Month: July 2014

Coffee Mugs, Human Organs, and AK-47s

In a post entitled “The Future of Manufacturing” we pontificated on one of the technologies which our team and network had been encountering around the world. What we were seeing with 3D printing we believed was changing our world. Naturally, as investors we found an interest in the technology, even

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The World’s Most Crowded Trade

With over $900 billion invested into bond funds by mom-and-pop investors since the global financial crisis, the great law of unintended consequence is gearing up to rear its ugly head. Once again, money will be taken from those least able to afford it. Take a look at the graph below,

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Europe – Here is What the Wealthy are Doing

There are essentially three main reasons for using Banks: Storing cash for ease of transacting; Keeping cash safe from theft; Earning interest on your capital. As a teenager I remember opening my first bank account, diligently saving my money and watching it slowly grow. Receiving “official” mail was cool. I

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No Thanks, Call Me When You’re Dead

It’s no secret that Mark and I work with a lot of start-ups. In this capacity we align closely with various accelerators, incubators, venture capitalists, bankers and the attendant flotsam and jetsam in the early stage capital markets. All of the above mentioned folks are typically focusing on working to

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Value in France – Who Would have Thought?

Nowadays France is better known as the country which has managed to take incomprehensible, anti-growth, anti-sanity, bureaucratic policies, layer them on top of existing, mind-numbing socialist stupidity and have their citizens think it all as ordinary as chocolate cake. It’s enough to induce a guy to reach for Xanax, if

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A Bull Market in PR

The World Cup is on. I sat and watched a game on the weekend with my son. “Dad, that guy completely faked that fall. Couldn’t the ref see that?” My son, who watches precious little television noticed immediately how many of the players were pretending to be hurt at the

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The Importance of Buying Lots of Time

Early in 2012 I noted how cheap Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) appeared. Certainly the stock looked cheap, though when trading options I need more than just a cheap stock. Importantly, in this instance the availability of ultra-long term December 2016 expiration options (trading on the Amsterdam exchange) also seemed cheap,

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