"I Have an Idiot for a Son"
I found an absolute gem on Bloomberg today.So this guy’s the chief investment officer at Rayliant Global Advisors. And his mom bought Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) down at $100 a share. But when the stocks rallied to $250 earlier this year, he told her to take her 150% profit…
Well we all know what happened. The stock darn near doubled again from $250. And now this guy’s mom lights him up every time she sees him. He told Bloomberg:
“So every time my mom sees me, she’s like, ‘I have an idiot for a son. Did you go to school? Did you actually go to school and get a PhD in finance? What is wrong with you?’”
I can’t stop laughing! And that is such a beautiful quote for so many reasons. For one, what a great relationship those two must have. Seriously, as a parent, you have to be very careful about calling your kids names. Trust has to be very well established.
But far more importantly, you gotta love that this guy can readily admit a mistake and then laugh about it…
How rare is that in the world of finance and investing?
You know the drill. I’m sure you probably subscribe to a newsletter or follow an investment “guru” or two. And you know how all these investment experts carefully craft an infallible persona – “I’m the expert, I’m always right, ignore me at your peril!”
Why is it so hard for all these gurus and strategists and investment experts to admit they get it wrong sometimes?
Nobody gets it right every time. And what’s more – everybody knows you can’t get it right every time. So why all the ego?
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never learned a damn thing from getting it right. The only way I seem to have ever been able to get anything through my thick head is by getting it wrong… making the mistake… and then figuring out what I did wrong and fixing it.
One Year of Pro Trader Today
My business partner Dave Roberts started bootstrapping Pro Trader Today just about a year ago. We decided to forego the traditional model of this biz. We aren’t spending money on lead gen and email names. We aren’t spending on slick promotions for a subscription newsletter or service…
Seems to me there’s way too much of that going on right now. I can count on one hand the number of investment/finance sites that just give it all away…
None of that “I’ve got this great stock and I’ll tell you what it is if you give me 50 bucks” crap.
Dave and I decided to just give it all away. I offer all of my insights, commentary, and stock picks to you, and let advertisers pay our bills.
Anyway, I’ve gone back through the archives to put a portfolio together of all the stocks I’ve recommended over the last year. I don’t know if it’ll be up today or not, but it’s coming soon.
“And Bad Mistakes…” – Haven’t Really Made Any
Looking back over the last year as I compile the portfolio, there haven’t been too many glaring mistakes. But in the spirit of “I have an idiot for a son,” I thought I’d proceed with a little confessional…
- When the portfolio is available, you’ll notice I didn’t make any recommendations over the summer. I was expecting a correction that never materialized. But I’ve gotten pretty aggressive over the last couple of weeks, because I think we’ve got a nice rally coming to end the year
- AI stocks – I was quick to jump when they started breaking out to start the year. C3.ai (NYSE: AI) at $21.50 and Schrodinger (NASDAQ: SDGR) at $26.50. I could’ve had triple-digit gains on both if I’d decided to sell. I’m not as confident about C3.ai, and I will take gains next time it runs. But Schrodinger is a long-term keeper.
- Waiting just a few days before recommending MP Materials (NYSE: MP) at $28 would’ve gotten a MUCH better entry price. MP peeled off $6 a share in the week after I wrote it up. But ya know, China had just threatened to cut rare earth exports – the timing seemed good at the time…
- Could’ve taken a nice ~50% gain on Lemonade (NASDAQ: LMND) but I underestimated the risk that severe weather is posing to all insurance stocks. Insurers have simply stopped offering flood insurance in high-risk areas like Florida. We are likely in the early stages of some significant changes to the insurance biz, tread carefully.
- Need more chips! I just added chip test equipment company Teradyne (NYSE: TER). But I should have more. Micron looks pretty good. The stock has completely reversed a pretty big drop after disappointing earnings yesterday – which tells us the report really wasn’t that bad. And Micron’s hooking with Nvidia to have its memory chips included with Nvidia processors next year. Could be a pretty big deal.
A-a-a-n-nd – that’s about it.
Take care, thanks for reading, have a great weekend and I’ll talk to you on Monday…
Briton Ryle
Chief Investment Strategist
Pro Trader Today
brit.ryle@protradertoday.com
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