gold-pattern

  Why I Go To Investment Conferen I’m off to a conference this week for the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA).  Why am I going?  What do I hope to get out it?  When you go to investment gatherings, what are your expectations?   I’ve garnered essential benefits from a wide variety of seminars and conferences, and those benefits serve as an informal “goals list” for this week’s IFTA event. 1.       I’m less interested in the speakers’ prognostications and future outlooks, and more interested in their systematic methods of analysis.  If they offer up one without the other, I am not shy in challenging them for specifics. 2.      I have a rule that I don’t read investment books unless they come recommended to me by at least two people I respect.  There are just too many bad and misleading how-to books out there.  I’m a little like that with new resources as well, such as advanc...

  Wall Street's Complexity versus Investors' Profits & Simplicity   “Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.”   -- Pete Seeger As a long-time trader, I am living breathing proof that simplicity and profits are positively correlated while complexity and profits are inversely correlated.   In other words, as my 25 year investing career has jettisoned multiple methodologies and numerous indicators, my profits have became more regular and predictable while my losing ratio has diminished.   This is the absolute antithesis of what Wall Street wants you to believe.     Wall Street lives and breathes on complexity.   They pitch derivatives of every variety and alternative funds for specific self-serving reasons.   1.     They want to convince investors that it’s far too complicated for them to manage their own money – therefore, the wisest decision is for investors to just g...