The show-down with reality will come over the next decade as America's boomers come face to face with the reality of "retirement". Every day as I go into the markets doing the two things that I am hired to do, protect and grow the assets of clients at Chippewa Partners I have the "retirement" of clients and myself on the line. It's not an easy job to consistently post great returns. As much as I work, the aggressive trading fund I manage will hopefully, but probably never exceed the 83% returns achieved coming out of the longest bear market in history in 2003 (it won't, we use little leverage these days, very little). Last years return of 33% with no leverage were not a "gimme" on easy street either. If it was easy, as I used to say, even the milk-man would be a trader. Unfortunatley the milk-man is a thing of the past and few can afford milk these days! The bear of 2000-2002 took care of the novices and day traders.
This year we have had some tremendous luck under market conditions that have not been favorable to the overall indexes and we've done some aggressive trading, all without the use of leverage. As I leave the office for afew days to visit my Dad in Minnesota, who at 85 may not have that many summers ahead, and returning next week I have a tremendous amount of people to thank for helping me become a better equity trader.
In no particular order let me reflect on the many who have helped in immeasurable ways. To Eddie Stephan, the Italian stallion and NYSE floor broker who took me under his tutelage on a chance meeting outside the NYSE in the early 90's, to David Ryan's meeting here in Atlanta, a highlight being his advice on the ONLY way to become a successful trader, to meeting William O'Neill in 1984 at an early seminar through my pal, Dave Utter and then our meeting in his Los Angles offices in the mid-90's as well as the thousands of dollars I spent on O'Neil advanced CANSLIM seminars, priceless. Hearing first hand of Mr. O'Neil's trading of shares of Price Club meant more to me than he will ever know. To Dave Davidson, you will never, ever know the impact you had on me on the time we spent together trading in San Francisco, thanks Dave, you turned the light on. To Gary Tremble for his insight on market trends and the utilization of macro views and sharing the O'Neil NSMI in the late 1980's that started the whole thing. To the late Bill Gritz, the price/volume trader who by hand, count-traded very well and amassed millions who would hang daily in the offices of Drexel Burnham Lambert in LaJolla and always made time to share ideas. Your work will never ever go out of style. To J. Peter Steidlmayer for so much in his work on market logic and position-sizing. To my friend Maurice Altshuler, the Morgan Stanley broker in LaJolla who opened my trading arsenal to catching the falling knife and playing the snap-back reflex move off a hard break. To Victor Niederhoffer who, among so many things, imparted balance and the importance of adjusting away from recent success. To Brett Steenbarger and his great work, to Ken Grant, risk control manager extraordinaire, to Lazlo Biryini and his great money-management work, to Jim DePorre, the finest "deaf" trader to probably ever walk the planet, to the unknown trader at Steinhardt Partners in New York City who in the early 1990's imparted to me probably the best advice ever given to me and to the great minds found on the Daily Speculations website whose experience, zest and positive optimism are of such inspiration, thank you.
As well, lest I not forget, to the great team who on a whim and a dream started "Trader Monthly" and authors Tanous, Elder, Covel, Lewis and Tharp who have shared their interesting work.
With the major indices still negative for the year I wish I was in position to be trading hundreds of millions for the thousands upon thousands of Native American children who reside on the many reservations I grew up on. They are the ones who could use my talent, drive and work ethic. Getting those Native tribal councils to fund investments with us has been truthfully, a rather long, arduous, time-consuming and expensive process. It's hard to justify the investment to help but yet we continue to help those who need us the most. There is no money in education for us and the lost time-value of money for them is astronomical. Frankly, it's a shame for the Native children of today and for those unborn in the tomorrow's ahead. We really do have a unique approach to offering so much "value"added" to Native money, and it hurts to know that few will be able to take advantage of it.
Year to date, our performance is up over 37%. Some luck, yes, lots of hard work.
May the trading gods continue to shine. It's hard to imagine how many investors think a 1% management fee we charge is "too much" to hire Chippewa Partners, a fiduciary and professional investment management firm. For us, it's all about hard work, alittle luck, staying consistent, motivated, optimistic and saying thanks.
The best is yet to come, and you can take that to the bank. I'll be back in a week.
Refreshed, recharged and ready for another foray into the largest casino on earth.
This year we have had some tremendous luck under market conditions that have not been favorable to the overall indexes and we've done some aggressive trading, all without the use of leverage. As I leave the office for afew days to visit my Dad in Minnesota, who at 85 may not have that many summers ahead, and returning next week I have a tremendous amount of people to thank for helping me become a better equity trader.
In no particular order let me reflect on the many who have helped in immeasurable ways. To Eddie Stephan, the Italian stallion and NYSE floor broker who took me under his tutelage on a chance meeting outside the NYSE in the early 90's, to David Ryan's meeting here in Atlanta, a highlight being his advice on the ONLY way to become a successful trader, to meeting William O'Neill in 1984 at an early seminar through my pal, Dave Utter and then our meeting in his Los Angles offices in the mid-90's as well as the thousands of dollars I spent on O'Neil advanced CANSLIM seminars, priceless. Hearing first hand of Mr. O'Neil's trading of shares of Price Club meant more to me than he will ever know. To Dave Davidson, you will never, ever know the impact you had on me on the time we spent together trading in San Francisco, thanks Dave, you turned the light on. To Gary Tremble for his insight on market trends and the utilization of macro views and sharing the O'Neil NSMI in the late 1980's that started the whole thing. To the late Bill Gritz, the price/volume trader who by hand, count-traded very well and amassed millions who would hang daily in the offices of Drexel Burnham Lambert in LaJolla and always made time to share ideas. Your work will never ever go out of style. To J. Peter Steidlmayer for so much in his work on market logic and position-sizing. To my friend Maurice Altshuler, the Morgan Stanley broker in LaJolla who opened my trading arsenal to catching the falling knife and playing the snap-back reflex move off a hard break. To Victor Niederhoffer who, among so many things, imparted balance and the importance of adjusting away from recent success. To Brett Steenbarger and his great work, to Ken Grant, risk control manager extraordinaire, to Lazlo Biryini and his great money-management work, to Jim DePorre, the finest "deaf" trader to probably ever walk the planet, to the unknown trader at Steinhardt Partners in New York City who in the early 1990's imparted to me probably the best advice ever given to me and to the great minds found on the Daily Speculations website whose experience, zest and positive optimism are of such inspiration, thank you.
As well, lest I not forget, to the great team who on a whim and a dream started "Trader Monthly" and authors Tanous, Elder, Covel, Lewis and Tharp who have shared their interesting work.
With the major indices still negative for the year I wish I was in position to be trading hundreds of millions for the thousands upon thousands of Native American children who reside on the many reservations I grew up on. They are the ones who could use my talent, drive and work ethic. Getting those Native tribal councils to fund investments with us has been truthfully, a rather long, arduous, time-consuming and expensive process. It's hard to justify the investment to help but yet we continue to help those who need us the most. There is no money in education for us and the lost time-value of money for them is astronomical. Frankly, it's a shame for the Native children of today and for those unborn in the tomorrow's ahead. We really do have a unique approach to offering so much "value"added" to Native money, and it hurts to know that few will be able to take advantage of it.
Year to date, our performance is up over 37%. Some luck, yes, lots of hard work.
May the trading gods continue to shine. It's hard to imagine how many investors think a 1% management fee we charge is "too much" to hire Chippewa Partners, a fiduciary and professional investment management firm. For us, it's all about hard work, alittle luck, staying consistent, motivated, optimistic and saying thanks.
The best is yet to come, and you can take that to the bank. I'll be back in a week.
Refreshed, recharged and ready for another foray into the largest casino on earth.
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