. Having survived the fashion of day trading on the technology boom in the late 90s, Mike teamed up with a close friend. Стивом Спенсером, to launch your own store: SMB Capital. Although the core of SMB's business is proprietary trade, the company also has a mission to develop training programs for traders. After researching several of their new learning products., I will be able to confirm, that SMB is good on the way to achieving its goal.
Recently, I was lucky enough to sit next to Mike and learn about his career., about that, how he raised SMB Capital, and his wisdom for traders.
«Trade — it is the ability to develop and discipline»
Damien Hoffman: Майк, as I, You are a lawyer by training. What made you leave the practice of law and move on to trading??
Майк: I was in my third year of law school., when I realized that jurisprudence — it's not the same, what I need. My best friend, Стив Спенсер, invited me to New York for a celebratory dinner. Steve and his roommate from Wharton (Школа бизнеса), Jared Keben, convinced me, that I should consider trading with their company. That's why I did it.. В двух словах, it was the best opportunity, which I had after graduating from law school.
Damien Hoffman: What was your reaction?, when you first saw the trading floor and trading guys?
Майк: My first reaction was to laugh just at the thought of it.. When we first started trading, there were no schedules. There was also no CNBC or news feed.. We had one old computer and no air conditioning. [both laugh].
Damien Hoffman: What a year it was??
Майк: 1998. When it got too hot, our decision was to send a gang of messengers for ice cubes and ice cream sandwiches. [both laugh]. We were in an unimpressive building on 50th Board Street.. The ceilings were 7-8 feet. We were all cramped., and perhaps to my left and right was 6 feet. I had to use the phone with another person. This, undoubtedly, not a picture of really rich Wall Street firms, that you could see in the movies. But the environment was competitive., filled with guys, who really like to trade, ребятами, who make a lot of money, good guys, and cheerful guys. Even with such an unimpressive infrastructure., it was a great opportunity.
Damien Hoffman: That sounds fun..
Майк: And so it was.!
Damien Hoffman: How did you succeed in that environment and get off the ship?, to start your own business?
Майк: That's a good question.. After a year at this firm, I had enough money., to trade on your account. And for more than ten years, this is what, чем я занимаюсь. Then came the moment., when trading became insufficient for me. I wanted to do something else. — чем-то большим, due to the lack of a better word. At the time, I found out., that there are many start-up companies, which attracted traders. I started thinking about, how I have learned over the past ten years and gained skills, which could serve well for that, to start this type of business.
The post is not over
Thomas R.. Demark / Thomas R. DeMark
Trader and Consultant Tom DeMark (Tom DeMark) recently invented dozens of original technical indicators and relies solely on technical timing principles in his research and trading. He even signed up for the CFA program once. (certified financial analyst - certified financial analyst), but decided not to go through it to the end. “Markets in the long term are characterized by basic. But my indicators measure psychology - that's what, what does technical analysis do ", - Demark explains. DeMarke's first immersion in the world of finance occurred after graduating from graduate school in two specialties - business and legal, after which, in the early 70s, he was hired as a fundamental analyst at the National Investment Service, located in Milwaukee (PCS. Wisconsin). The firm managed pension assets and assets with a joint profit of about 300 million. Doll., investing mainly in securities and fixed income shares. The strength of the National Investment Service was in timing. Demark, but …
Stephen Cohen / Steven Cohen
Stephen Cohen grew up in Great Neck, New York State, in the family of a clothing manufacturer and a piano teacher. The family was big and noisy. Cohen thinks, that it was here that he learned to concentrate on the main. And in cards, and at school Cohen did well. “In the mornings, he often had bundles of hundred-dollar bills on his desk.”, — recalls Donald, 47-summer accountant from Florida. “I've learned to take risks through poker”, — says Cohen. At the University of Pennsylvania he studied economics, played poker and became interested in the stock market. He opened an account with a brokerage firm Gruntal and put there $7000, intended for tuition fees. At the brokerage office closest to the hostel, he followed the market and, thanks to several transactions, earned enough, to pay all bills. IN 1978 G. Cohen took a job at Gruntal, where on the first day I earned for the company 8 000 $. Ultimately Cohen did approximately 100 000 $ a day for the company, to …
Richard Dennis / Richard Dennis
Richard Dennis, also known by the nickname "Prince of the Pit", born in Chicago, in January 1949. Early 1970s, he borrowed several thousand dollars and ten years later turned them into 200 million dollars. When a futures fund, run by Denis, suffered significant losses during the fall of the stock exchange 1987 of the year, he retired from trade for several years. Dennis started as a messenger on the trading floor of the Chicago CME Exchange in 17 years. Several years later, he began trading mini-contracts for his own account on the Mid-America Commodities Exchange.. After a series of successful deals, Denis bought a seat on the much more expensive Chicago Board of Trade. To get around the age limit, Richard worked as his own messenger and gave requests for execution to his father, who stood on his site in the "pit".
Paul Tudor Jones / Paul Tudor Jones
Paul Tudor Jones II was born 28 September 1954 years in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Paul Jones graduated from the University of Memphis, and later at the University of Virginia, he received a degree in economics. IN 1976 year quite successfully participated in the boxing championship in welterweight. He started his business career at 1976 year from the position of a clerk and soon grew to a broker at E.F. Hutton». With 1980 for two and a half years Paul was an independent trader. Then he went to Harvard Business School, but soon realized, something, what is taught in this school is not the same knowledge, which he wants to get. Therefore, he abandoned the idea of further education and asked for support and advice from his relative, William Danawant., specialized in cotton trade. William Danavant sent him to New Orleans, what would Jones talk to and big broker Eli Tallis, who offered him a pretty good job. Джонс начинает …
Nassim Nicholas Taleb / Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Born Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 1960 year, in the Lebanese city of Amioun. His family professed Orthodoxy. During the civil war, which began in 1975 year, they were deported. Father of Nassim Nicholas, Dr. Taleb was an oncologist, did anthropological research. Among his ancestors are politicians, representing the interests of the Orthodox community of Lebanon. So his maternal grandfather and great-grandfather were deputy prime ministers of Lebanon, paternal grandfather served as Chief Justice, and also in 1861 his great-great-great-great-grandfather served as governor of the semi-autonomous Ottoman province on Mount Lebanon. Taleb has held senior positions in brokerage firms in London and New York, and also worked on the stock exchange, before starting his own hedge fund company Empirica LLC (futures and options sales). He received his Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) At Wharton School and defended his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Paris. Author of "Dynamic Hedging" and "Fooled by Randomness".
Nicholas Leeson / Nicholas Leeson
Few things happened in the 1990s, who excited the world just as much, like the collapse of British bank Barings at the end of February 1995 of the year. What shocked the most was, that the bank, whose history included 233 of the year and who was entrusted with their money by representatives of the aristocracy and the royal family, collapsed as a result of overt and covert speculation by a single person - 28-year-old trader Nicholas Leeson (Nicholas Leeson). His self-confidence and passion for risk taking, as well as the greed and stupidity of his bosses, That, admiring the "sky-high" profits, turned a blind eye at the subordinate's scams, deprived the bank 850 million. фунтов стерлингов, killing the investment empire overnight, whose strength seemed unshakable. The story of the Barings collapse is extremely instructive, because it is not only the “quintessence of morality” of modern financial markets, but also a clear picture of that, What are the dire consequences of ineffective financial risk management?. IN 1996 year, being in prison on charges of forgery and deception, Leeson publishes his autobiography "Rogue Trader" ("Rogue trader"), Where is …