Our Answers From a Financial Blogger Panel on Investing

This week Abnormal Returns hosted a series of questions on investing and asked a panel of financial bloggers to give their answers.  We were honored to be included and have posted our answers below as well as links so you can see the answers from the other panel members as well.


Question: If you had a son or daughter just beginning to invest, what would you tell them to do to best prepare themselves for a lifetime of good investing?

Answer: "Take emotion out of the equation.  If you can think and act rationally when others do not, that’s an advantage.  Never stop learning… the best investors will tell you that investing is a continual education."  Check out others' responses here.


Q: Considering all the topics you have written about, which you you think is most underappreciated or overlooked by the majority of investors?

A: "Knowing which hedge funds to track.  Many people want to know what SAC Capital, RenTec, and Soros Fund are investing in.  The problem is hedge fund tracking only works if you’re following the right funds.  People get caught up in the big names when realistically SAC trades too frequently, RenTec is a quant (who knows why they buy anything) and Soros holds hundreds of positions.  People want updates on the ‘famous’ names, overlooking advice to the contrary."  See what everyone else answered here.


Q: If you could work, without pay, with any investor or trader for one year, who would it be? 

A: "John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital."  Check out what other investors people picked here.


Q: What piece of wisdom or advice do you most wish you had ignored?

A: This question makes you really think and we honestly couldn't come up with an answer.  There are some creative responses from others here though.


Q: In the past year what book, article or blog post changed the way you think about an important topic?

A: "Philippe Laffont (hedge fund Coatue Management) talked about his concentrated portfolio approach which makes you think about position sizing and focusing on your best ideas."  Everyone else submitted their choices here.


Q: What asset would you feel most comfortable buying and holding for the next ten years?

A: "Unconventional answer: Invest in yourself.  That’s one 'asset class' you have the most control over."  See everyone else's answers to this question here.


Thanks again to Abnormal Returns and be sure to click that link to scroll through the site to read all the responses from the panel on each question.

What We're Reading ~ Abnormal Returns Special Edition

Today we're pleased to have Tadas Viskanta of AbnormalReturns.com doing a guest linkfest for us.  If you're unaware, it's one of the best financial sites out there, aggregating insightful market links and content each day.

Tadas recently released his book, Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere and he's doing a blog tour to celebrate its launch.  So we thought it'd be fun to let Tadas take over our weekly linkfest and do what he does best.

Be sure to check out his book and stay tuned next week as we'll also post up a Q&A with him too.  Without further ado, onto the links:


What We're Reading ~ Special Edition

James Montier on the "flaws of finance."  (Advisor Perspectives) 

Four reasons why self-managed investors underperform using the "Magic Formula."  (Greenbackd)

What business do individuals have picking stocks?  (Random Roger) 

Why you should ignore the investment advice of previously successful guys.  (The Reformed Broker) 

The world's simplest stock valuation measure.  (Crossing Wall Street also Aleph Blog) 

Stale data sucks.  (Falkenblog) 

Why the low volatility anomaly persists - career risk.  (FT) 

"Low Risk Stocks Outperform within All Observable Markets of the World" by Nardin L. Baker and Robert A. Haugen.  (SSRN) 

Maybe we should focusing more on 'low beta' than 'low volatility' when investing?  (Above the Market) 

How the picks from last year's Ira Sohn Conference turned out.  (Absolute Return+Alpha) 

Quotes from the first Oaktree Capital Management ($OAK) conference call.  (Distressed Debt Investing) 

Paul Singer of Elliott Management on his most important attribute as an investor: "existential humility."  (Dealbook) 

The inner conflict of being a finance blogger.  (TechInsidr) 

Be a good member of social finance: cut down on the noise.  (Stock Sage) 


And last, but certainly not least, be sure to check out Tadas' book, Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere, as well as AbnormalReturns.com for daily market links and more.

Recommended Financial Sites/Blogs: AbnormalReturns.com

Continuing our series of highlighting some great financial blogs & sites out there for our readers, we want to turn our focus this time to AbnormalReturns.com. This site is an essential read for myself and many, many others out there. They don't waste time with forecasts and predictions. In fact, their original tagline was, 'A wide-ranging, forecast-free investment blog.'

So, if they don't forecast, what do they do? Simply put, they highlight the best financial articles on the web on any given day. Think of it this way: If you sat down and read practically all financial publications out there (both mainstream and blogs) each day, you would most likely find a handful of truly relevant and incisive articles worth "starring" in your RSS reader or Email. Abnormal Returns does all this for you. They find all the articles worth "starring," so you don't have to.

They highlight the most relevant and insightful pieces in the financial world on a daily basis and we are very appreciative of their efforts. In fact, many of our Market Folly articles have been highlighted on Abnormal Returns' daily links in the past and we are truly honored to be a part of their compilations.

So, check out AbnormalReturns.com. It saves you a ton of time and we guarantee you'll be hooked.