Comments for 0 at http://boombustblog.com , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://boombustblog.com Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:12:49 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://boombustblog.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=On-the-insolvencies-of-non-bank-financial-institutions.html&Itemid=92#comment-679 Shuttle, I gave my opinion on the banks in the other thread. Look at the comments list on the left. - Reggie Middleton Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:21:23 +0100 http://boombustblog.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=On-the-insolvencies-of-non-bank-financial-institutions.html&Itemid=92#comment-678 I don't trade in and out of positions. It doesn't work for me. I hold a well researched position through thick and thin. A very good example of this Bill Ackman and his 5 year short of the monolines, which made him over half a billion dollars (amortized, that is only $100 million per year, but that still ain't bad ;D). Investing, not trading. The key is to research it well and get in very cheap with money you can afford to lose, then dig in and stay there until your investment thesis either pans out or does not pan out. Either way, it takes time. My numbers are multiples, several times over, of what many of the so-called smart money guys at many name brand prop desks are, primarily because I don't need to show positive results every quarter. My only mandate is to make lots of money and not to lose any of my principal. Real simple. Yesterday was a trading opportunity, even for me who is not a trader, but today was a day to look for cheap bearish positions since everything was shooting up. It is hard to do since it is counterintuitive, but it is the way I operate. The more traders go in and out of positions and cover shorts from weak hands, the more valuable my position are since the volatility usually increases the value of my holdings. - Reggie Middleton Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:20:28 +0100 http://boombustblog.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=On-the-insolvencies-of-non-bank-financial-institutions.html&Itemid=92#comment-653 I have never had the patience to follow up, but it would be interesting to perform or see a forensic analysis after the fact of this and other bailouts. For example, did the firms that bailed out LTCM ultimately lose money, do OK, or earn a windfall in unwinding LTCM's positions? - Mark Edmunds Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:28:23 +0100 http://boombustblog.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=On-the-insolvencies-of-non-bank-financial-institutions.html&Itemid=92#comment-647 If memory serves me, in one of your earlier Bear Stearns analyses, you arrived at an adjusted book value of $36. Presumably, this represents the difference between the fair value of assets and the fair value of liabilities. Is this correct? If so, doesn't this mean that Bear was "solvent" (in that assets would fund liabilities if allowed to run off over time) before the liquidity crisis forced Bear to the brink of bankruptcy? - Mark Edmunds Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:50:19 +0100