Kean Chan

This Horse-racing gambler earned almost a billion – here’s what he can teach us

Apr 6, 2019

One of the best articles that I’ve read in 2018 was a Bloomberg piece I opened while commuting in the subway on a rainy weekday. Kit Chellel’s ‘The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code’ was simply breath-taking. It chronicles the life of Mr Bill Benter, a swashbuckling horse-racing gambler born in Pittsburgh in the United … More This Horse-racing gambler earned almost a billion – here’s what he can teach us

The Fed did not make a U-Turn

Feb 5, 2019

Last week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in the U.S. took the financial community by storm as its January policy update were seen by investors and market observers as an outright ‘U-Turn’. However, it may not be so. The most talked about was the change in the middle portion of the Fed’s statement during … More The Fed did not make a U-Turn

Reviewing 2018, & what’s next?

Dec 29, 2018

It’s time for a review of 2018, and I have to say that I managed to protect my capital (which is great and am fortunate) but I did not capitalise aggressively on opportunities that I was aware of. But for both Wall Street and Main Street and for investors who have to be invested from … More Reviewing 2018, & what’s next?

Trade deal or no trade deal? It does not matter…

Dec 19, 2018

‘We, the Chinese nation, after fifty years of sanguinary revolutions and five and a half years of sacrifice in the War of Resistance, have finally transformed the history of a hundred years of the Unequal Treaties of sorrow into a glorious record of the termination of the Unequal Treaties’ ~ Chiang Kai-Shek, January 1943 Somewhere … More Trade deal or no trade deal? It does not matter…

If there’s one thing to know soon, it’s MMT

Nov 14, 2018

MMT stands for ‘Modern Monetary Theory’, and it may be the next must-know term to know and understand before it becomes mainstream. OK, but what exactly is Modern Monetary Theory? The Roosevelt Institute published an article about it eight years ago, and it simply describes a school of thought in macro-economic thinking that revolves around … More If there’s one thing to know soon, it’s MMT

‘Less about fundamentals, more about risk management’ ~ podcast with Mark Dow

Oct 5, 2018

I follow a couple of macro investors out there and Mark Dow of ‘Behavioral Macro‘ is worth following. Dow was an economist with various stints in Wall Street institutions and even the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He currently manages a family office based out in Southern California. Futures Radio Show interviewed Dow at the beginning … More ‘Less about fundamentals, more about risk management’ ~ podcast with Mark Dow

A Personality-Driven Portfolio? Here’s a book on it

Sep 28, 2018

In an earlier post, I shared about what I wished I knew earlier before I started investing. Other than developing clear goals and having an investment philosophy, awareness of one’s own personality and temperament will go a long way in achieving success in financial markets. But how does one tailor the knowledge of one’s personality … More A Personality-Driven Portfolio? Here’s a book on it

Soros, Reflexivity & the Aussie Housing Market (Quick Thoughts)

Sep 6, 2018

I once learnt futures trading under an ex-investment professional who was with Temasek and later in the hedge fund industry. While I adapted my style and strategy over the years, there was one valuable piece of advise that I held to heart till this day. Over lunch once, he talked about the famous macro investor … More Soros, Reflexivity & the Aussie Housing Market (Quick Thoughts)

Reading about Adaptive Systems, Biology & Power Laws may improve your investing

Aug 31, 2018

In an astutely written article titled ‘The Expert Generalist – Why the Future Belongs to Polymaths‘, Zat Rana made a case for how the well-read and multi-disciplined generalist will outperform master specialists in an evolving world that is increasingly run by machines and artificial narrow intelligence. Rana emphasised that some of history’s greatest contributors like Aristotle and … More Reading about Adaptive Systems, Biology & Power Laws may improve your investing

Weekly Observations: Central Bankers as Gamemasters

Aug 24, 2018

An excerpt from a week’s journal: 20 August 2018: Observations & Thoughts Today was generally a risk-on environment, with Chinese equity indexes leading the way in Asia Pacific (Japan and South Korea lagged). Indian equities continued to climb higher. The Yuan has also somewhat stabilised and has strengthened against the USD since last week. Chinese … More Weekly Observations: Central Bankers as Gamemasters