Last Post

In the second half of last year I started thinking about potentially leaving my current employer and starting my own investment firm.  There were many reasons for this, not the least of which is complete disillusionment with company management.  For a number of months now I have been exploring this possibility, researching regulatory requirements, interviewing financial service providers, developing a business plan, etc.

I started this blog as part of this research.  The concept was to incorporate it into a more traditional business web site and use it as a way of effectively communicating updates to clients and prospective clients.

The blog has turned out to the the easy part.  Creating one and filling it with content has been simple compared to the other tasks.  And, after a very detailed examination of the alternatives, I have decided to shelve the idea of launching own firm for now.  The rate of change and amount of uncertainty in the financial services industry is at extreme levels, and I may end up elsewhere, but for now it will not be of my own volition.

So, this is the last entry for the Durable Investor.  I will turn my efforts back to concentrating solely on success in my current role.  Yes, management at my company remains questionable, and perhaps has even been borderline criminal in the past, but I have the ability to work independently to a very large extent and protect my clients from my own company as well as the overall markets.

To close, here’s a final thought: while the future does not look appealing right now, it does not look as bad as many think.  We may be in a “Great Recession”, but it remains highly unlikely that we are in Great Depression II.

Look at this entry from Calculated Risk.  CR was one of the very early voices warning about the bubble economy.  Behavioral investing is all about being aware of crowd dynamics and irrational actors.  We are currently in a pessimism bubble; try to keep things in perspective.