The Kraken does not die. It merely sleeps for long periods of time. And, after a long slumber indeed, it has resurfaced again to offer insight and wisdom to the masses. But why? Why now? and what does this Kraken have to offer? I will get to those questions shortly, but first, lets further complicate the matter.
168 hours.
That’s how much time we have in one week. That’s all the hours between Monday and Sunday, and it is never enough to get done everything we want to get done. I read an interesting article that broke down the use of these hours. You sleep for 49 (most of us less), work for 50 (some more, some less), get from here to there for 10 or so. How do you use the remaining 59 hours? Do you have kids? Take 10 hours for getting them ready and ushering them around. Want to be healthier? Find 5 – 10 hours to get in the gym. Spend quality time with the family? Take another 5 – 10 hours there. Prepping and eating meals is another 5 – 10. There are still a few hours left, but where did they go? Doesn’t it seem like they just evaporate?
I’ve just recently been thinking about my 168 hours more, and I decided to devote two of those hours to bringing back the Kraken. I realized, however, that the only way to keep it afloat is if I keep it on a diet. I’ll explain, but first:
Why bother?
1. The Kraken Capital Watch serves as a platform that does not exist anywhere else, to share information and insight with a large audience. I often get questions from friends, students, and others who know that I’m an investment manager, asking about what to invest in. This blog helps me articulate those basic thoughts of how people should approach investing and hopefully get some feedback on how those are received.
2. I can use this blog to bring together other ideas from investing, to teaching, to working with other organizations in a way that will compliment those efforts. That means that the two hours I plan to put into this will not exist in a silo but afford some synergies to those existing pursuits.
3. I like writing. Writing is part of my job and it is part of the extra-curricular activities I take part in. The more writing one does with an audience in mind, the better (hopefully) one gets at it.
In order to support this effort I have needed to abide by some rules.
1. Shorter posts – The few people who read some of my older posts know I can rattle on for quite awhile. I plan to stick to a budget of time and that means sticking to a budget of space.
2. More focused audience – I tend to read work from investment analysts and pundits who can get quite a bit wonky and specialized. I’ll resist the urge to resort to this techno-speak, as I want to focus on an audience that consists of people much like my friends and family: smart people who may not be schooled on all the investment jargon.
3. “Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly” I heard this from a friend in Toastmasters (hat-tip Eric) and it blew my mind because its completely contrary to what gets beat into our heads as kids. What this means to me is simply that I have to understand that not every post is going to be a Pulitzer-prize worthy, masterpiece of financial analysis. There will be hits and misses and that’s ok.
4. Having an opinion means running the risk of pissing people off. I will offer my opinions in good spirit along with the evidence that I have to support them in as clear and concise of a manner as I can. Not everyone is going to agree with me.
So let me know what you want to hear about. My goal is get out one post a week on topics that matter to people. The focus will be on investing, financial markets, and economics. I’ll also give you some ideas on where else to go for more information, including other blogs, analysts, websites, books, etc… and also let you get to know me a little more along the way.
For instance, since I last contributed to this space, my family has expanded. The littlest child was born in June 2014 and just recently turned 9 months. Lia Lynn is more temperamental than both of her older siblings combined, but she redeems herself by being cute and entertaining.
Lia likes to play football. Watch out little boys.
But now my budget for both time and space are running short. Next week I’ll offer some basic ideas to approach starting an investment program. Help me out by sending your thoughts or experiences on the matter. Have you tried opening an online brokerage account? Rolling over an IRA? Let me know what the hang-ups were.
Until next time….
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”
― Michael Altshuler