Investing With Young Guns: The Next Generation of Investment Superstars

Rating:
Summary: Young Guns Comes Out Firing
Review: An interesting look at the investment strategies of the new breed of investors operating in the new global economy. Indeed, one of the most valuable assets of this book is that it profiles investors in different parts of the world. Also, it is nice to see a book on finance that recognizes the contributions that women have made in the world of investing.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile reading - from the subject of the book...
Review: How does one write a review of a review? In essence, that's what this is. The book is a survey of sorts - the result of interviews with a dozen fund managers under the age of 34. To make the task interesting, the research for the book was conducted at the very top of the market - the spring of 2000.

To make the task nearly impossible, the author, James Morton, included me in the list of young portfolio managers he wanted to interview.

The process was remarkably straightforward. He did a pile of reading - I write a fair amount, got up to speed on what we we're trying to do at MetaMarkets.com, and then hopped on a plane from London to Boston. We spoke for a few hours in the lobby of the Boston Marriot, and I never really thought about it again.

What James captured is a portrait of youth in a bull market. The bear market had yet to enter the picture and start grinding us all down, inch by inch. The dreams we dreamt were grand. The air was intoxicating. Nothing seemed impossible.

At times I find the chapter about MetaMarkets.com and my role here hard to read. I wax poetic for half a page about the fabulous innovation engine known as Lucent. Lucent! For Pete's sake! To be fair, I also opine on the virtues of Qualcomm and Home Depot, two companies I continue to believe are long term winners. It's the tone that's striking - the arrogance. Investing is an inherently hubristic endeavour. Whether you are in a bull market or a bear market, active investing is standing on a constant promontory in the middle of a raging sea, screaming at the top of your lungs that you know better than the market. During bear markets, this shouting can take the tone of a plea. In bull markets, it comes across as arrogance. But ultimately, it's the standing out their on the promontory at all that counts.

In the end, I think it's a book worth reading. It's worth reading to recognize those parts of the New Economy paradigm that are in fact still intact, albeit tested and bruised. We are indeed still citizens of a day trader nation - one that changes tick by tick whether we personally choose to react or not. We are still all venture capitalists to a degree never before experienced in the history of commerce. Companies at the forefront of information technology, pure innovation, and corporate tribalism still drive us forward, even in these hard times.

Perhaps the lesson is that yes, Virgnia, it is a New Economy. But "New" does not mean "Perfect".

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile reading - from the subject of the book...
Review: How does one write a review of a review? In essence, that's what this is. The book is a survey of sorts - the result of interviews with a dozen fund managers under the age of 34. To make the task interesting, the research for the book was conducted at the very top of the market - the spring of 2000.

To make the task nearly impossible, the author, James Morton, included me in the list of young portfolio managers he wanted to interview.

The process was remarkably straightforward. He did a pile of reading - I write a fair amount, got up to speed on what we we're trying to do at MetaMarkets.com, and then hopped on a plane from London to Boston. We spoke for a few hours in the lobby of the Boston Marriot, and I never really thought about it again.

What James captured is a portrait of youth in a bull market. The bear market had yet to enter the picture and start grinding us all down, inch by inch. The dreams we dreamt were grand. The air was intoxicating. Nothing seemed impossible.

At times I find the chapter about MetaMarkets.com and my role here hard to read. I wax poetic for half a page about the fabulous innovation engine known as Lucent. Lucent! For Pete's sake! To be fair, I also opine on the virtues of Qualcomm and Home Depot, two companies I continue to believe are long term winners. It's the tone that's striking - the arrogance. Investing is an inherently hubristic endeavour. Whether you are in a bull market or a bear market, active investing is standing on a constant promontory in the middle of a raging sea, screaming at the top of your lungs that you know better than the market. During bear markets, this shouting can take the tone of a plea. In bull markets, it comes across as arrogance. But ultimately, it's the standing out their on the promontory at all that counts.

In the end, I think it's a book worth reading. It's worth reading to recognize those parts of the New Economy paradigm that are in fact still intact, albeit tested and bruised. We are indeed still citizens of a day trader nation - one that changes tick by tick whether we personally choose to react or not. We are still all venture capitalists to a degree never before experienced in the history of commerce. Companies at the forefront of information technology, pure innovation, and corporate tribalism still drive us forward, even in these hard times.

Perhaps the lesson is that yes, Virgnia, it is a New Economy. But "New" does not mean "Perfect".