Andy Swan

Total return investing: No decimals allowed!

August 24, 2008 – 10:24 pm
I don't invest, trade, gamble with a goal of 6-14% annualized returns.  You should know this when reading this blog...I'm aggressive beyond the normal parameters of "money management".  You see... My goal is to MULTIPLY total assets.  I don't separate into "portfolios"....to me, that rings hollow.  There is only one portfolio and that is the entire Swan portfolio as a whole. Each year, I'm attempting to multiply my net worth.  Multiply. As you can imagine, this type of approach requires great risks...and leads to large swings in both directions. For example, in 2008 I have essentially been cut off at the knees with a rusty nail file.  But, the year is not over yet and I still hold out reasonable hope for a "minor" 20% net-worth haircut.  :)  This is what happens when a vast majority of one's assets are residential real-estate, the dollar (via cash), and the stock of a financial company. On the ...

Posted in action, be the house, ideas, money, options, startup, trading |

Lessons from Obama’s good pick

August 23, 2008 – 2:21 pm
It's natural to look for someone that you get along with.  But that can be trouble...because a lot of the time, "someone you get along with" is nothing more than "someone like me".  You don't need two of you to succeed. You need a partner that does the following: Excels in the areas where you are weakest Challenges you Shares your passion and work ethic Understands his/her role and how it differs from yours Respects you Obama picked Biden because he helps to fill in some of the rather large gaps on Obama's resume. McCain will pick Romney to get conservatives $$ and votes. If you ever get a chance to take a former opponent as a partner...give it a real good look. p.s.  I have a feeling that a couple of months from now we will all be wishing that the Pres/VP slots were flipped for BOTH parties.

Posted in Uncategorized |

iCaved

August 20, 2008 – 1:29 pm
I said that there was no way that I was going iPhone... I flip-flopped. I got one yesterday.  Two reasons why: I want to create a great iphone application and I need to breathe the platform.  If you know anyone who is REALLY good at developing for the iphone, let me know in comments or email me. The wait for the blackberry bold has gotten VERY annoying.  I love blackberry, but enough is enough for this delay after delay. So it's in hand.  It is an amazing device.  No copy paste and no keys is bugging me...but it's only been 24 hours.

Posted in AAPL, mobile |

Politics

August 7, 2008 – 11:53 pm
Look I try not to blog about poltics too much because it's a permanent record on the internet and no one has a sense of humor. But let me tell you something....if you want my vote, you damn well better respect investors, entrepreneurs and idea guys.  Taxing "big oil" is the linguistic equivalent of taxing "90% of 401k holders". Obama--You CANNOT have an energy plan that calls for taking from supply (oil companies) and giving to demand (consumers) and expect my vote. McCain--You're supposed to be a sacrificial lamb and the ONLY reason I might vote for you is to avoid shell Obama and Pelosi having their way with the overblown federal government.  Accept the one term we give you (if that) then bow out gracefully you old coot. OK so here is my political philosophy: MINIMIZE the role of the (by definition) out of touch, federal government Control should lie in local governments....THAT is where ...

Posted in ideas |

Wanna buy a stock Friday? Try this instead….

August 7, 2008 – 11:11 pm
1 week from AUG options expiration.  If you want to buy a stock for a play that is one month or more in duration, do me a favor....sell the puts that are 1-2 strikes IN the money instead of just buying the stock $50 says you get your stock and a few nickels per share in premium.  It's not a ton, but it's a head start that'll more than cover your commissions that you so dumbassly shop around for 50 cents/trade on.  :) Go.

Posted in Uncategorized |

Econ 101 for celeb dumbasses

August 7, 2008 – 9:32 pm
I've had to deal with the demands of the paparatzi for most of my adult life, so let me say from experience.... PRICE is set by supply and demand. Demand is elastic and varies inversely to price. If the paparatzi is ruining your life, FLOOD the market with supply.  ANNOUNCE your next move all the time.  Make sure EVERYONE has equal access to every picture of you. When you control supply, you can control demand. By flooding the market with SUPPLY of pictures of you, you will absolutely make the value of those pictures approach 0, and make them unprofitable for the photographers, especially when compared to the price paid for pictures of more secrative celebs.  Thus, no one will stake out your house waiting to get THE shot no one else gets. NOTE:  You can't be doing something sinister that IS newsworthy to pull this off... p.s. The first line of this post was the ultimate ...

Posted in Uncategorized |

I do not like facebook….but I’m glad you do!

August 7, 2008 – 11:12 am
Facebook is just....ehhh....I don't know....I'm just very apathetic about it.  It's like a micro version of the internet to me.  I have my blog, my twitter, my mytrade page, my email....so facebook isn't really doing a lot for me. But, I sure am glad it's so popular.  About 2-3 times/week I get a notification that someone from my school days has added me as a friend on facebook. This is a bonus because 1) I find out that the person is still allive, and 2) I now have a way to contact that person in the future if there is some amazing outlier event that compells me to need to talk to someone that I haven't needed to talk to in 10-15 years. So that's neat. But the groups, the virtual gifts, the applications that replaced 1997's Yahoo Games section... you can keep all that nonsense.

Posted in Uncategorized |

Power distributed, barriers lowered, opportunities open

August 4, 2008 – 11:54 pm
Let me start out by saying I'm not going to even try to turn this into a coherent, single post.... There is a changing of the guard going on when it comes to the internet.  Like everything else, power is becoming more distributed and less concentrated.   Calcanus, Arrington, etc...who gives a shit.  Lots of people have great ideas and the barriers to implementing them are dropping...fast. I'm not sure which camp I fit in...I've had success on the internet over the last 8 years but I don't feel like I'm a old name...to me it's all just trends just like anything else.  Be early and be nimble and you'll be fine no matter how many competitors you have. But all of this leads me to start thinking about the overall trend of distribution of power/influence... The speed at which companies go from ZERO to 1 billion will continue to increase, but more importantly, the ...

Posted in ideas, trends |

Happiness for $100

July 24, 2008 – 9:08 am
Here are the steps: 1.  Throw away (or charitably donate) every single pair of socks in your house.  EVERY one.  Check the laundry basket, the washer, the dryer, the garage, your feet....everywhere and throw them ALL away. 2.  Put on your sandals and go to the local Target.....or the more pedestrian Wal-Mart if you want to spend $98.87 instead. 3.  Buy $100 worth of white and dark socks (in the proportion most closely resembling your liklihood to wear dark socks).  All white socks should be 100% identical as well as all dark socks 100% identical. You have achieved happiness.  You no longer need to pair up socks.  Just grab two and go.  None will have a hole or have a drunken, lazy neck to them.  You are free. Repeat quarterly.

Posted in Uncategorized |

Follow my trade ideas and market thoughts

July 23, 2008 – 10:52 am
I am now posting all of my stock market thoughts and trade ideas on my mytrade page. Once there, click on "& everyone I follow" tab and you'll see why I'm so excited about mytrade....I've got a stream of brilliant investors/traders (and some new faces with amazing ideas) that I can follow in one view throughout the day. Just look at the all-star lineup we have going...including: Tom Sosnoff, president of thinkorswim Tony Battista and Joe Mazzola.... advanced options experts/instructors Tim Knight ... wizard of technical analysis And tons more Get involved. It's easy and you can even set it to automatically import all of your twitters or blog posts from wherever you already blog. Follow me so I can follow you back.  Put your mytrade page URL in the comments below so that all of us can follow you...

Posted in ideas, money, thinkorswim, trading, twitter |