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We are launching Friday Only Club!

Oscar de la Renta chose not to show at New York Fashion Week and instead streamed on Amazon. Is Amazon a suitable forum for a luxury brand? CEO Alex Bolen said, "I'm not sure. But we have to experiment with new ways to get our story out." https://lnkd.in/g4rZMxyb We launched our funds when Covid started and with the halt in travel and tough fund raising environment for emerging managers, we focused on performance and experimented with new ways to reach out to allocators, namely Linkedin posts and YouTube videos which can now be binge-watched on  www.quantflix.com . True, some people say that with the positive fund returns last year for both our long-only equity and multi-strategy funds, and the China fund outperforming its benchmark by its annualized double-digit aim, it was expected that we would pass the $100m mark. But when times are bad, most new investment monies went to well-known funds that are much bigger with a marketing budget that we cannot afford. So every lit...
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Quantitative Easing to Quantitative Tightening

I don't throw away my books - even textbooks from college, manga which cost 100 yen each from Book Off - because I might read them again. But faced with overcrowding on my shelves, I had to a) buy more shelves; or b) cut down my population of books.

I found myself with a small coffee table made with dictionaries and thesauruses. 'How to Repurpose Dictionaries' is actually a thing on Google. Was there a chance I would ever use a paper dictionary again? Some of those reading this post might never have owned a dictionary or know what a thesaurus is. Times have changed - we have the internet now. With a reliable and fast connection even on my phone on which I am typing this post.

Some investors told me they are putting in money in a fund or a company, could be public or mostly private, that has previously been at a much higher price. But is that investment going to go back to its previous high, with the world moving from QE (Quantitative Easing) to QT (Quantitative Tightening)? A new regime where borrowing becomes much more expensive, and investors fall out of love with tech ideas that don't make money?

Imagine you are at one of those book sales bins. Each book is $2. Would you pick a dictionary that was originally priced at $20 or The Great Gatsby at $5? I just re-read the latter after 10 years. (see the book on the left of the attached photo). Some things can come back (like shoulder pads which shouldn't have existed in the first place) but many become obsolete as the environment changes.

#dictionary #hedgefund #quantitativetightening



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We are launching Friday Only Club!

Oscar de la Renta chose not to show at New York Fashion Week and instead streamed on Amazon. Is Amazon a suitable forum for a luxury brand? CEO Alex Bolen said, "I'm not sure. But we have to experiment with new ways to get our story out." https://lnkd.in/g4rZMxyb We launched our funds when Covid started and with the halt in travel and tough fund raising environment for emerging managers, we focused on performance and experimented with new ways to reach out to allocators, namely Linkedin posts and YouTube videos which can now be binge-watched on  www.quantflix.com . True, some people say that with the positive fund returns last year for both our long-only equity and multi-strategy funds, and the China fund outperforming its benchmark by its annualized double-digit aim, it was expected that we would pass the $100m mark. But when times are bad, most new investment monies went to well-known funds that are much bigger with a marketing budget that we cannot afford. So every lit...
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Influx of family offices from China

I was talking with friends about the extremely impressive resumes - did these kids start as child-labor when they were 12?! - I get from students these days and remarked, "I'm glad I was First Gen". Many US colleges have priority admissions set aside for those whose parents did not have a college education. One friend who also went to an Ivy-League said, "I'm sure you were just good, because many applicants from Singapore were also First Gen twenty, thirty years ago." Even if I was in fact admitted because I was a First Gen, should I feel that I might not have been as good as my peers? Should any advantage in the system make achievements less worthy? I'd say to take every advantage there is as long as it has not been obtained unfairly (or illegally - like photoshopping your face on a crew athlete). After getting in the school, you still have to study hard to get that summa cum laude. Feeling bad about getting that promotion because you think the firm nee...
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The First Edition of Friday Only Club!

  I got a latte art portrait of me today. It's not a "big deal" but shows the barista cares (at 9am in the morning). (No comments on how I look, especially my Bombastic Hair*, unless you look better with no Photoshop in your mid-40s with no makeup). Maybe some would say this is just business, the cafe is trying to get you to buy more coffee. But this is what differentiates a human barista from the Nespresso machine. Recently with year-end celebrations, New Year and Chinese New Year parties, I have been going to fancy wine dinners. I do appreciate the effort, and savings, but after talking to fellow investor friends I realized that sometimes we just need a cool place to chillax and share ideas (aka complain about investments that didn't work out). We can even bring our own wine. This coming Friday Only Club at Gao Cap Bar we'll have an expert talk (while drinking) about how to start an art collection, because a client asked me about displaying art in humid Singapor...
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