Being able to think clearly and process information quickly is something that separates good traders from bad traders. Understanding odds, strategy and potential outcomes are the tools of the trade for those making both short-term and long-term investment decisions. These skills and others can be learned not only in a classroom or by interning at a fund or sitting on trading desk, but also with a deck of cards or a chess board. Learning to play games that make you think, strategize and focus can help you become a better investor. It may also help you become a better entertainer.
In recent weeks, hedge fund managers obsessed with chess and bridge have been profiled in a number of publications. Any recent listener to the King of All Media has heard him speak at length of his exploits in the game of kings. Followers of the Oracle of Omaha and many other Wall Street titans know of their love of Bridge. The World Series of Poker often features hedge fund folks and actors, includingJason Alexander and Ray Romano. What does it all mean? Simply that being good games that make you think will help you in your career and can provide you with the tools for success. The recent New York Times article on how chess prowess got a budding hedge fund manager’s foot in the door at Goldman Sachs can be read by clicking here.
Becoming a grandmaster or making it to the final table in the World Series of Poker doesn’t assure success, but it can’t hurt. Pick a game, learn it, live it and become an expert. It just might help you be better at what you do.
COSAS QUE ME VUELVEN LOCO
I am sick and tired of being nickle-and-dimed. Everywhere I go and with everything I do, there is a new fee. Have any of you taken a look at your cable bill or cell phone bill? These providers have become the fee-you-to-death companies of the decade. Each has come up with new ways to make money by adding random fees and surcharges with abandon. No longer is the price the price, but rather the place that the bill begins. And banks are next. Three words… Bank of America!
It makes me nuts, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
