Why I Do What I Do

13Aug08

There are a lot of investing-related blogs doing their thing out there in the blogosphere and I’m very interested in understanding why. What motivates all of these nuts to spend their bit of time on this earth educating you and me on the ways of these unruly markets?

Note: Abnormal Returns has done some very good posts on this subject like this one.

I of course am one of these nuts, so I want to take a step back and share the three reasons why I do what I do. As a side benefit, this will also be the post I’ll refer to when I receive the obligatory email asking me “if you’re so good, why are you wasting time with this research and not sitting on a beach somewhere?”

Reason #1: Keeping the Idea Factory Full

I try to write 3-4 quality posts a week about something (hopefully) new and interesting that will make people say hmmm.  Keeping up that kind of pace means that I have to be very good about following what the other boys and girls of blogging are saying, and doing my part to build off of their ideas and move this collective discussion forward.

On very rare occasion, in doing all of my number-crunching, I discover something that sends me down an entirely new path that maybe (just maybe) is good enough to add to my own models. In other words, keeping this blog going forces me to keep the idea factory in my head full of new toys to play with.

Reason #2: I Never Share Anything I Would Trade Myself

I hope this doesn’t come across as prickish, but when I do find something that gives me a real competitive edge, I don’t blog about it…this is a zero sum game we play.

Everything else I share in the hope that readers will put their own spin on my results to find their own unique edge. Here’s the rub though, if you do, please share with the group…or better yet, just me =)

Reason #3: The Profit Motive

In business school they liked to say that when you get down to brass tacks, all good things in this world are a result of someone’s profit motive. If that’s true, then I hope this blog is no different.

Here’s my formula. I work hard to put out new and interesting content. The citizens of the blogosphere recognize brilliance when they see it (and sarcasm) and I build a loyal group of readers. And once a month I get to sneak in a post talking about how my models performed that month (like this most recent one).

As the story goes, this loyal group of readers (a) “knows me” because they’re reading my rants every week, (b) knows that my models are independently-audited and why that’s so important, and (c) is reminded once a month just how good we are. The perfect target market.

Of course, if you’re just here for the free research, that’s okay too mooch.

Happy Trading,
ms

 

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