I have often wondered what I would do if I no longer had my trading restrictions, and could invest in financial stocks freely. I no longer have to wonder. As of this morning, I have bought shares in Safety Insurance, Aspen Insurance, Lincoln National, and (what else?) Assurant. They replace the following names in my portfolio: Allstate (waving a fond farewell… but I’ll be back), Noble Corp, and SPX Corp. I will be exiting Lyondell when the arb premium gets a bit tighter. Also, I had two rebalancing buys Tuesday Morning — I added to positions in Lithia Motors and Cemex.
Why do I no longer have restrictions? My employer and I parted ways amicably. I would recommend their services to anyone who wanted to invest in such a hedge fund, but I increasingly found that wanted to do something closer to what I like in investment management. Much as I like analyzing the insurance industry, I’m better at managing broad market equity and bond assets.
So, for the first time in four years, I’m looking at business opportunities. I’ve got a number of them that I am considering, including writing more, setting up my own investment management shop, or working with someone else that I might be compatible with. Do you have any suggestions for me? At this point I haven’t eliminated anything, so if you do have an idea, please e-mail me.
This is bittersweet for me, because I genuinely liked the people that I worked with. That said, I was planning on leaving no later than March 2009 (because of vesting), so this accelerates what was already being considered. This blog was initially developed for this possibility; I just did not expect it to become live only five months after the start.
PS — One of the losses that I feel immediately is the loss of my Bloomberg terminal. I’m going through withdrawal. I’ve used Bloomberg terminals for 15 years now, and given the variety of work that I have done, I know all eleven of the yellow keys to some degree, and I am an expert on eight of them (all except Money Markets, Munis, and Preferred Stocks). I am fitfully learning to do without, but am looking forward to having one back, because I can do snazzy things with it.
Full Disclosure: long AHL SAFT LNC AIZ LAD CX LYO
Back when I left my job and lost my Bloomberg they gave former subscribers 3 months free. This was a few years ago. You might want to check it out with the sales rep you had at the fund.
David:
Congratulations on your “loss!” I went through a similar experience and found that my creativity and productivity exploded after departing the “familiar.” A little “chaos” is absolutely necessary in the grand scheme of things.
Also, congratulations on your newly acquired trading freedom! I also recently bought into the sector that no one else wants right now — financials. It’s a wonderful contrarian play…
Cheers…
David,
I expect that you will thrive on the “chaos” as the above poster notes. If your parting with your employer is in otherwise good order (i.e., professionally, financially), then congratuations. And I am looking forward to more of the blog.
Two entirely random notes:
1) You mentioned you were with PM in the 90s. I was with Aris Corp., an investing/servicing affiliate of Pennsylvania Financial Group. Ring any bells?
2) What’s with LNC? It’s gotten creamed, above and beyond anything reasonable. The conventional wisdom says CEO change, the dullard JP team taking over, and equity exposure through VA products. The investing book seems clean enough. What are we missing? (I’ve been buying it personally on the way down, and it’s now a top 5 holding for me.)
Best of luck with life’s next chapter!