The Big Short ~ Movie Trailer (Based on Michael Lewis' Book)

Michael Lewis' popular book, The Big Short, has now made it to the big screen.  The first trailer of the movie has been released that brings the story of the financial crisis and the US housing short to life.

Here's the cast:

- Christian Bale as Michael Burry
- Steve Carrell as Steve Eisman
- Ryan Gosling as Greg Lippmann
- Brad Pitt as Ben Hockett

The movie will be released around Christmas this year.  Embedded below is the video of the movie trailer:



While you wait for it to be released, definitely check out Michael Lewis' book The Big Short if you haven't already.  It's based on a true story and is a fantastic read.

Michael Burry Buys Agricultural Land & Gold

Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager made famous in Michael Lewis' book The Big Short, was recently interviewed by Bloomberg on a myriad of topics. Burry, a value investor by nature, bet against subprime right before its peak. Given his prescient call, many other investors are eager to find out what his next big play is. Well, his next investment seems to be land.

In particular, Burry believes, "that agricultural land, productive agricultural land with water on site, will be very valuable in the future. And I've put a good amount of money into that. So I'm investing in alternative investments as well as stocks." This stance plants him in the same camp as legendary investor Jim Rogers. The former Quantum Fund co-manager has been a vocal bull on agriculture claiming that people should trade in their Lamborghini's for tractors.

Given his past bet against the housing market, it was interesting to hear Burry's thoughts on real estate this time around. He thinks it's an "artificial market" and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are essentially withholding properties from sale and not forcing foreclosures. He feels it would be best if the government exited the mortgage market. On the topic of investing in real estate, he says:

"I think there is some value in real estate. You have to buy it right. It's not in general, that's the problem. I think that there are an awful lot of people out there looking to buy these distressed properties out there and so you need to find special situations. That is how i've invested from the beginning. I'm looking for these special situations, these unique ideas and that's true in real estate too ... In my situation I'd rather go long on housing itself, real estate itself. Depending on how you structure it, in the real market, in the physical market, you can get some pretty good deals and I've done some of that too."

Finally, Burry has also caught the gold bug and likes the precious metal as well. Embedded below are two videos from Burry's interview (email readers will need to come to the site to watch them):

Video 1 on Accountability



Video 2 on Investing



To learn about Burry's fascinating past, check out his story in the book The Big Short. For more on his past wager, head to his primer on credit default swaps & the subprime mortgage short which he penned back in 2006.

Michael Lewis' New Book: The Big Short

Noted author Michael Lewis' newest book entitled The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine was just released. Recently, the television show "60 Minutes" had a feature on this book and interviewed Michael Lewis as well as Scion Capital hedge fund manager Michael Burry, who Lewis profiled in the book for his bet against subprime.

The most fascinating aspect about this story is how Burry saw how subprime was deteriorating even long before the most 'famous' managers who also profited on this play (like John Paulson). If you enjoyed Gregory Zuckerman's book on John Paulson entitled The Greatest Trade Ever, then it seems you would also be fond of Lewis' new book.

Embedded below are two videos from "60 Minutes" on CBS where Steve Kroft interviews both author Michael Lewis and hedgie Michael Burry. Email readers will need to come to the site to watch the videos:

Video 1

Watch CBS News Videos Online


Video 2

Watch CBS News Videos Online



It definitely sounds like a captivating story as Lewis writes about how Wall Street outsiders figured out what was going on and then won big. It's definitely worth checking out Michael Lewis' new book, The Big Short. We'll certainly be reading it and will post up a review when finished.