Rules to Keep Your Skin in Wall Street Massacre

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=aH545r_muZkU&refer=news

by dpapathanasiou • 18 years ago

17 8 18 years ago

bloomberg.com

time_management• 18 years ago

Michael Lewis is great. I love reading his columns. Thanks for posting this.

adnam• 18 years ago

Interestingly shameless.

rickd3• 18 years ago

Absolutely. I have to say I was disappointed by the article though.

This wasn't "how to keep your shirt" - this was "how to keep your shirt if you have the resources to start your own fund. oh, and you'll basically be screwing your investors- so just don't tell them."

I would really like to see some useful investment advice. For the time being I've dumped all my various investments into a fixed return fund (3.3%). But there's got to be something else I can do...

steveplace• 18 years ago

Some other things you can do:

1) Reduce your portfolio delta. If you're exposed to the long side, you can pick up some shorts, buy some puts on existing positions, or sell vertical calls to overlay.

2) Collar your positions. That involves buying a put and selling a call at the strike. This should be a net gain which reduces your risk (and reward) to the market.

3) Diversify into non-correlated investments. That means expanding out of one asset class (in your case fixed income) into several others that may not necessarily move with the market. That can include some inverse ETFs.

4) Go cash until you have a plan.

Disclaimer: Use at own risk. Due diligence is your friend.

dpapathanasiou• 18 years ago

This wasn't "how to keep your shirt" - this was "how to keep your shirt if you have the resources to start your own fund. oh, and you'll basically be screwing your investors- so just don't tell them."

Lewis writes in a tongue-and-cheek style, but he's so deadpan, people think he's being serious.

Compare this article with "This is what happens when you lend money to poor people" (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a5lh...) , and the Hacker News reaction (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50853).

icey• 18 years ago

This could have just as easily been titled "Machiavelli for Money Managers."

Rules to Keep Your Skin in Wall Street Massacre

Related Stories