Parisian Family Office, Founder & CEO. Started Wall Street, '82. Drexel Burnham alum in LaJolla, CA. Founded Native American Advisors, Chippewa Partners. '95. Chippewa. Conservative. Raised on reservations. Was NYSE/FINRA arbitrator. Trading O'Neil/CANSLIM methodology at PAMELOT, TN farm, GHOST RANCH, MT, on the Yellowstone River, or CASA TULE', their winter camp in Los Cabos, Mexico. Will always be, a relentless optimist with radical gratitude.
Parisian Family Office, Founder & CEO. Started Wall Street, '82. Drexel Burnham alum in LaJolla, CA. Founded Native American Advisors, Chippewa Partners. '95. Chippewa. Conservative. Raised on reservations. Was NYSE/FINRA arbitrator. Trading O'Neil/CANSLIM methodology at PAMELOT, TN farm, GHOST RANCH, MT, on the Yellowstone River, or CASA TULE', their winter camp in Los Cabos, Mexico. Will always be, a relentless optimist with radical gratitude.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Palestinian elections...........
Hamas wins? A terror group in charge? Good will prevail some day. More mayhem and carnage will come first. May the Creator bless the innocent souls who will be lost before this nonsense ends.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Yes, it is a commodity......
The price will fluctuate and not necessarily with supply and demand at the margin like stocks trade. I am speaking of one barrel of crude oil. The average oil well in America maybe pumps a dozen barrels a day, if that.
In one barrel of crude oil equates to 42 gallons of crude oil. After refining, those 42 gallons of crude are produced into 19-20 gallons of gasoline. The rest is sold for other products.
In one barrel of crude oil equates to 42 gallons of crude oil. After refining, those 42 gallons of crude are produced into 19-20 gallons of gasoline. The rest is sold for other products.
Coming to your town soon.............
In 2000, only 52 meth labs were found in Georgia. IN 2004, 484 labs were found. In 2002, 1,532 meth addicts were admitted to treatment programs. In 2005, 4,329 were admitted.
If you are a stock trader you might want to keep an eye on the UCLA study on the drug protocol treatment offered by HYTHIAM. The symbol is HYTM.
If you are a stock trader you might want to keep an eye on the UCLA study on the drug protocol treatment offered by HYTHIAM. The symbol is HYTM.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Simply Staggering...............
Imagine these numbers. 34,785 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. Monthly spending by these winers and diners is about $193 million. Did you get that number? That is a dollar amount spent PER MONTH. And you think your vote counts? To top it off, there were 13,997 pork projects that individual members of Congress slipped into spending bills last year without debate, without discussion, without any process. Said lobbyists are like reservation bootleggers. As long as the money is there to give, somebody will be there to take it and give something in return. Isn't that the American way?
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Run little investor run...................
About a year ago the NASD and NYSE changed their modus operandi and announced to their arbitrator ranks some sweeping new rules that rankled many long time arbitrators, myself included. Remember who the NASD is. It is the brokerage houses themselves who are trying to police their ranks. In legalese it is called an SRO- a self-regualtory organization. I call it the fox still guarding the hen-house. As an arbitrator for over a decade the NASD decided that guys like me who are Registered Investment Advisors, (in my case, I am the Chairman of an RIA firm) who are fiduciaries, who have no axe to grind with commissions, in many cases are owned by brokerage-firms and have conflicts-of-interest. I have no conflicts. We are not paid to generate commissions and trading fees in any way, shape or form. In fact, at my firm we won't even allow soft-dollars to be used for research expenses.
NASD member firms are paying much more in fines than ever before. Arbitrators make the awards. Brokers were to cough up over $125 million in fines which was a 21% increase over the amount in 2004. Total fines collected over the past four years increased 84%. Six big firms were fined more than $40 million for unsuitable Class B and Class C shares in mutual funds. (The brokerage ranks feed off of switching mutual funds and hiding the sales charges in Class B and Class C shares, ask any mutual fund wholesaler honest enough to admit it) Those firms being fined were Citigroup (Smith Barney perhaps?), Chase, Merrill Lynch, American Express (now Ameriprise of all names), Wells Fargo and Linsco-Private Ledger of Boston and San Diego.
NASD member firms are paying much more in fines than ever before. Arbitrators make the awards. Brokers were to cough up over $125 million in fines which was a 21% increase over the amount in 2004. Total fines collected over the past four years increased 84%. Six big firms were fined more than $40 million for unsuitable Class B and Class C shares in mutual funds. (The brokerage ranks feed off of switching mutual funds and hiding the sales charges in Class B and Class C shares, ask any mutual fund wholesaler honest enough to admit it) Those firms being fined were Citigroup (Smith Barney perhaps?), Chase, Merrill Lynch, American Express (now Ameriprise of all names), Wells Fargo and Linsco-Private Ledger of Boston and San Diego.
What we do.............
I am the Chairman of Chippewa Partners which is a private investment management firm and was the first Native American mutual fund manager. For over a decade I was an arbitrator for the NYSE and the NASD.
First, let me tell you what we don’t do; we are not financial planners, whatever that is: we don’t sell insurance, we don’t do taxes, and we don’t draw up trusts. I find it disturbing that every stockbroker, banker and insurance agent calls a pie-chart, financial planning. We do not involve our clients in annuities, commodities, futures, real estate or currencies.
We are money managers. We manage investments across the globe for some very wealthy people, and, for some individuals who are much less fortunate. Now, let me tell you what we are really about. We’re about doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons for clients who don’t have the time, training, temperament or discipline to establish and reach specific goals for the growth and preservation of their assets.
We plan for the attainment of your goals, and we devise a strategy that is appropriate to reach them. We set the investment policy in writing, then execute the strategy. In broad outline, our strategy is to create a professionally managed account that could encompass two major themes.
The first point is very simple. I believe in a strategy based upon a combination of passive and active investments. Study after study reflects what we all know: for the long-term investor, index funds outperform actively managed mutual funds more than 90% of the time.
My second point is that we spread the different risks and balance the volatility.
We have a lot of strengths to offer and are very good at helping clients define their goals, create rational strategies to meet those goals, and select solid investments to handle each portfolio segment. Let me be clear, we want to get you where you want to go, but we’d rather you not get there via a roller coaster.
I want to make a commitment that if you decide to hire Chippewa Partners, throughout all the years we work together, you will never find another investment advisory firm who will care more about you and your family, or who’ll be more committed to the realization of your financial goals. I promise to invest your capital as carefully as I do my own, because your hopes for the future are every bit as sacred to you, as mine are to me.
I commit to tell you the plain, unvarnished truth all the time, especially, when you may not want to hear it. Nor will I tell you I’ll do something and then not do it.
At Chippewa Partners we "eat our own cooking". We have what I often call "skin in the game". We own the investments that you own. Clients understand that the serious money we manage for them is serious business. It deserves serious attention. Clients recognize that what distinguishes us is that our assignment to manage their investments is not just about portfolio growth but about their goals, retirements, hopes, dreams and to improve the quality of their lives.
We invite you to contact us to see if our approach fits your investment needs.
First, let me tell you what we don’t do; we are not financial planners, whatever that is: we don’t sell insurance, we don’t do taxes, and we don’t draw up trusts. I find it disturbing that every stockbroker, banker and insurance agent calls a pie-chart, financial planning. We do not involve our clients in annuities, commodities, futures, real estate or currencies.
We are money managers. We manage investments across the globe for some very wealthy people, and, for some individuals who are much less fortunate. Now, let me tell you what we are really about. We’re about doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons for clients who don’t have the time, training, temperament or discipline to establish and reach specific goals for the growth and preservation of their assets.
We plan for the attainment of your goals, and we devise a strategy that is appropriate to reach them. We set the investment policy in writing, then execute the strategy. In broad outline, our strategy is to create a professionally managed account that could encompass two major themes.
The first point is very simple. I believe in a strategy based upon a combination of passive and active investments. Study after study reflects what we all know: for the long-term investor, index funds outperform actively managed mutual funds more than 90% of the time.
My second point is that we spread the different risks and balance the volatility.
We have a lot of strengths to offer and are very good at helping clients define their goals, create rational strategies to meet those goals, and select solid investments to handle each portfolio segment. Let me be clear, we want to get you where you want to go, but we’d rather you not get there via a roller coaster.
I want to make a commitment that if you decide to hire Chippewa Partners, throughout all the years we work together, you will never find another investment advisory firm who will care more about you and your family, or who’ll be more committed to the realization of your financial goals. I promise to invest your capital as carefully as I do my own, because your hopes for the future are every bit as sacred to you, as mine are to me.
I commit to tell you the plain, unvarnished truth all the time, especially, when you may not want to hear it. Nor will I tell you I’ll do something and then not do it.
At Chippewa Partners we "eat our own cooking". We have what I often call "skin in the game". We own the investments that you own. Clients understand that the serious money we manage for them is serious business. It deserves serious attention. Clients recognize that what distinguishes us is that our assignment to manage their investments is not just about portfolio growth but about their goals, retirements, hopes, dreams and to improve the quality of their lives.
We invite you to contact us to see if our approach fits your investment needs.
Volatility.................
With the volatility in the stock market the need for professional investment management has never been more critical. You could increase your investment results by hiring a professional firm who works full-time to manage your money.
“A portfolio that goes down 50% and comes back 50% is still down 25 percent”
As an exercise, get out all your brokerage statements and start adding them up—the different mutual funds, an old IRA or two, some stock here and there. After you’ve tallied it all up, take a moment to consider the total. Underline it. Then ask yourself two serious questions. “Is this amount of money, I have worked hard for all my life, something I am capable of handling on my own?” and “Do I want to rely on a stockbroker who is paid to sell investments and generate commissions or should I engage an investment management firm that as a fiduciary is hired to increase my net worth and protect my assets?”
As the NASD makes painfully, often rudely clear, in every regulatory initiative, investors should never let their guard down with brokers that are compensated by a sales agenda. This is the point when the responsibility of managing an investment portfolio can not and should not be shouldered alone.
It is at this point we at Chippewa Partners would like to say one word to you.
Welcome.
“A portfolio that goes down 50% and comes back 50% is still down 25 percent”
As an exercise, get out all your brokerage statements and start adding them up—the different mutual funds, an old IRA or two, some stock here and there. After you’ve tallied it all up, take a moment to consider the total. Underline it. Then ask yourself two serious questions. “Is this amount of money, I have worked hard for all my life, something I am capable of handling on my own?” and “Do I want to rely on a stockbroker who is paid to sell investments and generate commissions or should I engage an investment management firm that as a fiduciary is hired to increase my net worth and protect my assets?”
As the NASD makes painfully, often rudely clear, in every regulatory initiative, investors should never let their guard down with brokers that are compensated by a sales agenda. This is the point when the responsibility of managing an investment portfolio can not and should not be shouldered alone.
It is at this point we at Chippewa Partners would like to say one word to you.
Welcome.
To University of Minnesota, Morris students.....................
If I was to hire 5 of you today let me tell you what I would be looking for. I know Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley or Bear Stearns won’t be showing up at UMM this spring to fill their seats on their trading desks but let me give you a heads up of what I would want to see in someone I would hire to trade my capital and the portfolios of my investors. Unfortunately, what I would want is a far cry from what they might want to fill the seat.
First, I would look for generosity toward your fellow man. To be a good trader you can’t be a jealous person. A jealous person has a hard time succeeding. They are always reacting, and not thinking. They make emotional decisions. Good traders have control of their emotions. What you don’t want to be is emotional in your trading.
Anybody golf here? A great analogy can be made by comparing great golfers to aspiring great traders. I think if you look at Tiger Woods and the way he plays golf, first of all, he doesn’t play in 60 tournaments a year. He is selective and therefore makes fewer decisions.
Second, he prepares himself for each tournament so that he’s not mentally worn down. Next, he doesn’t shoot a 64, then a 78. He is consistent. He is not riding an emotional roller coaster. He is playing within his capabilities. He takes care of himself. He works on his conditioning. He doesn’t try to kill each shot because he knows consistency is what counts. He doesn’t try to predict where his next shot is going to land. He doesn’t care where it lands. Wherever it goes he is going to handle it.. He doesn’t worry about it.
Now I am no golfer, trust me. I have new clubs, a beautiful bag, the clubs have never ever been on a golf course. So when I go up to the tee, what do I do? I worry. “I don’t want to hit it in the trees, I don’t want to hit into the lake. What if I hook it?” I have negative thoughts. Tiger goes up there, squares off and hits it. Wherever it lands he hits it again. He has the confidence he can handle the situation no matter what happens. For me it is the same thing in trading. For all good traders. When I am trading well, I don’t care if I have a monetary loss on a trade. I am going to handle it. Nothing can hurt me because I can handle whatever can happen.
Secondly, I would want a trader who can be happy. Most people equate money with success. That is false. Profits and losses are not a reflection of self worth or intelligence. Do not confuse self worth with net worth. Don’t sell yourself short. Success has nothing to do with happiness and everything to do with how you feel about yourself. Success is being happy doing what you want to do because you want to do it. Your net worth isn’t about money. It is about your ability to function. Getting to where you belong in life is very difficult for most people. I am where I belong in life now, but maybe I won’t belong here 5 years from now.
Third, successful traders realize that there are people who have greater talents. I would look for what the armed forces today call “quiet professionalism”. Every trader is like a factory, he has potential, a capacity, and an operating level. Like the stock market, a persons potential fluctuates. This ties in to what I said about jealous people. Don’t worry about the best traders, the guys who trade bigger and faster, just focus on you. I don’t have any monetary goals. I try to do the best I can all the time. My net worth is my ability to function. Money itself doesn’t really mean anything to me. It never really has. It just means I can buy things I’d like to have.
Lastly, I would want to work with people who understand themselves. I know that I am a behaviorist. I learn from observation. My observations allow me to see how things work. It goes back to my fear of science. I don’t have the intelligence to create things. I have always felt this business is about the man in the mirror. It is 15% analyzing the market and 85% working on myself. You have to know where you are at. The main purpose is to keep the mind clear and well balanced. For example, when I am tired I don’t control myself very well. I tend to make emotional mistakes. Isn’t that why most people cry when they are tired. Most people make emotional decisions. I limit my alcohol intake and monitor my sleep requirement during the week. Why do most people paint their house to sell it? Because buyers of houses make emotional decisions, not decisions based on the value of the construction materials. Controlling yourself is paramount. I don’t know if the conscious or subconscious rules me. But I always felt my subconscious was right. My gut feel tells me the truth. I think when you are in college, your subconscious basically rules you. That is why many times young traders do very well. They are very positive and have no fear.
The root cause of volatility. Instantism… Less stable environment. Get-rich-quick mentality. Something for nothing. …. Lotteries, casino’s, CNN, cable TV… advances in communication technology. Plenty of time.. Everyone says that trading is a stressful business. That is nonsense. The only stress in trading comes when you are wrong and you don’t get out of the trade and cut your losses. Stress is living with problems. I don’t like or want to live with problems. When I have a trade that I get distressed over I get out of the trade. I know that I am wrong. I get out of the trade and eliminate the stress. Think of it like this…. A baseball player with 2 strikes and no balls will bat .220 but with no strikes and 3 balls he might bat .390. If you are constantly getting into the hole you are not going to do as well as you are capable….
Work hard at your passion, not someone else’s….. put some discipline in your personal life. It’s all about the journey not the destination. The direction you are facing has a lot to do with our destination.
First, I would look for generosity toward your fellow man. To be a good trader you can’t be a jealous person. A jealous person has a hard time succeeding. They are always reacting, and not thinking. They make emotional decisions. Good traders have control of their emotions. What you don’t want to be is emotional in your trading.
Anybody golf here? A great analogy can be made by comparing great golfers to aspiring great traders. I think if you look at Tiger Woods and the way he plays golf, first of all, he doesn’t play in 60 tournaments a year. He is selective and therefore makes fewer decisions.
Second, he prepares himself for each tournament so that he’s not mentally worn down. Next, he doesn’t shoot a 64, then a 78. He is consistent. He is not riding an emotional roller coaster. He is playing within his capabilities. He takes care of himself. He works on his conditioning. He doesn’t try to kill each shot because he knows consistency is what counts. He doesn’t try to predict where his next shot is going to land. He doesn’t care where it lands. Wherever it goes he is going to handle it.. He doesn’t worry about it.
Now I am no golfer, trust me. I have new clubs, a beautiful bag, the clubs have never ever been on a golf course. So when I go up to the tee, what do I do? I worry. “I don’t want to hit it in the trees, I don’t want to hit into the lake. What if I hook it?” I have negative thoughts. Tiger goes up there, squares off and hits it. Wherever it lands he hits it again. He has the confidence he can handle the situation no matter what happens. For me it is the same thing in trading. For all good traders. When I am trading well, I don’t care if I have a monetary loss on a trade. I am going to handle it. Nothing can hurt me because I can handle whatever can happen.
Secondly, I would want a trader who can be happy. Most people equate money with success. That is false. Profits and losses are not a reflection of self worth or intelligence. Do not confuse self worth with net worth. Don’t sell yourself short. Success has nothing to do with happiness and everything to do with how you feel about yourself. Success is being happy doing what you want to do because you want to do it. Your net worth isn’t about money. It is about your ability to function. Getting to where you belong in life is very difficult for most people. I am where I belong in life now, but maybe I won’t belong here 5 years from now.
Third, successful traders realize that there are people who have greater talents. I would look for what the armed forces today call “quiet professionalism”. Every trader is like a factory, he has potential, a capacity, and an operating level. Like the stock market, a persons potential fluctuates. This ties in to what I said about jealous people. Don’t worry about the best traders, the guys who trade bigger and faster, just focus on you. I don’t have any monetary goals. I try to do the best I can all the time. My net worth is my ability to function. Money itself doesn’t really mean anything to me. It never really has. It just means I can buy things I’d like to have.
Lastly, I would want to work with people who understand themselves. I know that I am a behaviorist. I learn from observation. My observations allow me to see how things work. It goes back to my fear of science. I don’t have the intelligence to create things. I have always felt this business is about the man in the mirror. It is 15% analyzing the market and 85% working on myself. You have to know where you are at. The main purpose is to keep the mind clear and well balanced. For example, when I am tired I don’t control myself very well. I tend to make emotional mistakes. Isn’t that why most people cry when they are tired. Most people make emotional decisions. I limit my alcohol intake and monitor my sleep requirement during the week. Why do most people paint their house to sell it? Because buyers of houses make emotional decisions, not decisions based on the value of the construction materials. Controlling yourself is paramount. I don’t know if the conscious or subconscious rules me. But I always felt my subconscious was right. My gut feel tells me the truth. I think when you are in college, your subconscious basically rules you. That is why many times young traders do very well. They are very positive and have no fear.
The root cause of volatility. Instantism… Less stable environment. Get-rich-quick mentality. Something for nothing. …. Lotteries, casino’s, CNN, cable TV… advances in communication technology. Plenty of time.. Everyone says that trading is a stressful business. That is nonsense. The only stress in trading comes when you are wrong and you don’t get out of the trade and cut your losses. Stress is living with problems. I don’t like or want to live with problems. When I have a trade that I get distressed over I get out of the trade. I know that I am wrong. I get out of the trade and eliminate the stress. Think of it like this…. A baseball player with 2 strikes and no balls will bat .220 but with no strikes and 3 balls he might bat .390. If you are constantly getting into the hole you are not going to do as well as you are capable….
Work hard at your passion, not someone else’s….. put some discipline in your personal life. It’s all about the journey not the destination. The direction you are facing has a lot to do with our destination.
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