Hometown: Yeouido

Live octopus.

2006-03-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

Unreal...I was trolling the Net and found this little vid...yes, that's me! Thanks Yusheng (who visited me in Seoul)--you da man!

Why is James Not in Yeouido???

2006-01-01T03:44:00.000-05:00

For the explanation, read here.

Title Scorer

2005-12-16T07:46:00.000-05:00

This morning I read about a Title Scorer. I put in Hometown: Yeouido and got a paultry 35.9% chance of a book of this name being a bestseller. Island of Fantasy, however, got a 69% score...damn!

Cool Korea Pics

2005-11-10T07:06:00.000-05:00

My bud Kelvin posted these pics on his site.

Very cool.

Check flights

2005-11-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

Very cool. Just read this in the Wall Street Journal. Now you can check how tardy, canceled or diverted your chosen flight might be. FlightStats noted that my little jaunt from Vancouver to Seoul (which I took like 20 times without incident) was, as I found, never cancelled and hardly delayed, ever. Good place for stats.

Kids, kids and more kids.

2005-11-08T09:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my wife was wondering why I cranked the heat up the night before. I hadn't the foggiest idea what she was talking about. Then we saw Winston doing this:A-ha! So that's why we were like a Thanksgiving turkey in the oven! Time to baby-proof this place.

And for friends, family and those who like kid-pics, here is a selection of recent snapshots:

Korean Back Treatment

2005-11-08T09:50:00.000-05:00

I guess I have myself to blame. I mentioned to my wife that my back was a little stiff (probably from sleeping so much on account of my cold) and she told her mom and dad...who then made an appointment at a Korean doctor to treat me. I was told it would be a massage (which is fine, in my books) but it was something a lot more.

First, there was this weird smell coming from the "doctor's" office (a real doctor? Hmmmm). It was like incense...which made me wonder what kind of druid I'd be seeing.

They took down some basic information...name, phone number and talked to me and my mother-in-law. Then it was on to a bed to lie face down. Hmmm....no mention of a health card number or vital signs (pulse, respiration) that seems to be the norm in Western clinics.

The doc attached a couple of suction cups to my lumbar region...and created two strong vacuums. I had seen this, it actually tensed up the muscles quite well. Maybe this is ok.

Then the cups came off and I felt a series of pin-pricks in the same area. What the heck!?!? Is this accupuncture? I thought it wasn't supposed to hurt! Anyhoo, on again with the suction cups. Ends up...there is 'bad blood' in your body and you need to get it out from where it sets (which happens to be whereever you're hurting). If you leave this blood in it's bad. Uh-huh. Sounds like a throw-back to leeching, to me.

Here's a pic of my lovely back after the 'treatment'. Ai-yai-yai! My father-in-law said that many people in Seoul have these on their back...you can see it in the men's lockerroom. Ok, well, I work out in Canada, not Korea...so I imagine I'll get a few stares.

After the suctions came the accupuncture. About a dozen needles were fired into my back. Some of them had little shots of insense (hence the odor) attached to them. The advice was: tell me if they are feeling hot. Let's see, burning needles in my skin, how could that be hot!!??!

Then on the back for another treatment on my front. Needles in my left foot and leg (not the right, but then the left was on her side of the table...so maybe it had more to do with convenience. Let me tell you...she put them needles pretty far South, too. Even lit one pretty close to the nether-regions--yeow! Then a heatlamp on my torso. I asked her if she was cooking me...indeed, she was. Huh?!?! Ya, cooking one's stomach is good for the back.

Then it was over. They had a little pharmacy there...and I got some pills of some sort (looked more like rabbit turds) to take 3 times a day. Apparently they are made from bear liver (that sounds very legal, doesn't it?)--and smelled like bear crap.

Well, my father-in-law says just 3 or 5 or 7 more treatments (no suction, just accupuncture) and I'll be good as new. He's seem some guys with 6 or 10 suction-marks on their back and even Gwyneth Paltrow has had it done (but, then, she's a Hollywood star--she'll do anything that's in fashion).

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheong-Gye Canal Opening

2005-10-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pics sent to me from a bud in Seoul. I remember this thing (the canal) when it was under construction. (UPDATE: Here is a cool posting of the whole process.) Would love to go there and see it finished. As the sign says, there was a stream here before the city paved over it...but now Seoul is going a little retro/nature (read: they want to get land values up) so they exposed it again. Might make living in the downtown core fashionable...and we know what that means: incredible fad leading to irrational exuberance. Stay tuned!

2005-09-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

Just got this from my Mom...guess she wants me to make sure I stay healthy or something. You got to wonder how liked the guy was if it took five days to figure out that he had expired.

I'm Back...Sort of.

2005-08-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

Guess where I am now...Toronto. For those who don't know (how could you? Toronto what #2, after Hong Kong, on the SARS hit parade a couple of years ago...ah, to be flying during SARS...3 seats to oneself...but I digress) it's the largest city in Ontario, the capital of the province and our national capital (Ottawa) is in the same province.

Why am I here? To work. I've been here a while now seeking out firms to work for. Been up and down the street and met almost everyone who is anyone in the Alternative (as in Alternative Investment, not music) space. Well, not everyone...that's a little arrogant to say. But, I've got, in a short time, a pretty good idea of the lay of the land here.

How did it all start? As usual (well, it's how I started my extrication from Korea) it was a call from a headhunter (aka recruiter). He had a job for me that got me thinking. I wasn't into the new position, but it got me thinking that I'd really like to get back into hedge funds and structured products (hedge funds are loosely regulated pools of capital managed by--usually--a seasoned pro; structured products are like index-linked GICs or term deposits or bonds you might have seen at the bank...basically a product that--usually--guarantees invested capital plus the chance at some upside as determined by some sort of underlying investment like stocks, the price of gold or interest rates...I'll have to write more on this later).

Anyhoo, this estate planning thing is ok. I can create interesting structures and tactics within the tax act and other laws and regulations, but it doesn't really have the oomph of AI (Alternative Investments). Once you figure it out there is little variation on it...whereas in AI the possibilities are pretty varied and tend to change every few months. A very exciting place to be, if you ask me.

I'm a little torn between going with a big firm and being a cog (been there) or a smaller one where I can get my hands on many areas of development, research, marketing and education (done that). The (AI) community in Toronto is pretty small, which is good and bad. Good in that I got a handle on it in a pretty short period of time...bad in that every single interview and meeting can be broadcast to everyone else quickly. Think of a town of 50 people where an outsider comes in and meets with the sheriff, the mayor, the judge, the mailman, the general store owner, and the undertaker--in about a week everyone can compare notes (if they want) and separate any fact from fiction. The good news is I got tons of fact, having been in the business for 10+ years...it's going alright so far.

So, here I am in a different city on my son's birthday, again. It happened last year, too. At least I was there for his first birthday...as in getting born. To all those others who have this as their special day: happy birthday!

Well, that's about it for now...better head to the gym again. Been there 2-3 hours a day lately...got to keep the ol' bod in good order.

Later...more to come.

Crazy times

2005-05-04T13:27:00.000-05:00

Man, over the last few days I've been at work or with the kids hanging off me. Finally got a chance to get out last night (not that I mind being home wiht da boys at all). I went to a (Korean-owned, of course) sushi place nearby with a Korean realtor I know. I think we got a lot of complimentary stuff (Koreans are like that). Tons and tons of great fish, a couple of bottles of soju and a jumbo bottle of beer...ahhhh. That was nice. Of course, I woke up at 4AM (and unable to get back to sleep) so before long I'll be ready to hit the hay.

Crap, got to go to a meeting. More later.

Japanese Need More Sex (in the home)

2005-04-27T08:59:00.000-05:00

Looks like the Japanese are not getting enough sex. I read in the dinosaur blog (aka newspaper, here is an online link) this morning that a recent study found that a third of Japanese couples have not had sex in the last month—and 20% have not done so in the last year. Now, I’ve been to Japan (and Korea, as you know) and got to know how they live their lives. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that Japanese (and Koreans) may not be having sex with their mates, but they are likely getting their groove on somewhere, somehow and with someone. A study on Koreans found that 75% of men and 15% of women admitted to infidelity (imagine how many didn’t admit to it!) and men from both countries normally frequent singing bars (called Karaoke in Japan, Noraebang in Korea) where, ahem, more than signing goes on. Now, the reason for this study was to find out why Japan has a declining population; no sex would be a pretty big factor but I think the 15+ year recession and bear market as well as a high cost of living and highly rarified real estate might be a factor too. If they want Japanese to start having more kids, the should move the sex from the business clubs and into the home (the bedroom, to be exact, but I’m a bit of a prude).

UPDATE: Upon reading the online story I noticed a new fact: 28% of men and 34% of women (who were couples) had not had sex in the last month. Did these gals forget the act? Or, as I assume, did the guy do a little nookie on the side? Hmmm...

I’m amazed at how bright it’s getting in the morning. The sun comes up about the time I get on the train now, so now I feel more awake in the morning—a little. Last night Winston (our young one) slept from about 6PM to 11:30PM so my wife ended up staying awake all night. I also woke up a fair bit, but that was because Spencer was kicking me in the head in his sleep. Yeow!

Yesterday I had coffee with the illustrious Minaz (you know, there's even a Minaz site!) He’s a controller at a firm now and is revamping the accounting protocols (and establishing them in some cases) and basically getting the place ship-shape. He’s a real whiz at that. My whiz area is finance and he was asking me why some of the tax tricks that I and other guys in the industry tell him are not in a book or something—well, Minaz, that is how we make our money. I’m all for freedom of information, but, much for the same reason that not everyone is a CGA or CA/CPA, there are some areas where knowing the rules and applying them is highly specialized and it’s not only getting everything down pat at one moment in time—we have to ensure that changes to the tax code, product specifications and supplier characteristics are right for the situation. Well, I put together some information for him, and we’ll see how it’s received.

Ug, feel tired still. Losing my train of thought. Better quit now before I really start babbling. For a more coherent blog take a look at Tony’s. He’s a reader of this one, living in London with his Korea wife and 2 boys (see a similarity?) and he’s in finance too. Enjoy.

Miscellaneous

2005-04-26T09:30:00.000-05:00

It’s getting really light early in the morning now. Soon it’ll be bright when I get up at 4:45. Some people think that’s pretty early, but I also go to bed at around 8PM or 9PM—I need my 8 hours. I’m not sure why, but I seem to need a fair bit of sleep. I know some people can get by on 4 hours, but I’m definitely not one of them. Some of my best thinking comes when I’m sleeping, too. Oftentimes when I wake up I’ll have an idea to implement at the office or something to do during the day or some insight into a problem I’ve been thinking of. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism so I don’t think I’m lazy, but it seems to work.

We’ve also had some pretty nice weather lately. All fun in the sun for the last few days and it looks like it’ll last a few more (now, of course, that I’ve said that things will have to turn for the worse—dooogh!). It’s especially nice walking downtown. There are shorter skirts and lower tops donning the lassies these days; but one also has to see the odd bare, hairy, tattooed pot-belly—double dooogh!

It’s kind of interesting in this office. The guys are usually in at about 6:30AM or so, but at 1PM the place becomes a ghostown, fast-like. I knew they were traders, but it looks like their whole lives are pure trading in most cases. Some of the guys are looking at being more of a planner, but I highly doubt they can make the change after so many years as traders. Well, I’m not that dogmatic. One or two of the guys are bright enough to see the writing on the wall and make a change, but one of them is a bloody genius who, I believe, could find a way to make money selling sand in the desert. He’s already beating the bushes pretty hard with all of his clients and contacts that what we can do for them is a good thing (and, of course, it is). He’s actually pretty funny. He was meeting with the trustees of a local private school and told some of the high-powered lawyers there that he is implementing alter-ego trusts for his senior clients and they are basically idiots for not knowing about them—because they are in the legal profession and always say they know everything about this stuff while here’s this old broker who knows more. Haha. Ya, he’s a little confrontational, but he is the same age as these guys (50+) and has known them for years. He also has made tens of millions of dollars for his clients with few losses, so his words on finance resonate with many.

Time to get off the train already, later.

Truckers of the World Unite!

2005-04-25T09:06:00.000-05:00

Here is my letter to The Province from their cover story today:

Truckers threatening to shut down Vancouver (or anywhere else in Canada), I believe, are quite justified in their view and they should carry it out as soon as possible. Their plight is not lost on all of us other taxpayers and I know I speak for everyone when I say that they should get some preferential treatment. I mean, it isn’t their fault that their businesses are being ravaged by higher fuel costs. And, if these higher expenses mean they can’t keep their rigs in good repair then we all could suffer if one of them loses a tire or otherwise causes a horrific accident on the roads. We should all buck up and accept their form of protest for as long as it takes until Ottawa and Victoria changes their tune and has a ‘temporary’ tax amnesty for them. It’s all for the greater good.

Let’s not stop there, though. Couriers companies should also get some sort of deal; their fuel prices have gone up too and it’s not like they are hedge funds and can play the futures markets to make up difference. As well, airlines will also need a break on their fuel costs. We all need to fly once in a while—especially politicians in election season—so everyone can understand their predicament. Translink riders should also get a break: they just had a round of price increases and it was probably because of fuel prices. They should get a rebate cheque for every month they’re on transit. Then there’s professional racecar drivers. They must be hurting from the price of high octane. It’s time to make their life easier too—otherwise a favorite sport of Vancouver (except people who live near the track) might be lost forever.

For that matter, stockbrokers and traders have been living under the gun for decades—and should get their fair share of the pie. Since May Day (May 1, 1975), when brokerage commissions came off of the set rates and discounters came into the industry, these disadvantaged professionals have been struggling to make ends meet on a fraction of their usual trading profits. Competition has really hurt the industry and pushed billions of dollars into mutual funds and managed accounts. Oh, the humanity! They should receive some sort of package from the government—otherwise they will stop transacting business. You heard it here first: if the government doesn’t bring back fixed-rate commissions (and high ones, at that) trading on all Canadian exchanges will stop. I’m sure that all RRSP investors and pension plan members will band together and stop investing, trading and withdrawing cash for as long as it takes to make this modest proposal a reality.

Yes, truckers may believe they have valid reasons to want more because of changes in the markets and general business environment—but it doesn’t mean they should get it.

"It's nice to know in a changing world that people can still be bought,"

2005-04-22T12:30:00.000-05:00

Oh ya. Take a read of this Forbes article. It comments on the proposed merger of the NYSE (home of the specialist middleman) and Archipelago (an open architecture trading platform/exchange). So, if you're using an antiquated system (in the eyes of some) and they are going at you with both guns--and winning--what is your best option? Inflate the value of your firm and then buy the upstart. Beautiful.

My One and Only Political Comment

2005-04-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

Man, getting hotter now…at least warmer than before—and no rain for the past few days. For this place, any time without torrential downpours is like a vacation; especially when we’re coming out of winter (aka the rainy season).

I’ve noticed something lately…I’ve been blogging much less than before. At first, I thought it might be that I have less to say—but that’s not all that likely. More like I have less time to do it now. Even on the train (where I am now) I usually take the trip to write a 1-pager on whatever topic the brokers are asking about at the moment. Believe it or not, blogging takes a bit of energy—arranging thoughts, getting it down and uploading to the net (adding pictures is another time-consuming step). So, why did I blog so much before: I had the time. In Korea my position was mostly ceremonial. I did work, but much of the time my duties were allotted over a pretty generous amount of time. Now, I have the same number of hours, but more to do. I also have to manage about 30 relationships at a time with the brokers and others…like clients, lawyers and accountants. I like it, though. Now when I wake up I can think of 5-10 things to do…in Korea it was ‘hurry up and wait’ much of the time.

So, what to talk about now. I’m an avowed apolitical type, but Paul Martin’s address yesterday was a little refreshing. I remember Bill Clinton and his, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,“ bullshit so P.M. Martin’s talk was good. Seemed like he was slapping himself in the face before someone did it for him—and now the opposing parties can do nothing more than call him “desperate”; they can’t say that he’s saying too little too late because it certainly wasn’t that. He seemed…well…Canadian—not slick, not mumbling about someone else’s mistakes. He said, basically, “Hey, it happened on my watch so let’s get this investigation done and you [Canada] can take a look at the face and vote me out if you like, or not.” Kinda scary, actually, that a P.M. would do as close to the right thing as possible (there really is no right thing…stepping down would be premature and decimate the party and, more or less, the country’s pride and denying it would definitely be brutal).

Ok enough politics—I won’t comment on it again until there is another special address or something, honest.

The gal next to me has 2 Tupperware tubs on her lap. Mmmmm…cookies. Those, and an Anne of Green Gables book. You know, I’ve never had (and probably never will) have the inkling to read those kinds of books—although so many ‘foreigners’ come to places like P.E.I. to see the green-gabled house itself. You know my bent: I like finance books. Man, this gal has some heeeavy perfume on. Good thing the train is at the station now. Phew!

Time for a New Pope!

2005-04-20T11:52:00.000-05:00

I'm constantly amazed at the power of religion. All around the world people were watching for the election of this next pontif (while in some sects they're strapping C4 to their bodies and taking runs at checkpoints). When it finally happened, tens of millions watched his first address and many more will probably watch his first mass. This new guy, Pope Benedict XVI, is a German--so, of course, they have already uncovered Nazi ties to him...typical. I thought it was strange that his name is Jospeh, but now he's Pope Benedict. The story there is new popes choose a Saint to model their papalcy after. So when it comes to decisions, this pope will likely be methodical and comprehensive in his research on the subject before coming up with a decision for the church--many call this being more conservative, I call it thoughtful--basically, he'll ask: WWSBD (What Would Saint Benedict Do)? Interesting.

I know this more because it's current and I can ask my in-house guru, Peter, about it. Peter, I think, is a bloody genius. The guy has facts on almost everything in his head--not just simple facts, but processes and such. If ever I have a question (it happens) I just ask him and he always has the answer.

Things are pretty busy here...got to go.

On the Train...no Rain!

2005-04-19T08:49:00.000-05:00

Again, pretty hectic at work…actually got in front of a couple of big clients on Friday. Not only that, but they have quite the family (wealthy, to some degree) and we’re talking with their accountant as well—he’s been looking into trusts for his clients, so it’s a nice match with our talents.

Anyhoo, just read an interesting paper on ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). It’s quite cool to find out the inner-workings of these things from people in the field (how they are created, used, traded and terminated). It’s posted on Albourne Village, a site (if you’re into finance in any way) you better sign up on. It has tons of news, reports and papers on all areas of the market—but especially regarding AI (Alternative Investments) like hedge funds. In the paper I saw one of my favorite words: fungible. It means something like ‘easily exchangeable’. Like a loaf of bread is fungible, but the Hope Diamond is not. The first time I saw it in a structured note I thought it was a typo. Fungible? Sounds like fungus or something. There was also a note in it to read another paper (on short sales)—I guess that’s my next read.

Almost at the station now…some of the passengers are starting to get up and ready themselves for the mad dash—some take a boat across to North Vancouver so there are always a few sprinting up the stairs to catch it.

There’s the announcement to get off…later.

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

2005-04-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

Friday morning I felt pretty tired. Been a long week. I've been researching many areas of estate, tax and insurance planning and making my little 1-pagers for the brokers as well as stopping by their office on an (almost) daily basis to give them a heads-up on whatever I am up to. Did the same that morning...a little piece on the difference between "in trust for" investment accounts and investment accounts set up for a formal trust--there are some very BIG disadvantages to "in trust for" accounts. Anyhoo, as I stopped in on one broker his partner said he needed a life insurance quote...ok, so I got on that when I got back to my desk. Then an older broker said he had a couple of $1 mil clients coming in who needed some estate advice...so I met with them too. Things got busy in a hurry, which is good. I really don't mind working a lot on these kinds of things--it's when you're twiddling your thumbs that things get depressing. Well, a few of the othe brokers are studying up on my planning areas and scouring their 'books' (client base) for prospect for me--one is even sending out an email to his 1,000 clients and prospects on my stuff--that is cool.

Today it's nice to have a day off--but it's raining. No idea what we'll do, but got to sleep in until 6AM, so that was nice.

Oh ya, a Korean guy took me out for lunch on Thursday. We had kamja-tang at a great little Korean restaurant downtown: Jang Mo Jib. Mmmmmm....it was just like the kamja-tang I had in Hongdae (maybe better). I also met some Koreans at lunch on Friday. I was out with Minaz (Google my page to see pics of him when he visited me in Seoul) at a food fair and the people with the take-out place were Korean. At first I thought they were Chinese or something, but then I asked if there was kimchi for the european weiners they were selling (the pricing made me think of Myoungdong, too: $5 for a big dog, chips and fresh fruit shake) and they said they had it in the back. I asked (in Korean) if they were Korean then the lady asked if my wife went to Ewha Women's University (in Seoul)....um, ya, how did you know?...she had read my wife's article in the paper about our wedding in Korea--from over 5 years ago! Man, some people have the weirdest memories. I think every Korean in Vancouver read that thing and remembers it.

Well, I better get at some work. Just did a couple of articles on beneficiary designation and alter-ego trusts...next is stuff on charitable giving. Later.

How I fill my days.

2005-04-13T08:55:00.000-05:00

Man, it’s been busy at work again. Getting lots of good questions from the brokers and it looks like all of them (including the ones who were giving my the Heisman for the last few weeks because they thought I was just an ‘insurance guy’) have warmed to me and started to see that there is much that I/we can do for their clients. This is cool.

Some of the students and friends of mine whom I speak with (I meet with a few students a month to see if I can add something to what they are doing on their own career planning) ask me what I do everyday. Really, I have no idea. Like the last 2 days: I get in at 6:45 everyday and leave at about 3:15…pretty much a full day. I work these hours because the brokers get in the office at about 6AM or so and many check out at 1PM (market hours here on the West Coast are 6:30 to 1PM). For the first hour or so I do email and make up my 1-pagers (basically very focused documents written for brokers on a specific topic). I do them on whatever they are asking about: trusts, wills, taxation, legal issues, offshore investing and insurance topics. I research throughout the day (Googling things and talking with lawyers, accountants and other professionals) then usually let the facts cure/bake overnight while I sleep so I can have a cohesive piece to get into Word in the morning.

On Mondays, and many other days, I have a morning meeting in another office (mostly on insurance stuff, it’s a little late: 8AM start) and various lunches and other meetings at law firms and conference locations around downtown. This way I get ideas to bring to the brokers, new developments and get answers to my questions from those in the know (more or less, figuring out who knows what is half the battle).

I also ‘do the rounds’ throughout the day. Basically finding a few minutes to ingratiate myself on the brokers and present my ideas to them. I like to show them two at once: yesterday was a trust structure whereby their trading profits (which are usually taxed as income because they are ‘pro’ traders) can get up to 50% lower tax treatment. I also left them with another 1-pager with a table: the left portion was what they saw (client characteristics), the middle column was what I would see (potential problems like creditors, estate issues, taxes) and the last one covers some of the possible solutions (estate, tax and insurance planning strategies). Meetings take 1-15 minutes, depending on how busy they are. If they get a call they ignore me…which is cool—I did the same thing when I was a broker (client first). If it goes on for a it I leave and come back later…otherwise I’ll wait it out for a bit—especially if we’re on a role.

Anyways, no real structure here. The thing I want/need to add in a big way is client meetings. Things are starting, but there is little use without meeting the clients and placing business and making money at this—so I’m going to be a little more draconian (and call in the sales manager on this so that they have his moral suasion as well) so that I can justify this little adventure to myself, my wife and the firm (pretty much in that order).

Well, time to get off the train.

Rich Meal with A Rich Guy

2005-04-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

End of a long week. As you’ve been reading, it’s been a pretty busy last few days. Lunch today was with a gent I knew from a few years back—he’s got a financial firm and is looking for Koreans to fill a few slots. It was a great lunch and I think I can help him on a few fronts—which is cool. You never know when someone you give a hand to (or at least don’t piss off) will end up extending a favor to you (sometimes when you least expect it)—and especially in this industry, which is really small when I come to think about it. People that I know in Korea, the U.K. and wherever all seem to come together at some point or another and I really don’t mind (actually I like) being there to add value in some way.

So, this lunch was not what I usually have. It was a sit-down waiter-style one. Usually, lately, I’ll have it at my desk or go to a fast food joint. It was nice to use silverware again. After that a white chocolate mocha almost put me over the edge. I was stuffed already and the super-sweet concoction was a little rich—but I pulled through: what a trooper, eh?

Things are coming together more at the office. More guys are positive on my role and asking questions. Some of the biggest interest is from guys who had initially rebuffed my initial introductions. Whatever works, I always say. As long as there is interest and I can help them (and their clients) out in a meaningful way I know we can make a go of it here in a big way. It’s an interesting market, and firm, to be in at this time.

Feels Like Planting Weather

2005-04-08T08:57:00.000-05:00

Weather is getting warmer now. It’s about this time of year when I remember my 5 summers of treeplanting—where I earned money to go to college and university each year. We’d always be in some God-forsaken place like Fraser Lakes, Smithers, Valemount, Williston Lake (Itusk), Meziaden Junction/Stewart, Fort St. John or Deese Lake but usually we started in Prince George. Up there, in May, when we started the season, they had the same kind of weather as we have down here in March and April—same smells and temperature in the morning. I can still remember waking up in the tent—ya, we lived in tents—and getting ready for the day. Put on my (usually) damp boots and get to the mess tent and make lunch, wolf down breakfast (bacon and eggs and all that good stuff) and then get to the block (that’s what they call the field we planted in). My fourth year I was a foreman and fifth year I was an assistant foreman (ended up I did hardly any work and still got about the same pay as being a foremen—or more!). We did a lot: drove BIG trucks (7.2 litre engines), had a couple of helicopter contracts (where we got choppered into and out of the block everyday) and shot a bear each year (them things can get dangerous around camp). You really learn how to make do (the nearest town might be 30 minutes to 4 hours away) and work hard (it’s all piecework, paid by the tree: about 10 to 20 cents each, if you can believe it). Anyways, not that I miss it..I just remember it. Even near the end of my fifth year I wondered if I should return for one more…then I thought, “Naaaaah.”

Time to work in my warm, dry office now.

Drugs in Vancouver, No wonder they call it Vansterdam.

2005-04-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

The presentation went well. Almost all of the brokers there (and a few from corporate finance) were pretty enthused about the idea of them and their clients setting up trusts. (One even called one of his clients right after the meeting to set up a time for us to get together.) My lawyer bud liked it as well (now he can be a profit centre for his firm). Of course I was stoked as well because it will expose me to good prospects for my key products (insurance) and the amounts should be relatively large so we can make some coin at it. I split it with the brokers, but I dont begrudge that at all--all I want is to get in front of clients. We can do a lot on the personal as well as corporate sides to get money out of the company for them with little tax and quite a few other benefits as well. Everyone seems to like that idea.

This morning I took a peek at my Albourne Village account and noticed I have a ton more apples in my little account there. You get apples on the site for adding news items or research pieces to the database, and you spend them to read some reports and a few other ways. Ive uploaded quite a few things to it and managed to get a few thousand apples (which means people downloaded a thousand or so of the documents I uploaded). Yesterday I added the Goldman Sachs piece on oil super-spiking to $105. I noticed I got about 50 downloads immediately after the thing was posted. If youd like a copy just join Albourne (free and link on this post) and look at recent additions to the Library or look at all additions and do a find for Goldman Sachs.

But that's not why you called...this morning was weird. At a busstop near my train station near home I saw a couple of guys spark up a doobie...then when I got into Vancouver I smelled the pungent aroma of another guy toking in a bus shelter. Good God. Do they think this is Amsterdam?!?!

Got to get off the train now.

Jack Welch Tells it Like it is.

2005-04-06T13:15:00.000-05:00

Great read on how to manage a business here.

My favorite except:

More controversially--leading to attacks on him as "cruel and Darwinian"--he urges you to shower the top 20 per cent of performers with bonuses, stock options, praise, love and training; work hard on providing training, positive feedback and goal-setting with the middle 70 per cent to ensure they improve--and encourage the bottom 10 per cent to find more suitable work elsewhere.

Noting that's what successful sports franchises do, he insists business must follow the same approach to excel. He also insists that it's a fair, rather than cruel, approach, since it treats the bottom performers honestly, helping them to adjust their careers with your assistance in good times rather than have them face Draconian actions when bad times strike and staff is frantically jettisoned.

Makes sense.

Wall Street: The Movie

2005-04-06T11:04:00.000-05:00

Almost forgot I saw this again (or snippets of it, at least) on TV...until one of the guys mentioned Anacott Steel and "Greed is good." Ah, what a great movie. It's one of those seminal pieces that really shows you the insides of the business (or at least as it was in the 80s, but pretty close to today as well--at least the ideas in it). My bud Eoin (who is now a broker on Canary Wharf with Morgan Stanley) and I even memorised all the lines in it.

My wife is into watching it (on DVD so she can get captioning) too. When she met me she thought I was one of those floor traders....um, no, I have an office. Ha.

Here are some cool lines from it. Beauty.

Good Information on the Canadian Investment Scene

2005-04-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

For those readers who are in the industry (or about to break into it): here are a couple of sources of information: Investment Executive and Advisor's Edge. Both are free to receive and have a lot of not only securities but also planning and business building ideas.

Big Meeting...Yahoo!

2005-04-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

Well, now that I can actually do work, today is my coming out party. No, not coming out of the closetcoming out as the insurance guy in the office. Cmon! Anyhoo, today Im doing a presentation on trusts (not income trusts, I mean the trusts that people set up to put assets into so they can take care of their kids and such). My bud of about 10 years, Rick, will also be there to answer questions. Hes an/my estate lawyer and all he does is set up this stuff for people (both trusts and wills) and I got him in the office last week and introduced him to a few of the guys so everyone is already pretty comfortable with each other.

I hope the thing goes well. Our manager, Steve, said to make it short and sweet. Well, I can do the short part, but the sweet I have little control over. Basically, Ill just introduce the concerns that people have, the 5 kinds of trusts (they are all pretty basic) and then a quick example. The real test (and my intended result) will be when the brokers bring us their client situations (as they already have in some cases) and we start to get into specifics. I have a few handouts as well, both from my head and Ricks law firm, and a brochure on our (non-Securities) area of the firm. That should about do it.

Had a brutal sleep last night for some reason. Crazy dreams. No idea why. Spencer also puked on the bedroom floor (he has the flu or something) so that took about an hour to clean up (not that I did it, but I took care of the kids as Kate and her Mom did). As usual, I had to fight to get Kate to allow me to put vinegar on the carpet to kill the smell. She always wants to use some perfume or something, but I think there is something in the vinegar that destroys the odorsure it smells a bit at first, but after it dries its pretty darn good. Thing is, in this house we have rice vinegar, so the smell is a bit differentat least it works, though.

Ok, I have a breakfast to go to on IPPs (Individual Pension Plans) and then my meetinggotta go.

SFU Finance Club - Finance Night: The Movie

2005-04-05T16:20:00.000-05:00

Here is a video from the Finance Night put on by the SFU Finance Club a few weeks ago. Enjoy.

Korea Xenophobic?

2005-04-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

Haha. The Korean press and pols (politicians) are up in arms about a recent Financial Times article that slams Korea as displying (and I quote): “anti-foreigner sentiment” or “schizophrenic phenomenon”. (The article is in the premium area of FT's site, so if you pay you can read it.

Hmmmm....let's see. Is Korea anti-foreigner? Well, if anything Koreans (people and business) are, by and large (big exceptions in some cases) pro-foreigners and anti-foreigner in the same breath. Many seem to be in awe of Western culture and business practices (we came up with "best practices" while many Korean firms are still working out how to put together the words "corporate" and "governance" without coming up with "plutocracy" and "nepotism"). But, at the same time, many are also very nationalistic and (rightfully) proud of their heritage. Others go so far as to be jealous (only native speakers can speak like native speakers, stuff like that).

The recent problems with English (the language, not the country) teachers taking on hordes of Korean women as lovers reeks of this ideal: Korean gals see their expat boyfriends as a way to let loose in a tightly-strung culture and, perhaps, even be an exit strategy from whatever ails them in Korea. Korean men are (justifiably in many cases) pissed off that this introduction of a foreign body into their breeding arrangements is, to say the least, screwing things up. The gals, also, seem to be miffed that Camelot is not a place, but a feeling and just as quickly as it materializes (in the form of Joe the Teacher from Scotland, for example) it evaporates as they figure out that (i) he has other Korean girls, (ii) he is married or has a girlfriend back home, and/or (iii) the guy came to Korea because he's a big louse and cannot find gainful employment back home. (There are exceptions, but we all know that.)

Now, is Korea xenophobic? My best answer here is: it's just a phase. Remember when Korea was the Hermit Kingdom? Well, it is for good reason--foreigners have been raping, pillaging and basically destroying all things Korean for thousands of years. The latest was Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of the penninsula. Yes, occupation...as in put all the villagers in the church or town hall and burn it. As in outlaw the Korean language and replace it with Japanese. As in take all the major leaders and force them to work with Japan while holding their families hostage. As in make the last princess of the Chosun Dynasty marry the prince of Japan in order to destroy the blood line. Yes, as in screw over the whole country for about a third of a century. Not cool.

Back to this phase business (my best explanation of comparison between Korea and its Asian neighbors is that it is "out of phase", but that is another use of the word). Korea is, if anything, succeptible to fads, trends, hyperbole and boom/bust mindsets. When 2 girls were killed in June of 2002 (I believe) by an errantly-driven U.S. Army armored personnel carrier the country was up in arms over it. Protests of tens of thousands of people were staged (one set, it seems to remember the girls, the other to talk tough against the U.S.) and petitions signed. Then, so make matters worse, the U.S. Army court martial found them not guilty of criminal negligence. Whoa! Did the shiite hit the fan then! Now everything has died down.

Will the same happen with the backlash against teachers? Probably. Koreans still have an insatiable need to have their kids spend every waking (and sleeping) moment immersed in studying and this is unlikely to abate anytime soon. Since, as noted, only native speakers can speak like native speakers (and teach native speech...believe me, I've seen the results of non-native speakers teaching English...it's not pretty) there should always be a place for us foreigners in Korea. We may need a flack jacket to go to class, but there is a need.

Well, that's enough downloading to the ol' blog for now. Later.

Another Seinfeld Rip-Off: The Beach.

2005-04-05T10:38:00.000-05:00

Man, first Friends takes nuances from Seinfeld and uses it in their scripts, then life imitates art as some gal comes up with the novel idea of launching a fragrance based on the smells of the beach. Hello! It's been done before! In "The Pick" Kramer complained to Calvin Klein for stealing his idea about a fragrance based on, you guessed it, the beach--called, fittingly, The Beach.

The only difference here is this gal got out the surfer dictionary and picked "Stoked" and "Wired" as the names.

That having been said...maybe it does smell good. Who can resist the smell of the salt air, rotting kelp and wet dog. Ahhhh.

New Free Daily Paper

2005-04-05T07:29:00.000-05:00

Today a new free daily came out: Dose. It follows on the heels of already-reported Metro and 24 Hours (which is owned by Jimmy Pattison, BC’s favorite billionaire son). Dose is a little aggressive. It looks fine—good graphics, nice type—but the demographic is 18-34 year-olds (as you may know, I’m at the tippity-top of that range). For example, the advice column had a question of how to introduce having a threesome to you wife. C’mon…how about something we can use, people, like: how to unclog a drain or read a bank statement. Oh well, maybe I’m just getting old.

It’s funny, you know. I’ve been meeting with all of the brokers in the office (almost all of them now) and the response has been pretty good. Most are indifferent at first, some are interested and others, like the big-shooter I met yesterday, say things like, “Oh, all my guys are traders, and I’m really busy now—so insurance and that kind of stuff is not all that interesting.” But, once I start talking about trusts (and their relevant benefits and uses for them and their clients) or something they (especially this guy) open up. This gent asked me about what to do about his homeowner coverage—so I took his (complicated) situation to a gal I know in the business. Got him his answer in about 10 minutes…he liked that. No money in it for me, but glad to help. His parting comment: “Keep coming back to me with stuff…keep me in the loop.” You bet; that’s a pretty good start from a guy who said there was nothing I could do with him and his clients.

So, not only was my sis-in-law cooking last week, but my wife as well. She made a (surprisingly) tasty stew and I had that lor lunch a few days last week. (I’ve also started packing a lunch so I can spend more time in the office with the guys…although I will take time out a few times a week for a bite also.) It was surprising because (i) she hardly ever cooks (when we got married I was the one in the kitchen, and then when the kids came her Mom did a lot for us—and when she did get in front of a stove it was mostly to make the boys’food, not mine) and (ii) when she has tried sometimes the results have been sub-par. I’m not sure what happened in the last little while that got her in the kitchen, but I’m all for the results.

Ok, time to get at it. Later.

Got my license!

2005-04-04T06:27:00.000-05:00

Oh happy day! I finally got my license. Now the pressure’s on…have to make some dough. Well, it’s a heckuva lot better than waiting with no end in sight. I wonder if my phone call to the council had anything to do with it. I called on Friday and left a message with the top gal there saying that I saw no reason as to why this thing was not issued and, since I could do little work anyways, I might as well go to their office everyday and sit in the waiting room until it was done. Next thing I know, it’s completed. I was told not to bother them as it would make the process go on longer (what kind of crazy logic is that?) but I’m really starting to figure that it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil…so, not you (and I) know how things work.

Join Albourne Village

2005-04-01T18:12:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are wondering where I get a lot of my fantastic market and industry reads and news: here it is. Albourne Village. I recommend, if you're into that sort of thing, that you take me up on the invite and sign up for their free membership. This site helped me a lot when I was in Korea--not only in getting news and gossip but also reports and academic papers and even the job posting that got me thinking that maybe there is more out there that I could do.

Check it out:

Dear Readers,
James Burron has sent you a Postcard from the Albourne Village, the unique internet-based knowledge economy for the Alternative Investment Community.
You can pick up your postcard right here. Or you can join the Albourne Village for FREE by clicking here.
You will be granted 500 «Apples» (our internal currency) if you register, and your friend 100 for having so kindly introduced you.
As we say, "Log on, life is peaceful there"!
Yours
Albourne Village «Post Office» Staff

It's April First

2005-04-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

Dear Dear Readers,

The post below is a hoax...the click here said as much but not many are clicking it. I got a few emails and even a phone call from my wife (you'd think she'd know if we were moving out of the country!??!) so I have to think that some think it was the real deal. It ain't, I'll be in Vancouver for quite a while.

More later (and not from the airport or Yeouido, mind you).

Back to Seoul

2005-04-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Well, that's it. I spoke with my boss last night and again this morning. He gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. Bascially, if I get on a plane this weekend I can go back to my old position, live in a massive apartment 3 blocks from the office and even get my own company car (and driver) from the firm. The kicker? Seven figures guaranteed minimum salary and bonus and stock options. So, I guess I'll be packing up the family and head out there tomorrow afternoon to arrive in Seoul on their Saturday night and get over jetlag before heading to the office on Monday and get the deals flowing.

So, for all my buds in Seoul and who want to go to Seoul: here I come!

What about the job here? I really don't know. I mean, it's great here and I like the office and brokers and all...but who can refuse a mil+ guaranteed. Will have to find a replacement for myself here.

Well, that's it. You better click here now.

Quick Heads Up on WiFi and Grace Park

2005-03-31T12:57:00.000-05:00

Take a look at this article on rogue/evil twin Wifi hotspots (I think I used all the lingo I could in this sentence).

And thanks Marmot for this link to Grace Park (not the golfer; funny pic here) in Maxim. Ahhhh. She's the same Grace Park from the remake of Battlestar Galactica (one of my fav shows while growing up) and she also played a lesbian in a high school-set show made in Canada (down boy!). Get a load of this quote from her:

"The craziest thing I did on a date was probably cutting through the lobby of the Wickaninnish Inn buck naked except for a yellow rain jacket and rubber boots, stripping down, and jumping into the ocean right in front of the hotel. Mind you, it was October and we were in Canada. Not only was it freezing; it was night and we couldn’t see our clothes."

G-g-g-good G-g-g-g-god! I know that place...it's at Long Beach on Vancouver Island. Man!

Here are the Pics!

2005-03-31T12:20:00.000-05:00

I know you've been waiting for my long weekend pics all week...so here they are--wait no longer!

First, on Thursday night I went to Petcetera again with Spencer. He saw some toy dog bones and wanted to get one for Buddy, my parents' dog. I thought it was $1 but turns out it was $5! No way, man, that's a little steep for a toy I'm used to spending like $0.50 for at a market in Seoul (I think Korea has skewed my sense of value somehow). Anyways, he got over it and decided to make Buddy some bones out of Play-Doh (no, they didn't last, but he had fun).

Spencer and his Play-Doh bones for Buddy.

On my daily train trip I see this park near the ocean. It looks real pretty so we decided to go there on Friday. There were quite a few Chinese there as well as a Korean group catching crabs off the dock. A few people were in the water in kayaks and other boats too. Nice place, and so close to home.

Here we have some grass...

...and a rocky beach...

...and a sandy beach.

Winston posing.

Spencer eyeing the crabs...and donuts (out of frame).

Whoops...you get the idea.

Spencer unleashes on some rocks...creating a new stream.

Winston feeds the (somewhat aggressive) geese.

A nice little house nearby...

...complete with playset in the backyard!

Saturday was a day in the house (raining again) but we made it out to a McDonald's in Port Coquitlam (PoCo) that had a play-place. There was a group of Korean kids tearing around the place--at least until Kate told them (in Korean) to slow down and take it easy--Koreans cannot say no to someone older, and the Korean language made an impression on them. Spencer was enthralled by a blonde there (about a year or two his senior) and they played quite well. When we left he said he wanted to go to her place but I said (mistake) that her Dad is in the Secret Service and he'd have to get into it to be able to find out were they live. So, now, Spencer wants to be in "service". Ok, maybe a little early for that kind of abstract thinking.

Winston gets into the 'love the big corporation' thing a little early.

Spencer checks out the netting--the blonde gal behind him (Elsie) tickled his fancy a bit.

Spencer shares his ice cream with Winston (that which he doesn't get on his shirt, at least).

Now he tries to get it back.

Sunday was a full day at church...there was good food, egg-decorating and, oh ya, some talk of God. This church is a little far (40 mins) to get to so I'm a little dogged by the end of the day.

Jess (the sis-in-law) cooked a fantastic meal Sunday night...some of which is in the next pic.

Spencer picks up a giant peanut...actually it's a sweet potatoe, but who could guess??

Monday was a day at Crash Crawly's (kind of a Chuck E. Cheese's, but more games and stuff, less emphasis on food and a flat rate for all day).

The boys go for a ride at Crash Crawly's.

That's it...hope you liked it.

Another good McKinsey Article

2005-03-31T12:05:00.000-05:00

Like the last one, this one on the markets requires a free membership signup (they don't sell your name).

Train, Work, Steel,The Fed/CRB Connection and The Rule of 72

2005-03-31T09:54:00.000-05:00

Back on the train this morning. I forgot to mention yesterday that because of the engine failure a couple of days ago the rail company issued us an apology letter and 2 free coffees. Looks like they may need to do it again because it looks as if we’re stuck at a station once more—at least this time I’m on the train and not waiting on the platform. Ah, there it goes. They had to restart a generator. Let’s see how long it takes to actually start moving.

You know, yesterday was a sad day. There are two guys who sit near me at work, I’ll call them Peter and Ryan, and I find them to be very interesting chaps. Ryan is a new broker. Quieter than some—train just started moving!—and reminds me of my bud Carlo from when I just started in the business. Peter, on the other hand, is older (54, to be exact). He knows everything. Just unreal encyclopedic knowledge of many things—especially mining, other businesses, markets (and their history) economies and interest rates. Things you can actually use in this business. An LME metal trader I know in London, Tony, had a question for him yesterday (I told Tony Peter is a bit of a whip at many things). The question was: “Why steel is not being traded on any of the exchanges?” Peter’s answer? “Different steelmills produce steel for inventory in different forms—then when they get an order they form it to specs—thus, there isn't much (or no) standardization. Alloys and form (ingot, roll) is all over the place in the industry. Even when ordered there are little, but important, specs like bias/orientation of the grain that are major factors to the cost and suitability. Thus, it isn’t suitable for exchange trading like gold, molybdenum or lead might be.”

I didn’t let you know the sad part yet: those two now have their own office (with a window, no less) so they’ve moved out of our little area (there was a fourth guy, David, there as well, and he is still there).

The good news is I’ve almost met all of the brokers in the firm and the response has been pretty positive to my role. At first most guys say there are few or zero clients of theirs that would be good prospects for what I do, but after speaking about it for a while with them they usually come up with a few ideas. That is cool. In Ontario, Calgary and, recently, Montreal where we’ve rolled this out it has been well-received—both by brokers and clients—so I’m not too concerned about that front. We’ll see, though.

You may know that Union Securities was a bit of a bucketshop when it started in the 1960s (or so I hear). Now the firm is adding many wealth management functions (like mine) to their platform, but, still, many of the clients are traders in the more speculative markets. One broker, on old hand (not as old as Peter, though) had an interesting comparison to RBC Dominion Securities (where I started) and other more conservative firms and Union. He said that at DS the name of the game is ‘asset management’ (you’re finding places to invest people’s money and your success depends on how big your book/client base is); at Union the deal is ‘debt management’ (you have clients buying stocks on margin and you have to make sure they don’t blow themselves up and end up leaving the firm, and you, a big debit balance to try to settle). It’s the end of the year for the firm now so all debit balances have to be covered by the end of the day. I asked this broker how it was coming in getting cheques from clients to cover—he said they did nothing of the sort. If the account isn’t flat by the end of the month (less 3 days to take into account settlement, I imagine) they hit the bid (sell at market) in the account until it is on-side. Ha! That was the last resort at DS, but I guess in this business if you wait too long you might have to make up the difference so you might as well do whatever it takes. Interesting.

Now, on interest rates. Peter has an interesting theory that wheneve the CRB rises above 238 the Fed tightens rates. I haven’t tested this, but it worked in the last tightening (although it was about 1-2 months in anticipation). The CRB is now 300 or so…and the word on the street it rates should rise about 5% from these levels to get things in order. Use that info as you like.

Got to get off the train. Later.

UPDATE: Rule of 72--The real rule (that hardly anyone knows):

log(2) / log (1+r) = periods to double

The numbers skew a bit at the edges (approaching zero and 72) but it generally holds in the mid-range.

McKinsey Report on Global Capital Markets

2005-03-30T14:25:00.000-05:00

Thought this might be intersting for readers. It's a pretty good read and a good overview of the markets today.

Free Coffee!

2005-03-30T09:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, this licensing situation is getting a little crazy. There have been SNAFUs at almost every turn but you’d think that after 3 months that everything would be straightened out by now. But nooooooooooooooo. Basically, I’m now of the opinion that you can’t count on anyone but yourself to badger people to get things done. You have to check and recheck things to ensure that all is well at every stage. I now understand what my junior in Korea was doing—although perhaps never to his extreme: he’d ask me to check things every 30 minutes, even when the people I was to check with were still asleep on account of the timezones involved.

Anyways, I have a deadline now to get all of this done and get on with things. I really hate deadlines when there are a few parts that I cannot control, but this is the only thing that seems to make sense now. At the end of the day, things have to come together and allow me to make a lot of money. I know I have the ability to do it but I can’t legally do anything concrete without this license.

On the more upbeat side, while waiting for the train this morning I saw four rather large coyotes scamper in the brush and trees under and near the platform. We’re a ways up on it, which was reassuring (well, I’m too tall for them to think of going after) and it was kinda neat to see them. I wonder if I’ll see some sort of critter every morning now.

It’s a lot better than the gangs that have been marauding around town. Groups of 5 to 20 kids are attacking people all over the city and car theft is getting a little nuts. Actually, I haven’t seen the stats on it; it’s mostly what I read in the news (which, as you know, is biased and sensationalized in many cases) but it sure seems like we need (i) more police, (ii) tougher laws and, most important, (iii) some sort of non-government system to pressure these youths to keep to the straight and narrow.

You know, that would never happen in Korea. Kids there are so piled high with school work, after-school classes and general family and other obligations that they don’t have any time to be a kid—nevermind be in a gang. One of the nice things about Korea—you know where your kids are: in class or in bed.

Time to work. Got to call the Insurance Council today to ask about my license.

Oh ya, this morning I got an apology letter from the guys who run the train (which didn't run so I had to take the bus) plus 2 free coffees (up to $3 value, not bad). Yahoo!

Brutal Day

2005-03-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

What a day…It was so long I didn’t even have a chance to blog at all. So, I’ll post my weekend stuff tomorrow morning. I was trying to upload a ton of pics to the ol’ blog, but things weren’t working very well.

Ok, here it is: I got up at 4:50AM. It was 5 minutes later than usual as those kids of mine kept me up at night. I’ve been getting used to taking Winston into the other room to get him back to sleep at about 2AM the last few nights…Kate is weaning him and I found that since I don’t have the required equipment he doesn’t bother crying for me to feed him. (He also gives no fuss when I change his diaper—he knows that Dad doesn’t even slow down if he fusses, and I can pin him without a problem: physical or emotional.) Anyhoo, he cried again last night then went back to sleep quickly, but (too late) I was already up—until about 4AM.

So, I get up. Then make my way to the train. I actually packed a lunch today. I figure I might as well take advantage of the mother-in-law’s cookin’ while it’s around. Got to the train and saw not only a coyote and the pair of ducks near the tracks but also a squirrel. A freight train went by as we waited for it. Then nothing. Seems the locomotive died at the station before mine. This was not cool. I had to get on a bus and get to work 45 minutes later than usual. The lateness is not a problem, I have a fairly flexible schedule and get in about 2 hours before my manager as it is—and he’s out of town for the week anyways. The difficulty was the traveling fatigue. You know when you figure it’ll take so long to get somewhere then you have to change things up and take a bus (as I did) or something.

When I got to work I got to it…my manager is presenting a strategy (or concept) illustration (basically, a way to sell our products all nicely packaged in a convenient solution for clients. The upside is big for the firm and the client so I figured I’d make a Powerpoint presentation on the thing. It took about 4 hours (I took breaks). I did the insurance illustrations, threw them in to Excel and then added verbage to the presentation. It’s pretty fun stuff—but a fair bit of work for yours truly. The good thing is that we can use it again and again. I ought to get a medal for this kind of stuff.

One meeting I had today was with a UBC Commerce/Finance grad. He’s pretty interested in the brokerage industry in Vancouver and I figure if that’s one thing I have a handle on it’s that. Pretty bright guy: came from Russia 4 years ago and finishing his bachelor’s this year—and I think he’s just 19 years old or something. Very determined look in his eye, I must say. Very polite and quite bright. Reminds me of myself in my younger days…more or less.

I met another grad (from SFU) on Thursday. He was determined as well: apparently he wanted to get into finance since birth. A pretty strong candidate but (this can be rectified and I realize he is still in study-mode) could have used a haircut and shave. Seemed a little out of place with the navy suit. Regardless, what came out of his mouth was pretty much on the money—or as much as you can expect from someone with no industry experience.

I have more of these look-sees set up via the university over the next few weeks. I like it, as I feel as if there is some benefit for these guys (and gals, but mostly guys) and they tell me it helps them too.

Ha, get this. One of the firm’s clients rode down the elevator with me last week (must have been Wednesday). He asked where a coffee place was. I said there’s a Starbucks just across the street. “What was that?” he asked. “Starbucks.” “Oh, like Tim Horton’s” “Ya.” I couldn’t believe it. There are sometimes 2 Starbucks kitty corner to one another or even in the same mall here (I think there are 10 within 2 blocks of my office) but nary a Tim Horton’s. Meanwhile, in Toronto, Tim Horton’s is all the rage and they have no idea what a Starbucks is. Even in the same country we have these differences; no wonder going to Korea is such a shock for so many.

Well, I’m on the train now…probably a good time to take it easy and rest. Spencer and Winston are probably going to pummel me when I get home so better get ready for that. Later.

Korean News

2005-03-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

This morning I watched KBS News (they broadcast it here on the mulitcultural channel...with a few subititles for guys like me). It looks like one Saturday a month Korean kids will be free of school! This is a pretty amazing thing, and comes on the heels of workers getting Saturdays off at many companies. Some kids have nowhere to go (since their parent are stil doing the 6, 6.5 or 7 day workweek thing, but for many of them they may actually have time to see their parents (especially their Dad) and play and, well, be a kid. The downside is many parents will probably sign them up for 학원/hagwon (after school/tutor) classes (which means they have to work harder and longer to fund the things) and it looks as if the time 'lost' to these vacations needs to be made up in the rest of the month. Saturday is usually 6 hours of school (as opposed to the 8-9 they usually go through) so the additional time each day might be worth it.

In the North, there are some high level soccer/football games going on in Pyoungyang (I can never get straight which league is in which series of games or qualifying rounds). The matches were televised (although not in the North) and there was even advertising (including that of Samsung and Hyundai) on the sidelines. Sure, the Northern players had to get their uniforms and shoes donated from the South and they lost to Bahrain, but at least they got out there. Word has it, though, that the crowd (which was not full of Red Devils as Southern mobs are) was 'mobilized' by the government to make a good showing...and the lot of them were dressed in brown and grey--also, not surprising, there were no close-up shots of the attendees.

Also in news about the North, they are finally going to get a phone line set up between it and the ROK (Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea--if you think Republic means the North just remember that the U.S.is a Republic too). Apparently they've been using some sort of satellite system or copper routed through Japan to talk with each other for the last 60 years. This was fine until Kaesong (which is a joint economic zone) and its need for a better communication system than semaphore. Apparently, it took 30 minutes and horrendous cost to make a call. Funny thing, in the news broadcast they even noted the area codes of the phone line (011-8585 for calling the North, 869 for calling the South) which, in my books, is a pretty weird detail to have in the story--do they think that people watching mihgt somehow get accesss to these lines and need this kind of information?

And, as is typical in Korea: more people are opting for plastic surgery and Koreans are emulating one of their favorite stars by committing suicide. A typical day in the neighborhood.

Birds and, well...no Bees.

2005-03-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

This morning was full of wildlife…well, compared to what I saw in Korea on my way to work—which was none. On my walk to the train I saw a coyote crossing the road: the thing was quite fearless. Then there was a pair of ducks right on the train tracks. It looks as if they were eating some grain that had spilled out of a hopper car as it went by. They were also pretty domesticated; only flying away when the train was a few meters away. Granted, they were on the neighboring tracks, but you’d think a 1 kg (2.5 lb) bird would be spooked be a 55 tonne (60 ton) locomotive.

You can barely see them in the early morning light. The male Mallard is on the rail feeling for the rumbling of a train while his hen feeds.

Time for another book review…let me think, which one stands out in my mind? Ah, yes, Monkey Business. This was written by a guy who went through the investment banking analyst position training and workload at Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette (now part of CSFB). If you need a good read and insight into that system (granted, it has changed a bit since then…but I find that most things in this industry are more likely to be the same than change—especially if the firms figure that the old ways are just fine/profitable). I don’t have as much to say about this one because, like so many of its genre, it is autobiographical. One of the standouts is when he was working on an IPO he spent days and weeks traveling and sitting in on useless meetings until the prospectus was finally ready. His big job was to ensure that the printers had the firm name in the correct font and the company motto was centered just right underneath it. If he screwed that up then his name was mud…you’ll have to read it now to find out if he washed out of there on one screw-up.

I’ve been meeting more of the brokers in the office and getting, generally, a warm reception. We’ll see how many actually step up to the plate and refer, but I know that these concepts (estate and insurance planning) are pretty alien to the financing and trading brokers that we have here. Many of them have quite a few questions about how this stuff works (which is cool) and I’m pretty amazed at how much I’ve retained over the years (even after 2 years in soju-soaked Korea). I have to be thankful to my estate lawyer buddy too—he always has the answers for me when the brokers have a technical question. For that, he will get all of my referrals.

A few days ago my old boss emailed me saying that he’d like me back in Seoul. Oh man, it’s like the mafia (I keep getting myself out, but they keep on pulling me in again!). Well, I’ll have to refer a few other guys to him, as (unless my felling on this position is way off) I think it’s going to be pretty good here and there are the additional benefits of: (i) good schools for the kids, (ii) relatively no pollution, (iii) no threat of war, (iv) I’m dealing in things that I fully understand and have 10+ years experience in, (v) the office environment is very similar to my first real job at RBC Dominion Securities and (vi) everyone speaks English (which is a bigger plus than I ever thought possible).

Well, time to get things done here…later.

Engrish and Piracy and Adultery

2005-03-23T15:11:00.000-05:00

Yay! I finally got published!

And, it looks like ol' Hana Bank (translates to #1 Bank) is competing with China for pirating Microsoft code. In other news: South Korean companies are increasing IT spending this year by about 6%...ya, but it might have been up 26% if they had to actually pay for all of it.

UPDATE: Ha, we had a little gold company come in here for lunch. They have a few holes in the ground in a country called Burkina Faso. I had never heard of it, so I checked the CIA Factbook page on it. It has some pretty funny info in it:

Natural hazards:	recurring droughts
Environment - current issues:	recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation
Environment - international agreements:	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note:	landlocked savanna cut by the three principal rivers of the Black, Red, and White Voltas

Ok, so it has a water problem...but that didn't stop it from signing agreements on Wetlands! Oddly, this landlocked country has even signed, but not ratified, the Law of the Sea...makes sense, I guess. They must be against piracy too.

The liars...I mean promotors...said that it has a stable government but neglected to mention this:

Disputes - international: two villages are in dispute along the border with Benin; Benin accuses Burkina Faso of moving boundary pillars; Burkina Faso border regions have become a staging area for Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire rebels and an asylum for refugees caught in regional fighting; the Ivoirian Government accuses Burkina Faso of supporting Ivoirian rebels.

Hmmmm....I'll pass.

This article (another Economist one here) on adultery in Korea really floored me (you can find my understanding of the law here--it's not as simple as you might think). 75% of Korean men admit to cheating! Basically that means that 110% do it? Right!? Unreal. Why just 15% of women? Well, maybe they don't want to admit it (there are more women who are unfaithful) or maybe those 15% of women are 'servicing' the 75% of men who fool around (if it's a 5:1 ratio that's pretty brutal). All I know is that married women in Korea do walk on the wild side (all from stories from expats, of course).

Maybe they should make it legal (like pot in Amsterdam). People will probably still do it but that 'verboten/forbidden' stigma/excitment will be lessened.

Book Report: When Genius Failed

2005-03-23T08:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess its time to review some of the books I read while in Korea. A few of the SFU students Ive met have been asking what to read and Id like to let people know which are the good reads out there. Incidently, I spoke for a while with one SFU finance student who had read some of the same books and I noticed a curious thing: we both spoke the same language. Others in the group had little idea of the people and events we were talking about but we were very into the conversation. Thus, for those of you who aspire to get into the investment business here is my advice: read as much as you can about the pastespecially the big events like Mike Milken and Barings collapse and the various bull and bear markets. When you get in the business you will meet people who actually lived through these things and met these people (or know of them) and then you can take in what they are saying a lot easier. Everyone seems to frame reality and the present based on their pastand this is a good way to have a shared past.

When Genius Failed was a great book. Roger Lowenstein is a very concise and eloquent writer with an eye for not only the details of the events but also the nuances that percolated through the markets at the time. The story was about how John Meriweather and his analytical team (who started in Salomon Brothers) started a hedge fund in Stamford Connecticut called Long Term Capital Markets (or LTCM). It really was setup to arbitrage between pricing discrepancies in the marketsdiscrepancies that might take a while to converge or go their way (which might be where the long term aspect came in).

Hedge fund is a bit of a misnomer. The fund was set up with the high minimums traditionally used with hedge funds (in this case $10 million) but the trading was done via many primebrokers (most hedge funds have just one primebroker--hence the term prime). As well, the trades were broken up between brokers, so, for example, Bear Sterns might get the buy side and Goldman Sachs might get the sell. On the consolidated books the fund would be hedged (more or less, in some cases, as there is rarely a perfect hedge) but each party to the transaction (except LTCM would not know exactly what they were up tothus, they could not piggyback the strategy and make copy-cat trades that might ruin the precarious formula.

As with other hedge funds they also required investors to tie up their capital for an extended period (I believe it was 3 or 5 years, this might be the other basic for the LT in LTCM). They also expected profits to be quite robust with little risk (or standard deviation, as we call it in statistics). For those who questioned them (Warren Buffett was one) arrogance and hubris reigned from time to time. Its said that Myron Scholes (of Black-Scholes fame) said, As long as there are people like you (who think there is no free ride/lunch) well make money.

Indeed, the fund did make a lot of money. 40% or so a year for a few years (youll have to read the book to get the actual stats) and the risk (standard deviation) was quite low. Their sophisticated computer modeling programs could not find fault with their trades. For the most part, they were playing the on-the-run, off-the-run game where theyd buy the long government bond issued over 6 months ago and sell the one that was just issued. Since institutions tend to trade them for a short while and then lock them into inventory, the liquidity premium in the newly issued bond lead to a slightly higher price then the older one. This discrepancy would alleviate itself in a short while (a few months or years) and the profits were virtually guaranteed--but they were very, very small: so they had to lever up the portfolio and throw millions (or billions) at it in order to make it profitable.

A few other arbitrage strategies were used, but, in time, the managers found that they were getting too big even for these highly liquid markets. There was also the risk that they might be found out and other traders would ruin their little game. So they branched out into emerging market debt arbitrage: buying, say, Argentinean bonds, and selling U.S. treasuries as a hedge to interest rates. They could also use swaps and credit default derivatives and other instruments to tailor their exposure (and profits) to their models.

When these markets started to get a little boring they even started doing merger arbitrage (also called risk arbitrage) whereby theyd go long and short the stocks of target and acquiring firms in announced deals (and even unannounced deals--very risky!).

Over the years LTCM, as noted, racked up impressive gains and really didnt take into account that a Perfect Storm was brewing. (This is, of course, looking back, so youll have to forgive my holier-than-thou attitude.) The principals of the fund decided to lever up their personal investments. They already had a good deal of their own wealth in the fund (as is typical with hedge funds) but they thought that all these minority investors should be bought out and replaced with their money. Of course they didn't necessarily have enough to do so. They approached UBS on the idea of writing an option on the fund (the principals would pay UBS an up front premium and be able to get, in essence, a levered play on their fundthe higher it went the more theyd make and because their original investment would be lower than buying it outright their levered returns would be astronomical). Of course, UBS was a little hesitant at this. It would have to buy the fund itself to ensure that it hedged its position. This was not all that palatable so it balked at the deal. Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) did bite and, in effect, the other original (non-principal) investors were bought out at an incredible gain (much to their chagrinat least in the short term). (Later SBC was bought by UBS and UBS got the option albatross regardless--haha!)

As alluded, the Perfect Storm did occur with Russia defaulting on its bonds in the Summer of 1998. Many other emerging markets became submerging markets and LTCMs investments in them dropped like a stone. With the flight to quality their short on the U.S. Treasuries was less of a hedge and more of a source of losses--while many of the other strategies ended up tanking as well. Their capital reserved wanes and the primebrokers (hoping that LTCM has hedged their positions effectively, but later finding out the ugly truth) got worriedBear Sterns being the most vocal (they were also the one large investment bank that did not invest in the fund. Goldman Sachs was approaching its IPO when the crap hit the fan and it was found that LTCMs $1 billion in assets was levered up to control $125 billion and, through swaps, the total was even higher (about $1 trillion if I remember correctly). It all came crashing down even moreso as investment bankers who combed through the newly-opened books of the fund were reportedly calling their firms trading desks and alerting their staff to the major problems--problems that traders would exacerbate with great glee not only for the profit motive but to help bring down LTCMs tower of hubris.

In the end about $350 million was pledged by many of the big U.S. banks (Bear Sterns notably absent from the bailout group) to take on the positions and work on an orderly liquidation. Apparently Warren Buffett entered the fray as well, as his Berkshire Hathaway was one of the few firms in the world with the capital and corporate structure to take on the task single-handedly--but he seemed to have low-balled his offer and the Fed, who had stick-handled the deal, decided to go with the consortium.

Basically, if you want to know what can go wrong (even with Nobel laureates on staff) this book is a great read.

Happy Birthday Reese and Peter

2005-03-22T08:03:00.000-05:00

Ha. One of the brokers in the office here just turned 54--on the same say Reese Witherspoon turns 29. (And, no, I'm not her stalker--I saw the announcement on one of them in-elevator TVs.)

That reminds me, we watched Legally Blonde on the weekend (good ol' TBS showed it back-to-back a couple of times). I haven't seen the sequel, but I hear it is the same stuff (which some people don't like; but I probably would because I liked it--so did Kate). If you haven't seen it, it's basically an updated Clueless set at Harvard rather than the mall. You could also call it a blonde A Few Good Men because it's like David & Goliath and the big scene is when the star breaks a witness on the stand. (Oops, gave it away.)

Well, that's it for now...later.

Insurance and Racism: Something for Everyone!

2005-03-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

Feeling better this morning. Got a good idea for marketing my products to the brokers over the weekend. One of them was asking if there were any insurance companies that might give shares to policyholders. In fact, there are two, but only one of any real consequence. You see, a few years back the in thing was for mutual insurance companies (those owned by their policyholders, not by shareholders) to demutualize. This means an end to extra dividends (essentially, the excess profits of the firm) being paid out to policyholders, but, in lieu of that, they got shares in the new stock company. Thus, a policyholder in, say, Canada Life, might get $100 to $100,000 worth of stock in the company when it went public for free. Well, not really for free, as they don't get extra dividends, but everything else being equal (which it rarely is) if you have a choice between a mutual insurance company’s policy and a stock company's one it seems pretty obvious which one you might take: the one with the extra upside. As well, as mentioned, before demutualization excess profits went to the policy holders (in the form of dividends) and this meant (again, everything else being equal) that you could have higher returns with a mutual company.

So, why bother with stock companies? Well, for one, they often have a good deal of marketing and financial strength behind them (especially now since the plan of most stock insurance companies is either to: use their stock as currency to buy competitors or entice another to buy them). As well, not many people (even insurance agents) know the difference between the two; or they have strong loyalty or contractual obligations to sell one firm's products over another. Finally, most people buying policies are not exactly financial mavens and have little insight into the differences and even if they know the difference they may think: hey, there is no free lunch--this is too good to be true--and then they don't bother capitalizing on it.

Anyways, I will. Now to get to it.

UPDATE: This I read from my Google News this morning. Looks like 1 in 6 Canadians are victims of racism. Look at that! Not only are these people persecuted but they are also in the minority! Well, I guess the good news is that everyone who could be persecuted isn't...because, almost by definition in this multi-faceted country of ours, everyone is a minority--even WASPs like me!

An OK day.

2005-03-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Today we had Winston's christening. He's a lot bigger than Spencer was when he had his, but we put it off because I was in Korea for so long. As usual, everyone who saw him thought he is a girl. Well, that's what he gets for looking like his Dad.

Winston says, "Hey, mack, what's with the water on the head!??!"

Actually, there was a ka-fuffle when Spencer had his head-wetting. The pastor and church call it a baptism but I'm a little old school and figure that baptism means salvation and that can only happen with conscious acceptance. Hope I'm not losing many on this, but there is a difference. Well, we agreed to call it a 'welcoming to the church' rather than a baptism...but what they said in Korean I have no idea. Whatever you call it, it made the family happy and is another of those rites of passage that most people (in one form or another) go through.

Man, time for bed...sleepy. Hope to get over this virus (or whatever it is) overnight. Got lots of stuff to do next week.

Not a good day.

2005-03-19T08:21:00.000-05:00

What a day (and night). Yesterday, as you know, I was a little slow on the draw because of the night out (which, I might add, was nothing compared to what we did in Korea; but nonetheless…). In the early afternoon I finally had lunch: a sub from Quizno’s. Then it was off to the dentist. My tooth-doctor is in another part of the city, but not too tough to get to.

Anyhoo, I don’t have any cavities (yay!) but I felt kinda weird after the visit. I got on Skytrain and then transferred to a bus and started on the last leg of my trip home. On the way I called my wife to pick me up at the busstop; but I was still feeling pretty queasy. My hands were clammy, my skin was going paler and I was feeling worse and worse. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. I talked to the bus driver.

“I’ve got to get off the bus real soon.”

(Throwing up his arms.) “Well, we just got on this stretch. There’s no stop for a while.”

“Listen, I’m going to be sick real soon.”

“What?”

“I’m going to throw up.”

“Ok, let me find a spot. But there is no way a bus will stop here to pick you up.”

“That’s the least of my worries now.”

Well, I made it off the thing and called my wife to pick me up and then…lost it. Picture this. On a stretch of more-or-less deserted highway this guy in a navy suit and tie is pitching his cookies. Nice.

As I waited for Kate to pick me up one of the cars going by honked. Then my sister-in-law called me asking what the heck I was doing on the side of the road and if I needed a ride. Nutty, it was her passing me who had honked. I got home alright, had a bath and went to bed. Twelve hours later here I am waking up and trying to make sense of the strange dreams I had.

UPDATE: (Saturday, 2PM) Just woke up from a 4 hour nap. Man, what a day.

Books

2005-03-18T15:36:00.000-05:00

Oh ya, forgot to mention: I finished Big Deal. Man, this book should be required reading for finance students. It was really good. Not only had a run-down of the history of M&As but goes into the makings and intricacies of deal-making and then goes into the more sophisticated (albeit U.S.) legal, tax and reporting statues. Very, very cool. The best part is Wasserstein's writing style is concise, deep and friendly. Even when he talks about deals he was involved in he doesn't get seduced by hubris and talk and talk (unlike some people...hehe) but instead just says stuff like: "We were advising Time on their side of the merger." Quite gentlemanly.

I also skimmed though Big in Asia. If you've never been to Asia and want a good primer on it this is a good source. It basically lays it all out for many countries (Korea, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia) and focuses mostly on business dealings. Not a ton of culture stuff in here (although it's prevalent throughout as it relates to corporate dealings); I liked it a lot.

Hmmm...for some reason both books have Big in the title. I guess now my Goooooogle ads will change to Viagra or something. You know, in the past month or so they changed from ads on Korea to ones on hedge funds and investing. Interesting. As a result my click-throughs (and earnings, meager as they are) have tripled. So keep clickin' on them ads!

Ug.

2005-03-18T11:24:00.000-05:00

Last night was cool. SFU and UBC have a little bit of a rivalry going: in football, basketball and finance. I stayed late in town and went to the SFU-UBC Portfolio Challenge Wrap Party. There were a few other alum there as well, but mostly SFU/UBC students--many of whom, par for the course in investment classes these days and in my day, were Asians (mostly Chinese). Most were in suits and a few were standouts...an enterprising young crop of grads-to-be.

Well, I have to say that UBC won the challenge, their top team made 67% in 6 months while SFU's top guys made just 37%. It reminds me of when we did this in my time. Our team loaded up on a VSE pennystock and it happened to pop up in the final weeks of the game and we won the national prize (as well as 10 Samsonite briefcases!). A financial writer actually wanted to interview us and ask how we made the money but when we explained our 'shit-house luck' he was less interested. Well, these teams had a more pragmatic approach, but some of the teams made a ton of their dough in Google and other options (the VSE of today).

Anyhoo, a die-hard group of us were there until about 11PM. Man, that was tough. To make matters worse, I forgot to have dinner and subsisted on hors d'oeuvres and lagers. Yes lagers. It's been a while since I've had more than 2 beer...like since Korea.

Hence the "ug".

Back Again

2005-03-17T15:04:00.000-05:00

Bloody 'ell! I just did a post and Blogger lost it! Argh.

What I was going to say is that I got a (literal) wakeup call from Vernon Mike recently. He's an old bud and reads my blog and (I guess) needed his fix of Korea/Vancouver/kids stories. Obviously he doesn't read it that much because he would know that I hit the hay at about 8PM (and get up at 4:45AM...give or take).

I lost another post on Monday and, owing to my increased workload (I won't bore you with that...for now) I didn't have the energy to redo it. Basically, there is a new freebie newspaper (really thin, though) in Vancouver: Metro. (There is also a Metro in Korea...and, of course, many copy-cats too.) Now The Province and Vancouver Sun are being given out for free on my commuter train--I guess in competition. I thought people were just saving spots, but it looks like everyday this week there is a paper on every seat.

A couple of weeks ago Starbucks and Royal Bank started promotng their new Duetto Visa card. They were handing out 1/2 pounds of ground coffee (with applications attached) as well as free brewed coffee and danishes & muffins. Mmmmmm. As well, VanCity and Vancouver Sun got together to give out free issues right on the same corner. Wow. Free coffee, food and a paper!

What else is up? Well, as for work...I have been working on a strategy for a couple of clients. It's a pretty simple idea, but I had to get the tax rulings and explanations to back it up as well as do actual quotes (it includes an annuity, a bank loan and a life insurance policy) and work them out on the spreadsheet. What's the verdict? It's not a good idea at this time. It took me 2 days to run the numbers 10 different ways (literally) and it turns out it's not much better than a rather simple strategy. Damn.

Had a meeting with a supplier today. They have some pretty cool products that might make sense for clients, which is cool. That's one thing I like about this business: there's always something new and (one would hope) improved cropping up.

I guess that's it for now. Later.

Out of Action for a While

2005-03-11T08:16:00.000-05:00

Wow...take a couple of days off and people take notice. Kinda feels nice. Got a few emails saying "Where is your blog?" over the last couple of days.

Here's the story. It's been busy at work (which is good) and my wife and kids got sick (which was bad) for the last couple of days. I think it was food poisoning as it set in very quickly and before the puking (sorry, little graphic there...not near as graphic as living through it, though) everyone seemed alright. Well, the night before last I got up a few times to clean things up and ended up sleeping in the living room (finally making use of the super-fantastic electric blanket we got from our wedding trove from the in-laws).

Work it cool...starting to really get in the groove. There are many things to keep in mind and there is a certain mindset you need to have to do things right. Luckily, unlike my positon in Korea, I know the language, the culture and the laws and products here. Man, never thought of how much a shock it was to go there until I came home. Having done it, though, I think it was very eye-opening. From my first trip to Asia in 1990 to this last stint I keep coming home with an appreciation to the system here (flawed though it is) and for more education (in Asia if you don't have a good degree you might as well resign yourself to street-sweeping in some cases).

Uh oh, got to get going. Will do more on Monday...maybe on the weekend too.

Textmessaging and Cameraphones

2005-03-09T08:11:00.000-05:00

Boo hoo. I miss my Samsung Super-Phone. That sucker was great. Not fantastic pictures, but I could (of course) take them anywhere and email them as well.

Hmmm....is this James in Korea? No, I only did 2,000 texts a month.

Ya, I did a ton of textmessaging (they also call it SMS--Short Message Service--in Korea. Even did it in Hanguel (it's actually quite easy and convenient). Now that every Korean and his dog (almost literally) has a phone, they have to come up with new things all the time: cameraphones, camera-camcorders, flip-faces, registered mail for your SMSs and services to allow you to find a bus or taxi, figure out its estimated arrival time (for buses at least, taxis are all over the place as it is) and even pay for them (and your purchases at the local convenience store) with your phone.

That's it for now...maybe add more later.

Busy Day...But Not Too Busy to Blog

2005-03-08T03:35:00.000-05:00

Man, too much going on...feel a little scattered, too. I did a career counseling thing for some aspiring SFU BBA students yesterday. 2 of the 6 were no-shows, though, which meant I could bolt early for lunch but made me a little pissed. There were a reported 20-odd others on the waiting list so it was not only an inconvenience to me but to those who wanted to get in there as well. Here's a hint for getting a finance (or any) job: don't be late or miss appointments.

Ok, that's done. On the upside the 4 dudes (they were all guys) I spoke with were an interesting bunch. One was prime banking material: he's studied the books (not only school ones, but also those on the business) and had a good overall look and style. Another was a bit off in his diction (Chinese fellow) so I gave him the advice of getting a few English-speaking friends to get his language better--the guy had a deadly GPA but that does dick for you in a presentation. One other guy had an interesting slant: already started a little trading fund. Problem was all his ideas were based on technical analysis and news releases...something that the guys here might like, but hardly the sort of stuff investment banks rely on for their advice (I would hope). And finally, another Chinese guy (3 outta 4 is par for the course in finance classes these days) had a push from his parents to be a banker but hardly the drive and obvious ambition to go get it. For him: take a vacation, figure things out then start life with a clear purpose.

One thing I do recommend for those in the business or looking into it is take a look at the Albourne Village. It's a free site specializing in Alternative Investment and Hedge Fund Stuff, but much of it is applicable to long-only (your typical buy, no short, idea) and other traditional investments. If you need a referral code put in 'sunasset' (my employer when I was in Korea) and you can get daily or weekly news as well as browse the Job Centre. I found a position in there which helped hasten my move from Korea (it's always better to go to something); it fell through, but gave me the idea that there is a whole world out there to take a look at.

On the business/work front things are coming together. My main concern here was that the brokers would be wary of an estate planning/insurance guy like me--even with my experience (having been in their chair for 5 years). Thankfully, it looks as if I'm fitting in...knock on wood. (You know I always used to hate those little sayings, but now I find myself saying them...nutty.) Thing is, my licensing is taking forever. The guy taking care of that (not me) dropped the ball a few times so I'm getting a little pissed that things are taking so long. You may know that much of this business is not salary-type work so the longer I'm off the market the more stressed I can get. Anyways, it's on track and things could be better in that area, but I guess it could be worse--the brokers could think I'm an idiot (that would make this a no-goer)--so I better shut up while I'm (more or less) ahead.

The ol' conductor on the train I take everyday finally packed it in and retired on Friday. Imagine riding the rails for 37 years...good God. For some the routine would be nice, but I'd call it monotonous. I need to have a few different things happening everyday to keep my interested and awake.

Well, better check out a few things and get some work done.

Where are My Readers?

2005-03-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

Ever take a look at the HitMaps map/link on the right-hand sidebar? As you might expect, many of my devoted (and long-suffering) readers are in Korea (Seoul, mostly) but it looks like many are also in the U.S. I know the guys in Hawaii, Saudi Arabia and South Africa that reads it but was surprised to see so many in Europe and South America. But I have to ask: who are the dudes/dudettes in Greenland, Churchill (Manitoba) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast)? Hmmmm.

I called Lucky Randhawa and he claimed ignorance to the comment reported yesterday so I called Carlo to see if it was him (not many people know the connection). It was. Carlo...he's a pretty quiet guy, very solid in terms of getting things done and being low-key...but he has his moments of mischeif as well. (Lucky is a reference to one of the actors of the ill-fated Pacific Palisades show on Fox. This is Lucky...only slight resemblance to my bud.)

On an unrelated subject (and contrary to/supporting my previous post) there are gays in Korea; at least according to this article. Oddly, that previous post is my most popular incoming link; it seems my caption of "gayday.jpg" makes it the #3 image under that search term on Google Images. (Just so you know, I found this out from my hit-counter, not my doing the search itself...jeeeeeeeeeeez.)

What?!?! The Simpsons is produced in Seoul (Songpa-gu, where I used to live before moving to Yeouido, to be exact)?? Read on. More on the production company on this (cached) site here (note the Konglish).

Haha. Take a look at this link. I got 7 out of 18...obviously I have no idea who is Chinese, Korean or Japanese.

A few videos I like: In case you've ever wondered what R&B would be like in Korean, here is a look. (All girls in Korea look like these dancers.) For an insight into Korean political life, take a look at this debating strategy. You think you have a parking problem?? It seems North Korea doesn't like the U.S./Bush all that much. And...this one looks aggressive, but really it's not. It's been on T.V.! Finally, this video shows why (I gather) my wife vetoed having our kids go to Korean schools.

Not much else to report...getting over a wicked cold which (you may have noticed) makes my head quite foggy from time to time. As long as I get over it this weekend...then I can really get to work next week. The kids and Kate, of course, have it as well (I think Spencer brought it home from school or the playroom in Ikea) so we've been bouncing it off one another the last few months. This would never happen if I was back in Yeouido, of course, because I was living alone and killing cold viruses with soju. Oh well, it's a small price to pay.

Note the Sarcasm

2005-03-04T08:44:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I worked with "Lucky Randhawa" when I was at DS...I can only hope that his compliment on my cranial power was sincere (but I doubt it). LYS is also a bud...but I believe he does think I'm a show off (LYS is a very introverted sort who dresses quite conservatively....NOT).

Now that that is out of my system...Spencer is 4 years old now! We had his birthday yesterday (thanks Ma and Pa for the big box of toys and stuff) complete with the usual: a cake, Chinese food from Hon's Noodle House and Korean food from Cheon Ji (both places are owned and run by their respective races, a rarity in Vancouver--were half of the sushi places are run by Koreans). Jess got Spencer a toy (of course) doctor's kit; sounds like he'll be a hit with the girls soon. We got him a bunch of toys too. That should keep them (Winston gets in there a lot too) busy for about a day and a half.

Funny thing: a few days ago Spencer and I went out to the mall and (as usual) there were some Koreans walking near us. He was dawdling and had to catch up with me (sink or swim, I say). He yelled, "Appa!" (Korean for Daddy). The Koreans nearby were a little surprised...who is this white kid (Spencer hardly looks Asian) yelling Korean to his (obviously) white Dad? Haha.

Did some shopping a while back. Bought toothbrushes and razors. As you may know, these kinds of things are super cheap in Korea. Toothbrushes I get here for $2 or $3 are $1 for 4 (or 6!) in Korea. Razors here for $4 or $8 for 10 are just $1 (sometimes $2) for 10 over there. However, I found a deal on both here: brushes $1.50 each and razors 10 for $2...wahoo! Both have the same brand: "Good and Kind"; which is eerily reminiscent of the Korean discount brand "Good & Cheap" which, I guess, has a better ring over there than here.

What? You're still reading after that yawner of a paragraph? Unreal.

Off to work now.

Passed it.

2005-03-03T08:38:00.000-05:00

Got my results: PASS. That's about all I needed to know. Usually I blast through multiple choice exams in half the time but this thing (a 4 hour/240 minute one) I finished in 1/3 of the time (80 minutes).

Now to get to work.

Added Books

2005-03-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

Now on the right hand sidebar you can see all the books I've read since returning to Canada and a few words on each one. If anyone has any idea how to stop the text font from getting larger and larger and larger please let me know.

Last Steps...and: Your Excel Tutorial...and more reviews.

2005-03-02T08:14:00.000-05:00

Finally got to write my test yesterday. That's all I'm going to say. Ever since I walked out of the CFA Level II and said to everybody and their dog that I passed the thing--and then failed--I've been gun-shy on exposing my unmitigated hubris. This afternoon the result should be faxed over here and you'll either get an "I told you I'd pass" or a "Gotta get a gun." Stay tuned for that.

Minaz came by yesterday...he's been stopping by for lunch a fair bit lately (if you'd like to know his antics in Seoul check my October postings) and today he had a job interview. He's a CGA (an accountant, a bit more practical/management-level than a CA/CPA, but he still knows his stuff) and out of work after about 8 years in a job I, somehow, introduced him to. I knew the owner and the business was just starting and needed a part-time bookkeeper...then it grew to over 200 people in a few years.

Anyhoo, we were fiddling around in Excel and he showed me a cool little function: Goalseek. Maybe you've already seen it, but I hadn't (which makes me, a finance guy, look like a bit of a chump).

Here was the problem: we had 2 annuities to calculate a rate on to get the IRR. The first was a cash inflow into an investment (it was more than that, as it has soft benefits, but we were looking for the hard numbers, remember: he's an accountant). Let's say $6,000 a year for 10 years. Then we had an output of $30,000 a year for 15 years starting in year 38. To do a normal PV in excel you need to enter =pv(rate, nper, pmt, (fv), (type)) where rate is the rate of return, nper is the number of periods, pmt is the payment per period, fv (optional) is the value at the end of the stream and type (optional) is normal annuity (payable at the beginning of the period) an an annuity due (payable at the end of the period).

What you can do is set rate as a certain cell and then enter both annuity formulae into 2 other cells and set a fourth cell as the difference between the two. By picking numbers and interpolating (basically making the rate cell number larger or smaller) you can arrive at the IRR (internal rate or return, or ROI: Return on Investment) of the investment. Minaz is a sly one..he went to "Tools" in the pulldown up top and hit "Goalseek". There are three questions the function asks: Which cells are we concerned with? What do you want it to be? and What cell should be changed to get what you want? As you know, my rate in the PV formulae were linked to the ratecell so all he had to do was "Set Cell: the one that is the difference between the two PV calculations; To Value: 0; By Changing Cell: the ratecell" Then it got the number: 5.13%

5.13% is not a fantastic rate of return (even if it is, as in this case, after tax) but perhaps the soft benefits help it make more sense. The cool thing now is that I can now compare other similar products and plans to this one to see which one makes sense! Yahoo!

Another little gem I found came from when one of the guys here asked how to price a bond. Well, I always got pre-formatted spreadsheets (either with formulae or macros) when I was doing the investment banking thing in Korea and when we were in brokerage the bond desk always gave us the numbers (plus our PCs were nothing like they are nowadays). I found a cool function: price (also in Excel is pricemat for notes that pay interest at maturity only and pricedisc that are discount instruments). The format is: =price(settledate, matdate, coup, rate, redamt, freq, basis) where settledate is the settlement date for a trade (3 business days after trade date, normally; all you need to do to put March 7, 2005 into this field is input DATE(2005,3,7) !), matdate is the maturity date of the instrument, coup is the coupon rate (you can even express it as a percentage, like 6.05%), rate is the current or quoted rate for that bond, redamt is the redemption amount (the convention is 100), freq is frequency (1=annual, 2=semi-annual, 4=quarterly) and basis denotes the daycount basis (these are in the help menu, we use '0' which is a 30/360 basis). The price it computes is the total price including accrued interest. Very cool. Again, I feel like a bum not knowing this already; but better to know a little later than never...right?

UPDATE: If there is a "NAME#" error in the cell then you have to update the formulae in your Excel software by going to "Tools" then clicking "Add-ins" and clicking "Analysis Toolpak" then having it do its thing to plop that function into your system. It's a little cumbersome (probably the reason I didn't find the thing before...was always on a Korean/Hanguel version in Seoul) but I guess it frees up RAM or something for those that don't use these more advanced functions.

A while back I burned through a good starter book on hedge funds: Hedge Funds for Canadians. It's quite a good overview of the industry and not too bookish and not a promo-piece-of-crap like many of these things are. If you want to bone up on these things this is my recommendation (although the profiles of funds in the back are a little dated).

I also went through Consultative Selling a little while ago (it was a skimmer, mostly). I got the 1995 version, there is a 2004 edition as well. I remember this was all the rage when I started in the business...basically it means: don't sell people on something, solve a problem of theirs. Pretty simple stuff. A few good pointers in there. It's really how I end up doing things normally. I give people a lot of information on how the world works (no one, it seems, knows a ton about estate and tax planning and how things like trusts or taxation on life insurance benefits work). After that the wheels are turning and there is usually some disconnect from where their plan is heading and where they'd like it to be...then comes the solution. That's about it. If they like the solution we have a sale, if not: we don't--and we look for another one or move on.

Oh, and if you're looking for a job take a look at Martin Yate's Knock 'em Dead. When I started really looking for a job (after university, in 1994) he had Resumes that Knock 'em Dead and Cover Letters that Knock 'em Dead; two books that gave some good pointers. Perhaps the best one was his one written for human resource people/interviewers. Here, in one place, were all of the major questions that these people are supposed to ask you...know thine enemy/opponent! So, you might have a browse in the books for interviewers (there are also good books by Vault and Wet Feet as well as Miriam Naficy's Fast Track for investment banking/finance interviews) and get in the zone that way as well. Interviewing and job-hunting can be learned and practiced.

Time to get to work, later.

Is Ikea Socialism in Action?

2005-02-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

We took the family to Ikea again this weekend--Spencer now calls all stores Ikea: Superstore is Green Ikea, Staples is Red Ikea and Canadian Tire is White Ikea. I had to buy a lamp for the office so we popped Spencer into Smaland (the kids' play area) and Kate and (sleeping) Winston went to that cafe. There is also a restaurant with incredible meal deals (breakfast or dinner for $1) but the cafe always has hotdogs for 50c and deals on a few other things too. As I stood in one of the massive line-ups watching some shoppers balk and abandon their shopping carts (and you thought that only happened online!) I got to thinking...this reminds me of Socialism/Sweden.

Think about it: there is free daycare (like Sweden) and subsidized meals (like Sweden) and ok prices on goods, but definitely not the cheapest place around (like Sweden) and then the long lines to pay for the stuff (like Sweden). Well, much of what I know about the place comes from reading and my Swedish Aunt (and her meatballs) but the parallels seemed quite striking.

Enough of that...I finally got the correct completion certificate from CSI so now I can take my licensing exam from the Insurance Council of BC. Get this: I've been licensed since about 1997 for insurance, but since I was away from Canada for over 2 years it lapsed. Now they have this new system where you have to take a course (either from CSI or Advocis, formerly CAIFA) then, after passing that, applicants can take the Council's actual licensing course. Seems a little round-about, but it's a monopoly so I signed up with CSI (our firm has lots of Investment Advisors so we get a deal on the fees, and many of my past courses have been through CSI).

Anyhoo, unbeknownst to me, there was trouble brewing. I wrote my CSI exam on February 5th and was set to get the results in a week or so. I went to the Insurance Council to set up an exam sitting and got the one on February 16th. At that time they told me that my picture I.D. would have to be exactly like the name on my certificate from CSI or I can't write it. I got the certificate a day or so later but (you guessed it) it was different (middle initial instead of middle name). The Council was not budging and CSI didn't receive the many faxes I sent to get it changed in time. So, I missed that sitting, I signed up for the March 1st one (tomorrow) and phoned and faxed CSI many times to get a new certificate. Each time I found that they had not completed the task (ya, just printing it and putting it in the mail) and each time I was told it would happen...then, again, they would say that the fax was never received and no notes were made in my file for follow up--even though no less than 4 people knew about my predicament and they had a stated policy to fix it. Finally, on Friday, I called again to confirm that it was coming...again it was screwed up. So my manager ripped into one of the managers and they finally put the thing on Fedex to get it here. Well, it's in my hands now. All I have to do is take the test tomorrow.

Here's the lesson: if you're ever dealing with bureaucracy and are not 100% sure that things are going as they should: call someone. I used to hate it when my junior at work in Korea tried to confirm things with me (about 10 times a day!) but now I understand that sometimes it needs to be done (of course, there is no need to confirm stuff with me, I'm perfect).

Hope you have a great day...I'll be in the books.

A Few Jokes

2005-02-26T06:21:00.000-05:00

I sometimes find a few noteable quips on the net:

These four guys were walking down the street, a Saudi, a Russian, a North Korean, and a New Yorker.

A reporter comes running up and says, "Excuse me, what is your opinion about the meat shortage?"

The Saudi says, "What's a shortage?"

The Russian says, "What's meat?"

The North Korean says, "What's an opinion?"

The New Yorker, says, "Excuse me?? What's excuse me?"

-------------------------------------------------------

A rabbi is sitting on an airplane next to a Korean guy. After they have been flying together in silence for a while, the rabbi leans over and says, "You know, I've never forgiven you Chinese for what you did at Pearl Harbor."

The Korean looks shocked and replies, "What the hell are you talking about?!?!? It was the Japanese the bombed Pearl Harbor, not the Chinese. And besides, I'm not Chinese or Japanese, I'm Korean!"

The rabbi says, " Korean, Japanese, Chinese, what's the difference?"

A little while later, the Korean man says, "You know, I've never forgiven you Jews for sinking the Titanic." The rabbi looks confused and mad and says, "What are you talking about? The Jews didn't have anything to do with that! An iceberg sank the Titanic!"

The Korean guy replies, "Iceberg, Goldberg, Greenberg, what's the difference?"

--------------------------------------------------

There was this Spanish guy, this Korean guy and this Russian guy all working for the same construction company. At the beginning of the day the boss comes out and says to the Spanish guy, "You're in charge of the cement."

Then he said to the Russian guy, "You're in charge of the dirt."

Then he said to the Korean guy, "You're in charge of the supplies."

Then he said, "I'm gonna be back at the end of the day to check on your work. It better be good or you're fired."

So they all go off to go get their work done.

At the end of the day, the boss comes back to check on their work. He looks at the big pile of cement and goes, "Good work," to the Spanish guy. Then he looks at the big pile of dirt and says, "Good work," to the Russian guy. Then he couldn't find the Korean guy so he asks, "Where the heck is the Korean guy??"

All of a sudden, the Korean guy jumps out from behind the big pile of dirt and yells, " SUPPLIES!"

----------------------------------------------------------------

Jay Leno Under Fire Over Joke About Koreans and Dog Meat

LOS ANGELES — Latenight comedian, Jay Leno, is under fire over his joke about Korean short track speed skater, Kim Dong-sung. Leno said that, after the Korean was disqualified, he "was so mad he went home and kicked the dog, and then he ate him."

It seems that Koreans are sensitive about people making fun of their culinary habits.

Leno said he was sorry he had told the joke. "I wish I had said 'What kind of a name is Dong?'"

Ok, that's enough craziness. Later.

Blogging is Fun

2005-02-25T17:06:00.000-05:00

Just got a few minutes now at the end of the day. And what a day...well, you know, at times things get a little nuts (sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a screwball way). Just wanted to say that I'm pretty stoked about how, from time to time, people (well, guys, usually) will email me and day hi or say that they are in the same situation (working in Korea in finance, married to a Korean gal...something in common). Knowing that I went through a job change some guys also ask how to get a job in Korea or the industry in general, and I try to help out when I can...after all, I got there through a fair bit of luck and a connection as well.

It's great to keep in contact with Korea and those interested Korea (and finance, when possible) so just wanted to say it's great to be able to keep up with things and know that there are others out there like me.

Man, re-reading this...it looks pretty sappy. Oh well, one sappy post a year ain't all bad.

Oh, and I'm reading Bruce Wasserstein's book: Big Deal. The thing is FABULOUS. If you're into investment banking, finance or just investing go and get it. (927 pages!--Great value...a history of dealmaking in one tome.)

Have a good weekend.

One gone...49 to go.

2005-02-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Already got an email to get a gmail account. At first we got 5-10 of these invites at a time and now it looks as though I have 50 of them. I like gmail and in Korea used it for work a lot (much to the chagrin of my CEO, but the company email had so much spam in it it just made no sense) as the archive and search functions are great.

Wednesday was busy: took Winston to Children's Hospital to get some dental surgery done. I took him into the O.R. (as my wife is a little squeamish at that stuff). They did an I.V. for the local and it was kinda hilarious. I saw them inject it and the nurse said it would take effect quickly. (Winston didn't cry at all before or after it!) Next thing I know his eyes roll back and he's out...in about 3 seconds. Ah, ya, that was quick.

Last night I drove my father-in-law to a golf shop in Richmond (about 45 minutes drive); Spencer came too. He called ahead to get a club set aside for him to exchange for but when we got there a salesguy said he had none of that size/type. My father-in-law used Korean logic and was basically asking him to look again and pull it out of thin air. He even said, "How can I believe you?" which is a normal Korean thing...the guy was, like, "Um...I'm not lying to you. If I had it I'd give it to you." Culture thing. Every Korean I know uses a line like this. In Korea it works because the salesguy HATES to have his honesty questioned so will move mountains to get the thing for him, usually. But for this poor CBC (Canadian-Born Chinese) guy it sounded very odd, indeed. They went off to search the store and Spencer practiced his putting on the practice green (well, astroturf). Maybe it's time for a set of junior clubs for him...his birthday is coming up soon.

Things are coming along at work...got a few things in the works (some from the brokers and some from my own friends and contacts) so I'm pretty optimistic at the start. It's bloody amazing, I think, to see how positive everyone is toward what I do. It's estate and tax planning but in essence there is a lot of insurance in it. I think part of it is my experience (12 years) and background as a broker that makes things a little easier. I couldn't imagine a pure insurance guy in the office...just a different way of thinking--and vocabulary--than in insurance.

On that...time to get to work.

Anyone want a Gmail account?

2005-02-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

I've got 50 of these things if anyone wants one...just email me at the yahoo address on my profile. No cost.

When Jim Rogers Talks, Korea Listens

2005-02-22T08:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had an interesting lunch put on by Sentry Select mutual funds--I should plug them as they were nice enough to give me a free lunch and a talk by Jim Rogers. Ostensibly, it was to promote his book (Hot Commodities) but we know that Sentry is in the business of selling mutual funds and other financial products and it just so happens that Mr. Rogers' talk boosts their area of expertise: commodities.

Jim (as I'll call him because it invokes a little bit of insidership, that and I'm too lazy to write Rogers every time) has been around the world twice. Once on his motorcycle (he wrote a book on it) and again in a custom Mercedes Benz (with is fiance, now his wife...he has a baby girl now, too...and he wrote another book after that trip also). His incredible claim to fame was co-founding the Quantum Fund with George Soros--this quintessential hedge fund made 4,200%+ for investors in the 1970s (if you run the numbers the compound rate is pretty tremendous). He is also featured on CNBC a lot. His last trip was 3 years long and covered 245,000 miles, so I think me may have a good macro-view of things.

But, about his talk. He is bullish on China: so much so that he has a Chinese nanny for his baby-girl whose explicit instructions are to speak Mandarin exclusively to the tot. (He notes that Russia is run by the mafia and India is a shambles--where even Indians give up on returning to the place to make a fortune--so China is where it's at.) He points to the savings rate of Chinese (35% vs. 2% in the U.S.) and how they are plowing incredible amounts of money into infrastructure (Russia's corporate leaders are more interested in siphoning money out to Switzerland or Lichenstein and the 'main highway' in India has an average speed of 12 mph compared to 45 mph in China). He sees a hard landing (quick recession after super-heating the economy) for China in the next couple of years, but that is a buying signal (buy in the dips) as the average commodities bull market has lasted 15-23 years (and we're 5-6 years into this one) and China is a BIG buyer of these things (but the party should end at about 2014 or 2022).

Thus, he sees commodities as a good investment for the long term. Financials are OUT, he says; take a look at the S&P500: it was 30% Utilities in 1981; 30% TMT (technology, media & telecommunications) in 1999 and now it's about 30% Financials. Guess what, in successive years those were the losers. He also points to a study by Yale and University of Pennsylvania that concluded that if an investor put their money into the underlying commodities rather than the basket of stocks that mine, refine or sell those commodities (of course you could pick the winners, but that's a mug's game) they would have made 300% more money! It's no surprise that the second reason he's in Vancouver (other than to flog some books) is to promote his 6 year-old RCIC commodities index (which happens to be the best one in the world, up 184.78% since August 1998--that's 17.7% per year!). He's already inked deals so that American investors can buy his index and recently launched a Japanese version...and next is a Canadian one (in negotiations, although there is a way Canadians can buy the American one).

Now if commodities aren't your thing he has a few recommendations that come from his findings: don't have money in USD...the Fed's stated policy is that it is fine with devaluing the USD. And since financials are not the place to be, he's shorting Fanny Mae and home building stocks in the U.S. He says if you're going to buy real estate in the States then buy in Iowa (cuz all them farmers will have a lot of money) and not Massachusetts (where the financial firms are). Also, the U.S. is not a big producer of resources. Canada is, however. He like the CAD because all we have are resources and we can sell them not only to China but to the U.S. (Incidently, he thinks the U.S. will be a big loser by the beggar-thy-neighbor policy of softwood tariffs because we have the goods and they need to buy them...and if we say "Screw the U.S." we can sell to China in a heartbeat.)

He sees China as being a big importer of goods, as mentioned, and the yuan will float in 2-3 years or so. It has already gone from being an exporter to an importer of cotton, crude and other raw materials and this trend will continue. He loves ags (agriculturals like grains, cotton and soy) but also energy (oil, natural gas--he owns some of the Canadian tarsands stocks) and metals. Not really gold, because, as he puts it, it's useless--except for a few industrial applications. The problem with gold is simple supply and demand: in 2003 75% of metals exploration budgets were to find gold (so there will be more coming for sale soon); the Central Banks of the world hold 30-40 years worth of current production in their vaults and they are either in the process of selling it or looking into the idea; and for the last 25 years gold production has risen but there are no new uses for the stuff. He said, "Sugar is better than gold." Wow.

On metals, he likes things like lead. Not sexy, but also profitable. There is no new production or exploration for lead (and other orphaned metals) and new supply takes years (maybe decades) to find, get permits for, excavate and refine. The latest, most modern lead smelter in the U.S. was made in 1969...nuff said. Then there's uranium. China and other countries will be using more nuclear energy (like it or not) and uranium will be in short supply because (i) no one is really looking for it (everyone is after gold); (ii) once you find it environmental and regulatory forces make extracting and refining it an arduous chore; and (iii) even if you can do that it takes many, many years to get the stuff to market. Also, the stockpiles are dropping so supply shortages alone could pump up the price (oh ya, and Canada has a lot of it in the ground).

What are the biggest risks in investing these days?
I. The U.S. financial system. Enron and its pals have shown us that people can really screw up a company like there's no tomorrow. But...copper doesn't lie.
II. U.S. financial stocks. These are at risk from systemic problems as well as a choppy market.

So, what does this have to do with Korea? As in this story, its like Korea was in the room listening to Jim speak...they've taken to paring down their USD reserves and moving to CAD and AUD (Aussie dollar) ones. Go figure, for once the Korean government seems to be on the cutting edge!

UPDATE: Interesting excerpt from his book here.

Fun Weekend

2005-02-21T08:15:00.000-05:00

Wow...had nothing planned this weekend, but managed to have a good time. On Saturday we all (wife, 2 boys) went to Stanley Park to check out the petting zoo. I keep seeing this little park (well, little by Canadian standards) from the train so we stopped there first. It's bigger than I thought (complete with a pool and a few swings and a jungle gym as well as acres of green grass) and being near the water (there's an inlet that runs up from Lion's Gate Bridge to Port Moody) it was quite nicely nestled between the container port and the grain elevators.

Then it was off to Stanley Park...we made a (30-minute) loop around the thing before we stopped for information (ya, I'm a guy) and found that it was closed. So, it was off to a little beach where the kids played in the sand near the waves and some fish 'n' chips and hot dogs and we were off again.

Finally, we made a stop at Rocky Point Park (some pics of this one here) for a while...3 beaches in one day all along Indian Arm (as the inlet is called).

Sunday was another got-to-Ikea-for-the-free-playarea day. Winston, true to form, fell asleep as soon as we got there so Kate and I had time to talk...30 minutes seemed like a luxury and we had a whole hour! After that I washed the sis-in-law's car (I figure I better, as I use it a fair bit) and vacuum the house (Cinderella, Cinderella!) then off to the mall with Spencer. He loves shopping and Kate loves the break (she stayed at home)...Spencer's a little more rambunctious than Winston. We then got some sushi and went to Rocky Point and then another park to scare some hapless ducks and other fowl (pics from a previous visit here).

What a life, eh?

Now for the books. I finished Fleecing the Lamb: The Inside Story of the Vancouver Stock Exchange on the weekend. Very good. It was written in 1987 and I was recommended it in 1994 as I exited university...but it's probably better that I read it now, after a few years in the 'real' markets. Basically, the VSE was a very corrupt place...and probably still is to some extent even though the TSE took over it and the Alberta Stock Exchange (naming them the TSX: Venture Exchange) after Bre-X and Cartaway (2 BIG scandals) blew up real good.

I also started, and gave up on, It was a Very Good Year: Extraordinary Moments in Stock Market History. The author is a Harvard grad and MD (Managing Director) of Merrill Lynch...but it just wasn't all that interesting. His writing style is too bookish for me. I like to be held to the story a little, but he just throws facts, facts and more facts at you with tons of quotes from sources of the day (isn't that for the 'Sources' are of the book?) I'll have to trundle down to the library later today and take a look for a couple more.

Now, to work.

Canada is Different from Korea

2005-02-18T13:41:00.000-05:00

Well....duh! At lunch today found a few things that stood out, so thought I'd pass them on:

There are hardly any Mexican food places in Korea (and the ones that are there are priced out of this world)...but there are tons here. Today I had a 'One Pound Beef Burrito' at Taco Time (let me tell you, it felt like a Two-Pounder).
In Korea, bras and such are set out one on top of another and usually sold on the street or in marakets by little old ladies. In Canada, there are whole stores for them (La Senza is a biggie). Maniquins in the window model them and the salesgals are usually young girls.
Korea has hundreds (literally) of kinds of ice cream; meanwhile, we tend to develop new chocolate/candy bars instead (I just had a Smarties bar).

That's it...

Slow News Day

2005-02-16T08:23:00.000-05:00

Not much to write about today: except that Spencer has suddenly learned 'please', 'thank-you' and 'you're welcome' and uses the A LOT. I guess now I have to do the same...damn kids.

Not to scare anyone, but here is a pic of my bud Minaz--a rare one at that, as he almost never dons a suit. Sorry, girls, he has a girlfriend...and a Korean one at that.

The lovely and talented Minaz strikes a pose in front of North Vancouver's 'skyline'.

Enjoy the week.

Korea is #1 !

2005-02-15T07:56:00.000-05:00

First, a little humour:

I think this is a comic about skin cream or something (emphasis on the 'or something').

Ok, now for the story. I finished my latest book and found a stat that I learned when I was in Korea, but didn't have the real numbers until now. If you're into finance, here is a question for you: Which market in the world would you expect to find the largest exchange-traded derivatives turnover in 2002? New York? London? Tokyo? Nope...Seoul (although I remember a lot of derivatives, and perhaps the futures & options exchange being in Pusan).

From page 220 of the book:

Exchange-traded derivatives turnover, 2002
Country: Annual number of contracts (mil) / Market share (%)
South Korea 1,947 / 32
U.S. 1,845 / 30
Germany 801 / 13
France 358 / 6
U.K. 357 / 6
Brazil 187 / 3
Japan 178 / 3
Others 428 / 7
Total 6,101 / 100%
(Unfortunately, I have no idea how to make a nice little table in blogger....waaaaaaaa.)

These stats don't tell the whole story, though, because it shows number of contracts, not total value of amounts traded. The thing is, Korean traders are usually individual punters (speculators) in the markets trying to make back the losses they sustained in the cash markets (normal stock markets, futures and options markets are non-cash markets).

In terms of Asset Management centres Seoul is in the "Others" catgory after: London, New York, Tokyo, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Philadelphia, Zurich and even Denver (!).

Well, better get to work...more fun and exciting stuff later.

Happy Birthday to me.

2005-02-13T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well, it's come and gone...the party was pretty good. We had pizza, Chinese food and 2 cakes (Spencer really wanted a strawberry one in addition to my Black Forest kind) and shared 2 cans of beer between 4 of us. Just the in-laws and our little family, a pretty good scene. After that I had a nap (hey, I'm the birthday boy...who can challenge me?...oh, my wife can).

This morning I got a good present. Weighed myself and the number was '88' (double happiness and also means wealth for Asians). Ah...but just being at 88 kg is a feat. For years I've been at 93 then saw 90 a little while ago, but couldn't believe it, but being down 5kg (1kg=2.2 pounds, so that means a drop of 10.1 pounds) is enough to announce. But, I fear it is because I am losing muscle. My workout schedule has been pretty light lately (and muscle weighs more than fat) but I have been bench-pressing the kids everyday and carrying them a lot. Not to mention walking 20-40 minutes every morning to the train station or bus stop. Then, when downtown I walk everywhere too. Hmmm...could I be getting healthy in a stealthy way?

On another topic, on Friday , yesterday (yes, on my birthday, I always seem to work on my birthday since I was 16) and today I am helping man the booth at the Financial Forum. When I was with RBC Dominion Securities I was in their booth in '97 and '98...about the time that discount brokers were the big thing (and every investor was a genius and could make money without advice). The Forum then was packed with people and booths. Now, after a bear market, it looks like half the booths and fewer people milling around. All we need are a few more good years and things will go crazy again, though, they always do.

I loitered by the SFU GAWM MBA booth for a while ingratiating myself on the guy there...he is on the admissions committee. One gal came by and grabbed a pamphlet. She was not your typical MBA gal...middle aged, scraggly looking, in fact more like a bum than a money person. He asked her if she was looking into an MBA and she said she would see what the options were. Later he said that she is not one who could make it. (More on her later.) A guy also came up and I (being rather effervescent and knowing about the program) started explaining it to him with the actual booth-minder. The guy said that I was a perfect guy to be an MBA...something that I didn't let get by Mr. Admissions.

Anyhoo, back at my booth that gal came by as well. She noted that she wanted to get into Thai investments and if iUnits could do that for her. One of the guys with me (who supposedly has 15 years experience) said that you could buy Thai funds on the NYSE but then the USD exchange rate would come into play. She, rightly, said that it would be logical to look at the CAD/baht rate more than the CAD/USD rate and the USD/baht rate because in the end the USD will cancel out (or wash out) won't it? His response: not necessarily; it's something you have to look at carefully. My (thought) response: bullshit. (If you do the math: CAD/baht is about 36, USD/baht is about 38.535 CAD/baht is 31.165 and CAD/USD is 1.2368. So: 38.535/31.165=1.23648 or a difference of just 0.03% of what we'd expect.) Well, I had to tone it down as I sided with her...I really can't handle someone who doesn't know about finance thinking that because they did a few trades on unrelated markets that they can give advice on such things. As well, she asked about buying gov't or corporate bonds in Thailand and he had no idea (at least he knew when to stop there) so I offered a few words: basically, corporate governance is brutal there, don't bother. Then I got to thinking...from what she was saying and how her logic flowed she could be an MBA candidate (assuming she has a bachelors and can get a good GMAT and such). Man, looks can be deceiving.

Now for options. Beside us was The Options Industry Council, which basically publicizes options and what you can do with them (unfortunately, the people at this booth were not very proficient in options; I'm starting to think that all of these booth-people, except me, are all rookies to their area). For those in business school or looking into investing or in the industry I'd say: go to the site and learn as much as you can about these things. You may never use them, but they are not only imbedded in some bond prices, in many structured notes and fund structures, but the theory behind them (which is over 30 years old) is a part of finance and money the world over. Volatility and time value and the other measures can be extracted from most asset prices and knowing options theory can get you a good foundation into understanding pricing and forecasting values (this, of course, can make you a lot of money if you are right, or righter, and everyone else is off the mark).

That was a long one...got to go now, have a great day!

Quick one

2005-02-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

No time today...busy! Tomorrow is my birthday; it's the same day as a bud of mine (Berris) his bud (Allan) and another member of the 02/12 club, (Sharon) so we're getting together tonight.

Anyways, my only other comment today is that I'm into a new book from the annuls of The Economist called Wall Street: The Markets Mechanisms and Players. It gives a great run-down of The Street over the last 100+ years...a very good primer for those looking at securities or finance as a career--and for us old dogs too.

Take a look at this article...interesting.

Go to go...more later.

Introduction to the Firm

2005-02-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

Finally got things together and officially introduced our little estate planning project to the rest of the firm. It went off as well as you might expect--considering we're asking them to refer their clients to us and that we are, in essence, using insurance products. Some of the guys here (I think all of the brokers are men) are into it, some are likely repulsed while others (perhaps the majority) are on the fence. In this business two things rule: making money and stories...and the best thing is stories about making money. All we need is a few guys to make some big cash working with us and (I think) we're off to the races.

I forget to mention that I finished Belly-Up on the weekend. It was quite good. I highly recommend it. I then started Working Dollars: The Vancity Savings Story. I tried, I really tried, to get through it but after 40 of the 500-odd pages I have to give up on it. It's just too boring. Not at all like my books on investment banks and bankers. I guess if you're like Vernon Mike (a capitalist in socialist clothing) you'd like it but hearing about top bankers being 'activists' and the 'credit union movement' but for a dyed-in-the-pinstriped-wool Wall-Streeter like me it's a little much. (You might be interested that Mike's grandad is a Communist...which is not illegal in Canada: being a neo-Nazi, however is; whereas in the States being a neo-Nazi is legal and being a Communist is verboten.)

Ok, time for work.

새해 복 많이받으세요/say-hay-bok-mani-pah-du-sayo

2005-02-09T08:32:00.000-05:00

Wasn't it just new year's a few weeks ago? For those of you into Asia you know that the Lunar New Year (called 설날/seol-nal) is the big dog of holidays. I left early today, but if the in-laws were up I would have been bowing to them this morning. Not a little hip-angle bow, either. A full, put-yourself-on-the-floor bow--I'll do it tonight after dinner instead. It's really not all that bad; after all, they do a lot for us and although the language and culture stuff gets in the way sometimes I know they have big hearts.

Like yesterday morning. My father-in-law was up when I was having cereal and asked if I was going to warm it up. Huh? It's cereal...it's supposed to be cold. Well, he was a little puzzled. I think there must be some Korean tradition that cold food in the morning is bad (generally Koreans like all things piping hot). He just stood there watching me eat. I'm used to stuff like this but after a while it got a little disconcerting. I think he expected me to take his advice and warm it up...but, being (more or less) an individualistic Westerner, I didn't. Anyways, no biggie, but an example of where a little culture can make for confusion on both parties parts...and, as in my case, it takes about a day to mull it over before I figure out why 'they' do things.

Yesterday I met with an advisor with the SFU Global Asset & Wealth Management (GAWM) MBA program. He said my GPA is a little light but my resume more than made up for it. There is also the part about the GMAT. He figures if I can get 3 reference letters (not a problem) copies of the certificates from my many industry courses and an ok mark on the GMAT that they can get me in there...the only 2 things left are time and money. The program is 1-2 afternoon-evenings a week plus 1-2 weekend days (all day). The price is about $33,000 (CAD) over 2.5 years, which is ok, but I'd like to see some of it paid by my new employer (nice idea, eh?) and, if not, I want to be sure I can handle both aspects without a problem. It's a great program, though. For their derivatives course they fly in a guy from a New York derivatives desk to teach the class as well as other professionals from Australia, London and Toronto. Excellent, a link from class to practice--I always liked that about SFU.

Well, better get at it. Happy (Lunar) New Year!

If You Pass the Test, You Can Beat the Rest.

2005-02-08T08:22:00.000-05:00

That's a line from a Pet Shop Boys song: Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) (lyrics here). It's fitting as I took one of my two licensing exams yesterday.

Funny thing. I was in the elevator heading up to the test and a security guard gal asked if I was going to the securities test. I was. She figured that I would do well. What? Well, you look like you'll do well; looks matter in that business. Ok, I was wearing a suit (came from work) but I commented that it's too bad you can't put a Polaroid on the test paper so the markers (in this case a computer) can get a good look at you. She said that one other guy in there looks like he'll pass, the rest have no chance. Interesting...I thought. It's interesting how people see someone and assume things (like that I know what I'm doing, which I think I did--at least on that test).

Nothing much else up...except that a friend of mine is heading to Korea to teach (after being in Saudi Arabia for the last few years). Can't wait to give him and his wife (and daughter) pointers on the place. Also another VTer is heading there on vacation and had the usual plethora of questions (can we use VISA there, what is a good hotel) so that is kinda fun too. If you are heading to Seoul (especially) or Korea (also) and have questions shoot me an email and I'll help out as much as I can.

Now...to work.

More Books.

2005-02-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

Finished "Greed: Investment Fraud in Canada and Around the Globe" (no link available) this weekend. It was...ok. The author's claim to fame is she knew Chris Horne--a broker with RBC Dominion Securities who was convicted for fraud (taking $7 million out of client accounts, to be exact). I remember the story as I was with DS at the time of his conviction. Everyone was surprised, but when us brokers heard he is gay we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Thankfully he wasn't one of us! (Some of us will do anything to shield ourselves from a sensational and ugly story.) I would have liked to have learned more about his methods (as they did in Free Rider) so a bit of a disappointment.

Seemingly to make up for her lack of depth, she illustrated a few of the other big fraud cases in Canada and elsewhere: bucket-shop traders A.E. Manning, Nick Leeson and Mister Five Percent to name a few. I remember almost all of these events and it was good to get more than the papers were reporting (not to mention having it all in one place). That part was cool.

Now I'm on to Belly Up: The Spoils of Bankruptcy, which I probably should have read before The Vulture Investors as it seems to (with a few fits of what I found to be hilarious writing) lay down the history of bankrupcy and its preceedings for the last 2,000 years or so. (Did you know the limited liability company is only 150 years old: enacted by British statue in 1855?) Should be good.

Sometimes I Get Bored

2005-02-03T12:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this week I'm reading my licensing stuff basically all week. I have to take time out every once in a while to get my head out of the books otherwise I'd go stir crazy. So, I Googled "Burron" and found this page. I always thought Burron was a German name (and still think so, as our family emigrated from East Berlin) but looks like there's a Scandinavian bent to it. I remember my Mom's Dad had these Norwegian vests that resembled this one (but they had more color on them--lots of red to go with the black and white). Intriguing, to say the least (at least for me).

The lovely Nordic Burron Vest.

There's also, I see, a Spanish-language comic about 'The Burron Family"...although it looks like we are Martians or something.

La Familia Burron? There's a Burron comic too?!?!

Then there's La Casa Burron which, again, is in Spanish and looks a little odd. There's even an alternative rock group called La Familia Burron 2099. What is going on?

It's nice to see that someone in my family has made the Dean's list in his law school recently. Way to go Kevin! (Not sure who he is, though.)

So, if you have a few minutes to kill why not Google your name (unless it's Kim or Smith). I'm always amazed at what comes up, you might be too.

Another One Bites the Dust

2005-02-03T08:23:00.001-05:00

Done; 243-page Greed and Glory on Wall Street: the Fall of the House of Lehman is done. (Not available in stores, but can be borrowed from the library. It was better than the last one I read on E.F. Hutton. Predating Hutton's demise by about 3.5 years, the story of Lehman was very interesting. Some colorful personalities (such as Lewis Glucksman and Peter G. Peterson) and although it didn't go into the history of the firm as much as my reads into Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley did, it did exude the feeling of an old-fashioned partnership dependent on relationship-banking making its transformation into the transaction-oriented world of today.

In the way of an update, one of the main partners, Richard (Dick) Fuld remained with the firm through its time under the wing of Shearson/American Express (called Shearson Lehman Brothers, later Shearson Lehman Hutton after they bought them up in 1987). Fuld started in 1968 at Lehman (his first job) and at the tender age of 38 (in 1984) when it was bought out netted $7.6 million (on top of a salary and bonus of $1-$2 million a year). Lehman Brothers (LEH:NYSE) went public in 1994 (I'm not sure how this came about, so I have some digging to do) and Fuld is now the company's Chairman. The firm has done well, rising from about a $6 (split-adjusted) IPO price up to about $91 now. Fuld made $15.41 million last year (yes, double his buyout money in 1993). On top of that he owns over 1.2 million shares of the firm (valued at over $100 million) and exercised options and sold shares to allow him to rake in about $140.6 million since November 2003 (I netted off the cost of options exercised in that period but didn't deduct the adjusted cost base of the shares sold as that was not available--however, some of the shares came from $0 strike price options or were sold at prices far in excess of near-dated options exercises. He made a lot of money.) So, I guess if you stay with a firm for 37 years or so you can get rich.

My next book is Greed: Investment Fraud in Canada and Around the Globe (no link from Indigo or Amazon, odd). I've already read Rogue Trader, Free Rider: How a Bay Street Whiz Kid Stole and Spent $20 Million (read that 600-pager in the flight to Seoul one time) and one on Bre-X whose title eludes me. A short skim of it makes me wonder if this one is as weighty as the others...hope it doesn't disappoint.

Got to get to work, later.

Hanmi Lounge

2005-02-02T08:27:00.000-05:00

Just got this email from Dennis in my VT mailbox (note: I'm ranked 192 now...finally in the top 200). You may find the stuff in here interesting.

Hi, my name is Dennis and I just set up a new website called the HanMi Lounge.

I am trying to get a few people who are knowledgeable and experienced with Korea to start a dialog on my forums for the benefit of newbies in Korea. I was wondering if you would be interested? If you wouldn't mind taking a look, the address is: http://www.hanmilounge.com.

The descriptions are (for reference):

Short Description: An interactive lounge which promotes the sharing of information and resources of Korea.

Long Description: Welcome to the HanMi Lounge! This lounge is for people residing in or planning on residing in, or visiting Korea. This is an interactive lounge which promotes the sharing of information and resources of Korea. In our Library you will find many of the best resources already listed.

Please come in, look around and join in the fun. Don't be shy, our boards and chat rooms are for your pleasure and education, so jump in and Enjoy!

Thank You!
-Dennis-

The Asian Squat

2005-02-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Haha, thanks Yoosh for this link explaining the mysterious Asian Squat--you don't know squat about the Asian Squat! (Click on Quicktime thingy to watch it.)

Oops, I did it again.

2005-02-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

Unreal. Just have to jot this down. I used to work at Montreal Trust in the securities cage: a position that last about a month ending when RBC Dominion offered me a position and, coincidentally, when Montreal Trust was sold to Scotiabank from BCE-basically making my department very expendable. But I digress. While there I came across an odd creature, the watercooler. It was out of water so I decided to replace the 18 litre tank. So far, so good; what a nice guy, eh?

Well, I had no idea how it worked so I peeled off the blue lid (there is a tear-strip in it) and removed it completely. Then, and only then, I realised that the blue cap was NOT to come off. You just take off a little sticker and ram the thing into a valve in the machine. Holy crap! Now what? The thing was already opened, but I still had the cap. How about if I put the cap back on and gingerly ram it on the valve? (As if that could be done.) Ok, I'll give it a try. It worked! The valve did its job and I could go back to mine...of course I had to check on my little project a few times, just in case the dam broke. When someone finally replaced it they noticed my little jerry-rig, but by then no one remembered who had done the deed.

Now, in Korea we always just ripped the top off them things and quickly (and I mean quickly) placed the open end in the dispenser, letting the pressure differential to stem the flow of water.

Of course, this morning when I found the cooler out in the office (my new office, where I have been only a few weeks and those who know me don't know me that well...you know my predicament) was empty. What did I do? Learn from my mistake 10 years ago? Hell no! I ripped that blue cap right off and went to place it and...oh crap: it's a sticker/valve one! Ok, here's where the memory gets less foggy. I replaced the cap and rammed it into the valve. The bubbles gurgled...and gurgled...and gurgled. I looked for water on the floor streaming toward my shoes, but found none. Finally the bubbles stopped surfacing. Success! I was shaking like a leaf. Bloody hell! If it was the first time I could excuse myself. But looks like it worked out alright.

So, if you're having a bad day, think...it could get worse. Now to take a look and see if Hoover has let loose its H2O...

UPDATE: Yay! The dam holds!

History Can Tell Us Something

2005-01-31T08:03:00.000-05:00

Done! My book on E.F. Hutton's downfall is history and now on to one on the sale of 134-year old firm Lehman Brothers to Shearson American Express in the 80s. You may know that Hutton was also gobbled up by Shearson (they then had the unwieldy name of Shearson Lehman Hutton). I wonder what happened after that, though, because Lehman Brothers is still around. I think some of the old partners rallied together and put together an MBO (Management Buy-Out, like an LBO but not by outsiders) at some point. Interesting.

Looks like Lehman blew up under similar circumstances to Hutton: management hubris. Should be another good read.

Had a meeting this morning with a supplier who has hedge fund and structured note products. It's interesting to hear the difference between what is said to 'laymen' in the business here and how the products are actually structured. One thing I appreciate from my time in Korea is getting to know the products so well (after deconstructing them and getting guys to spill the beans about how they actually work) that I can spot the problems with the stuff they sell here in Canada. Now I can ask the right questions, the downside is not many are able to answer them because only one or two people in the firm offering them may know how they operate--the rest are marketing and admin people who never looked that far into them.

I guess the comment from today's blog is it's good to know what happens behind the scenes so you can anticipate problems...nothing like learning from others' mistakes.

Cool Blog

2005-01-30T21:02:00.000-05:00

Just surfing around for a few minutes and found this blog: Kimchi & Me. Funny one. Notice the URL is sojuandi; guess he got to his AA meeting or something. He takes a few funny pics (some I wish I'd taken, like that one for G-Spot bar whose motto is 'slow and easy'....bloody hilarious).

Enjoy. I'm off to bed soon. Sick this weekend...maybe because all I have to do at work is meet people and study my licensing stuff...want to get out there and make a million, but have to wait a couple weeks for this admin stuff to pass. Oh, the humanity!

Another Book

2005-01-29T16:02:00.000-05:00

Before making my reading list here is my review of Brokers, Bagmen & Moles. It was pretty good. I have a pretty good idea of how futures work (having been licensed to trade them and learning more of the theoretical stuff when I was in Korea (firms like Aspect and Winton are big traders of client money in this area). What I didn't know is that the trading was so rife with conflicts of interest, lies, deception and outright theft and fraud (at least is was before the culmination of the FBI sting in January 1989...maybe it still is now). Traders like Aspect and Winton now use slippage to refer to price divergences between what they see on a quote and what they get filled at in the market. Now Globex (an electronic system for order placement and matching that was in the planning stage in the last 1980s) is in place so things should be better than back then when real people did all the trading.

Basically, both the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) and the Merc (or CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange) had moles (FBI agents posing as traders) in various pits recording illicit conversations over a two year period. Thing is, not all of the indictments stuck (even with additional information from stoolies) and the scandal didn't seem to have made a dent on the higher-ups and the system in general. Perhaps now things have changed for the better, but I really like to read the history of the exchanges and firms to get a better feel for how things were, how they are now and how the could be. The chronology was a little weird and the authors said a few things again and again; they also went on and on at the end on how the system was not changing (a recurring theme throughout the tome) but overall it was a pretty good read.

Now I'm 57 pages into 295-page Sudden Death: The Rise and Fall of E.F. Hutton. and I like it. I've already read the histories of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley/JP Morgan, Citibank and have lined up a few more (such as Greed & Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman) to go through in the next few months. I used to wonder why Lee Iacocca said his favorite reading material is biographies; now I know why: because it lets you know how people before you made their make and, more importantly, their thinking throughout it. Usually these movers and shakers were not just lucky: they worked hard, were very persistent and had a vision that they made into reality. They were not just toilers and workers (no one can get super-rich, without a lottery ticket, by doing that)--they had something pretty extraordinary (yet usually quite simple) that they could translate into a monolith of a corporation.

Anyways, I better get back at it...lunch is over.

Advice to Finance Grads

2005-01-28T08:03:00.000-05:00

Herewith is my download to those who are thinking of entering the world of finance...much like I did 10+ years ago.

Connections:

As soon as you can meet people who are in the business: both in positions you'd like to be in and others. This will not only give you an entry into the business but will also help solidify your conviction of which path is right and (most importantly) show your interviewers and eventual colleagues that you're not some 100% green recruit (you'll be just 99% green).

My first introduction came at a Finance Night where I met a gent (Lorne Harper) who was with Midland Walwyn (later taken over by Merrill Lynch and then sold to CIBC Wood Gundy). He did nothing for me but later was my regional manager at RBC Dominion Securities. I also met an outstanding institutional salesman with Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion, a David Williams. He was a CFA charterholder and introduced me to his manager (who ended up at Pacific International Securities before succumbing to a heart attack...something that shook some sense into me about enjoying life) and coached me on how one gets into the business.

Everyone after that helped as well, but you never forget those first introductions to the industry that help form your opinion of it...which is part of the reason, I guess, that I went to Finance Night in the first place: to try to show students that you can make it in this business with an SFU BBA.

Public Speaking:

I've always been kind of shy...in an extroverted way, at least. I like speaking out, on my terms, though. So, when it comes to speaking and I have time to put a speech together (especially when I know the topic) I have little problem doing it. The delivery, however, at first was quite brutal. Then I joined Toastmasters with my bud Willi and then joined the Rotary Club of Vancouver Fraserview and ended up as their president for a one-year term...that was enough practice to get many of the kinks (timing, use of humor, enunciation) out.

I used to think that I could get by just by being good one-on-one, but the more I see in this business the more I have come to know that if you want to make it you have to be comfortable in any group and on a variety of topics...and part of that is being comfortable with yourself (a tough tack for this guy).

Appearance:

When you're interviewing or attending seminars and such it's ok to have one suit, one shirt and one tie to go with your one pair of dress shoes. Once you start working, though, you need to look good everyday. For some this is no problem, but for others it's out of their comfort zone (not to mention pocketbook).

Here are the basics (for a man, at least):

2 suits with an extra paid of pants each (so you don't spend every night ironing them and can send them to the cleaners and have an extra...plus, pants usually wear out first; one navy and maybe one dark grey);
5-6 pair of black/navy dress socks, preferably ones that come up over the calf (never show skin; and socks must match pants or shoes so no brown shoes with black socks and navy pants!);
5-7 good dress shirts (2-3 white ones, the rest very boring stripes or windowpane check...nothing too showy);
5-7 undershirts (T-type; oddly, you will feel cooler in the summer as sweat will be closer to your skin and it'll also save your dress shirts from pit-stains);
cufflinks (if you dare);
5-7 ties (stripes, simple patterns and solids...nothing gaudy!);
2 belts and 2 pair of shoes (one brown the other black, or 2 black--always matching, always; no suspenders but, if you must, never together with a belt);
a good overcoat (black) and/or trenchcoat (black or camel).

If you have the urge, you can get all of this in Seoul for about CAD 1,100 (plus a grand for the ticket to get there, plus lodging and such). Buying it in Vancouver would be about CAD 3,500+...you do the math.

Courses and Learning:

While in school (or shortly thereafter) make sure you take at least one Business Law course. All business is based on contracts and if you don't know the basics in that you might as well stay out of the industry.

Learn another language (at least a little bit). Most Canadians know a little French, but in addition to that you might learn Mandarin or Cantonese, Japanese, Korean (you know my bias), German or Swiss. These, I think, are the major 'other' languages of business--depending on where you'd like to locate or specialise. Spanish is ok, but most of those countries are in brutal economic shape...just my leaning, though.

Take the CFA. Just do it. It's not only good to have but required in many positions.

All other courses you can take: take them. In Canada the Canadian Securities Course, the Canadian Investment Manager designation courses and others are important background to the industry and skills needed to do the job.

Understand options and futures. Everything in business can be broken down to options theory. It incorporates time value of money, volatility/risk, and intrinsic and (what I call) 'hopes and dreams' value (any market value above intrinsic). Even if you don't go into finance forever you can use it in real estate and other areas as well.

Other Reading:

Read all you can about the business. I've posted quite a few reviews on the blog...in the next little while I'll add a more definitive list for grads--so now you'll have to add your email to my Blogarithm update email thingy and check back.

SFU Finance Club - Finance Night

2005-01-27T07:58:00.000-05:00

Last night I stayed late at work. Instead of taking my usual 3:50 train I trundled across the street to the Four Season's Hotel (a heckuva lot better place than we had our Finance Nights at when I was President of the Finance Club (we were always at the Diamond Club up at the school). Finally, maybe because of the downtown focus of SFU now, things are starting to come off of The Hill. Sponsors of the evening were Schweser (the CFA prep people) and SFU's new Global Asset Wealth Management MBA.

Anyways, there were some speakers from various firm:

Gordon Gibbons from Leith Wheeler: He did the talk on research analysts and how everyone wanted to be one in 1999 but no one wanted to touch it in 2000. Makes us finance guys sound like real estate agents coming into a hot market, but it's human. He noted, interestingly, that there are about 100 research analyst jobs in Vancouver, which is disproportionately high compared to Toronto and other major centres. It's also one of the largest areas for finance types to get into (either research or sales in finance) because many of the large corporations based here have been gobbled up by firms in Calgary, Toronto or the U.S.

Robert Fairweather, with International Finance Centre for BC, is the old-timer of the group. He was with the government on overseas assignments for a while (including a stint in Seoul) and then came back and worked in investment banking and then on the IFC initiative. His advice to the students was similar: work hard, be smart and know how to communicate with people. He also added that community involvement (charity and such) is a good idea. It rounds you out and can get you some pretty influential contacts.

Johan Lemmer, Finance VP with VanCity credit union, was the 'kid'. Unfortunately, much of his advice was just like the first two speakers and I think he was also the least comfortable in front of a group. Hint to organizers: put your best speaker first to get things going and your second-best one last to end with a bang. Basically he loved VanCity (which is owned by members and had a decidedly pro-community, granola-like bent to it). This love for firm, however, made him seem a little needy: as if he was just glad to be there...but of course he has a good background as a CA, but I think (at least for me) finance-types can be either (i) 'greedy' guys who are sharp or (ii) elder statesmen who know how the world works and have enough production/revenue to get above it. But to be an activist? No, this is not the kind of thing that I think resonates with finance-types.

All of the speakers said one thing, and it's something that I whole-heartedly agree on: go out and meet with people in the business. Booksmarts are useless without being able to talk the talk and put things in the context of (i) the currrent market, (ii) the sentiment of business in general and (iii) most importantly, the listener. I got my 'big break' at a Finance Night about 11 years ago when I could recite how much the underwriters of a recent deal made out in fees. That got me a meeting with an institutional sales guy downtown and entry into the business. I was asked for my card from a few students (ya, some were shy, but I was feeling a little out of place too--think of that!) so we'll see how many give me a call or email.

It was really interesting to meet some of the students. One of them, a co-president, was very good at speaking and really impressed me. One of the other Past Presidents was also in attendance and her talk was, well, youngish...not quite straight from the mall but not near as polished as the others. But, these things can be learned. I was certainly the same way before getting some real-life experience.

Tomorrow I'll add more on tips to the students (if you're a recent finance grad it may be a good read). Got to work now, later.

The Three-Month (B)itch

2005-01-26T07:49:00.000-05:00

Well, good to see my (well, not just my...everyone else in Korea seems to think the same thing) theory of 3 month craziness is sound. Rena, a recent transplant to Ilsan, just north of Seoul (but not too north), has hit the wall.

As for me, my nutty time was about 2 months in. As you know, I came to Korea in October of 2002 and lived with my in-laws (and wife and son) for 6 months before getting my own place in Yeouido. Not that being with them made it any worse...if anything it helped me adjust a lot better. I was always getting tutelage from my wife and her parents on how things in Korea are different from the West (and basically everywhere else in the world). I was working from 6:30AM (after a 1 hour commute) until about 9 or 10PM (plus about 30-45 minutes to get home) for about a month and a half before it happened. I got food-poisoning from some rancid meat or something (I have now learned to stop eating if something seems weird...which is hard to determine in Korea as most things taste off even when they're alright). I was basically puking et al for a couple of days and could do no more than lay in bed and dream of Campbell's Chunky Soup (New England Clam Chowder edition, please). But, being the helpful gal she is, my mother-in-law thought some traditional Korean foods and remedies (one handful of pills looked suspiciously like rabbit droppings) but I would have nothing to do with them. How can you eat Korean food when (i) you're a newly-planted Westerner and (ii) it was Korean food that got me that way?! Eventually, my wife went out to the foreigner market in a nearby mall (they have special stores there for non-Korean/import food) and got a few cans of my favorite.

Without that, and having my wife and her family looking after me, I don't know what might have happened. I've heard of ESL teachers losing it in Korea...a friend of mine's brother, actually, was one. The story is he just went wacko and ended up handcuffed by the police after running down the street naked as a jay-bird screaming gibberish. At least my position (in a financial) firm guaranteed my place in the firm and my monthly pay as well as pretty good hours...I pity teachers who have bad managers in small companies that work them hard and then renege on their pay. That is total crap.

Well, now that I have this position in Canada I better get to work at it...otherwise I may be back in Korea! (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Some pics from a while back

2005-01-25T08:05:00.000-05:00

Well, finally got my act together and got some pics on the blog. I know you're been waiting eagerly for them. These first ones are from before the snow when we went down to feed the ducks (on a weekday, before I started work, obviously).

The sign we, and everyone else, ignored.

The ducks...

...and the fog. Ooooo...scary!

Kate, and most Korean gals (I think) find things like fog to be very scary. Maybe it's because all of the Korean horror movies use it just before the killer (or whatever) leaps out and wrecks havoc. On to nicer things...

The Village Toy Shop. One of Spencer's favorite places.

Spencer and Winston love the Thomas the Tank Engine scene they set up...Wow!

Here's some trivia for you: two of the narrators of Thomas the Tank Engine (it's a kid's show) have been none other than Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr and foul-mouthed comedian George Carlin! Now, I understand Ringo having a part in it, but Carlin? I've seen the guy in action on Leno and some of his stage comedy...he's not the guy you'd expect to be on a kids' show...who's next? Tommy Lee? Well, I guess if Madonna can write chilren's books...

Here's an interesting toy. "Mom, can I get a jet engine?" "As long as you don't stand behind the exhaust!"

And, a snow shot. Man, it looks like that hill is really big, but it's not. Well, it's enough for Spencer. Even took Winston down a few times too. And, shocking as it seems, Kate had a couple of runs too (she screamed in terror even louder than Spencer did, it hardly registered for Winston--he's a born stunt-pilot).

From way back...a shot of Spencer and I on the Crazy Carpet.

Kate (in her Dad's funky hat) and Winston enjoying the snow.

Well, that's it for this morning. I should also thank Blaine Cook for his site on WiFi Cafes in Vancouver. Now I have to get a wireless thingy for this laptop.

A Look Back at Korea (by some other guy)

2005-01-24T16:14:00.000-05:00

I'll have to write something like this too, but I found this pretty interesting. Got it from this site. Wow, he's even in Vancouver! It's about finding girls/women in Korea and I think (if you're a single guy and looking while you're over there) it's about as bang-on as I could write (of course I was never looking, but seen enough of what happens when people do). You could probably use this for gals/guys from anywhere...especially places (like Russia or Venezuela) where the living conditions are a tad worse.

A look back at Korea

It has been almost three years since I have set foot on Korean soil. Time has flown by and I can no look back on Korea with a sense of detachment and logic that previously wasn't there.

I didn't think I would be away from Korea this long, but sometime life takes a person in different directions. I don't think Korean women are any more deceptive than the North American woman, but they can deceive you more easily because you can't speak Korean. In all cultures, there are loyal women and cheaters. Here is some really good advice on dating Korean women:

-She speaks English: I know this is a hard one, but how can you really know each other if you can't communicate. If you are not compatible for the long haul, then it is better to find it out early on in the relationship than later on after you are engaged or married.

-Find someone who doesn't think life in the west is like the set of Friends or some other unrealistic show. Life is tough anywhere and she should know that your better paying career as an ESL teacher will be non-existent in North America. In North America, you'll you the other average joes working at some zombie job just to pay the bills.

-Find a woman who actually can hold down a job and who has some education. You don't want her to be a liability in Korea or back in the States.

-Watch out for the Korean woman who has dated foreign guys in the past. Either she likes new meat, or she is a gold digger. I know it is a blanket statement, but do you really want to be with someone who is with you based on your nationality or race.

-Don't take things too seriously and don't get attached until she has proven herself to you by introducing you as her sweetheart to both her father and mother. If she hasn't done this, then she does not look at you as a serious long-term mate yet or if ever.

-If you leave Korea for any extended period of time and she won't or can't come with you, then cut her loose. Long distance relationships don't work and you'll end up heartbroken in the end. The end of the relationship is the best thing for the both of you.

-Even if you are well off in your home country, or you have a marketable skill that can land you a good job in there, still tell her that you are an average guy in _______ making an average wage (should you return to your home country). If she is a gold digger, you'll find out soon enough.

-If you suspect that she wants you for your citizenship, then tell her that you plan to live in Korea for the rest of your life. This will get rid of any green-card scammer.

-Don't settle. If you don't have a spark with her, or you don't really find her attractive, or you just don't get along, then break it off ASAP. You'd be surprised how quickly a bootie call can turn into a life long obligation.

Again, I am glad for my experiences in Korea, but I have moved on with my life. My job is an average job and here I am not the celebrity but the average guy. But the air is clean; I have space to move and live, I understand this society, and this is a place I can really be confident to put down roots. I just never could feel that way about Korea. It always seemed like a dream that was about to end. It never seemed like a place I could live the rest of my life knowing what life in North America was like. Being with my current girlfriend, I know she is with me, the average joe, and not with me because I am perceived as a celebrity or good-looking in Korea. And no she isn't Korean.

At some point, all of you foreigners in Korea will have to come home (whether that be in GB, Canada, the U.S., Australia, etc.) But how easily will your wife/husband join you and how easy will it be for you wife/husband/kids to integrate in a new culture? These are things you should consider. The money (the amount you can save) is better in Korea, but life is better here in North America.

Bob Peavey
bobpeavey@yahoo.com
756 Bellingham Road
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada

Posted: November 4, 2004

Busy Day, Again

2005-01-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

Last week I head there is a Lego display at Science World so we decided to go there on the first day. Man, the place was packed. The price (CAD 27.50 for both of us, our kids we free as they're under 4) seemed a little steep until we got in there. It was full of kids having fun...lots of hands-on things for them to do. Spencer and Winston had so much fun in the 'regular' part of it (and we probably didn't even see everything) that we didn't even see the Lego part. The downside was that on such a busy day it took 30 minutes of waiting to get our White Spot order from the food place in there. If we lived closer to (or in) downtown we'd probably spring for the (CAD 110.00) annual family pass and go there every few weeks (or until the kids got bored of it...which would be a long time, I think).

Took some pics there, and will add them in a bit...so stay tuned.

UPDATE: Here they are!

Kate and the boys lunching in my new 'office'...actually still waiting for furniture in it so I'm in the bullpen for now.

Spencer crams a parachute into an airgun...take a gander at that look of exersion!

Winston is having a ball (hahaha!).

A terrible pic of one of the massive fun-filled rooms.

Another toy...here kids move 'matchheads' from one side to the other in some sort of game of domination.

Also, last night Minaz (he visited me in Seoul in September/October last year, so take a look at those archives for more on his antics there) came by with his newly-found Korean (well, mostly Canadian, she has been here since age 19 and doesn't even like kimchi!) girlfriend. Before his sojourn to Seoul he was quite hesitant about Asian gals; always saying to me that he didn't really have much interest in them and wondering why I had the 'yellow fever' so bad. Well, after just a few weeks in Seoul I guess he's changed his tune.

Actually, I had never met a Korean until about a month before meeting my future wife. The gal was a girlfriend of my bud Carlo's bud who we met in the Philippines (we were there in 1998 for about a month). Well...you know the rest. Come to think about it...there was this one Korean guy I met while doing slave-labour at C.M. Oliver (a local brokerage that is now part of Canaccord). His name was Soon--it was kinda cool to say good-bye with a "See you soon, Soon". (Ya, pretty corny.)

Gotta go, kids are getting up.

Finally on The List.

2005-01-22T09:52:00.000-05:00

In July (I think it was) I filled out the form on Korean Blog List to add mine...They just added it now! I even sent a couple of emails a few months ago reminding them...but still it took a while. Ironically, I'm in Vancouver now...haha.

I've been calling my buds in Seoul these last few days. Got one of those el cheapo long distance cards so it won't break the bank. Things in Korea are the same as always, but a couple of them are getting married and one is changing jobs...pretty standard fare. It's good to catch up with them...you know Koreans like to have long term friendships, which is cool.

On to my latest book. I knocked it off on the train-ride home yesterday. It was about 150 pages, but a little light on the content: the title: Careers for Financial Mavens. I picked it up because a bud of my old friend Mike is now going into investments at a bank and I wanted to review it for him. Shawn, if you're reading this: get this book. I wish I had one of these when I was finishing college or high school; it really mapped out the different careers quite well. From accounting to brokerage to money management, venture capital, investment banking and even government jobs...it's all there. The descriptions were true to life, too; which is something I didn't expect from these writers (they had never had a financial job) but they must have interviewed the right people in the right way to get this information down. One glaring mistake was they said that fee-only planners or money managers would charge an annual fee of 5% to 10% of the assets of a plan. That was WAY off. The rate is 0.5% to 1.5%...rookie mistake. Man, if I could make $100,000 for managing $1,000,000 I'd only need one client! Of course, that client wouldn't make any money as the markets usually allow you to make 5% - 10% per year...but, boy, what a racket! Other than that, everything was quite well done. Me being me, I did skim over the accounting and government jobs area...c'mon...if you're out to make money that is not the place to do it normally.

Now I'm on to a more complex book (yay!) Brokers, Bagmen & Moles. It's about a scandal on the Chicago futures markets (apparently at the CBOT and the Merc) where the FBI exposed some sort of underhanded doings in 1989. I like this kind of in-depth reading as it gives me a better insight into the markets, their participants and how things work. Should be good. This and my continued licensing reading (on top of the family stuff) should keep me pretty busy.

Another Self-Serving Book Disguised as a Learning Tool.

2005-01-21T17:32:00.000-05:00

Good God, what is with writers these days? Everytime I get a book on finance that's not like Monkey Business or Wall Street Meat (2 very cool books) they always seem to have the same theme: (i) the writer is a professional in the field; (ii) here is the problem with the world; (iii) here is my solution...which involves giving money to his profession (see (i)).

I found another book on my desk that I had forgotten about (didn't make it to the library yet): The Life Insurance Fiasco: How to Avoid it. Since this is now my profession (again) I thought it might be good to see what is out there that I should know and may have missed in the couple of years I was in Korea. Boy, was it brutal. Basically nothing new, even if you're not in the industry, and it followed the formula: (i) the author is a fee-only insurance/financial planner; (ii) most financial planners and insurance salespeople are not that good and make horrendous amounts of commission; and (iii) his advice is to use a fee-only planner (big surprise) and no-commission policies.

Well, that is all fine and good, but there are commissions in prices paid (for almost everything from hotdogs to cars to oil tankers) for good reason: you have to motivate people to 'sell' things and know how they work: in effect, to be a professional. I've been at this business for quite a while from virtually all sides (retail/institutional; sales/product design; front-line and management) and I can say that if there wasn't the commission coming I'd e off doing something else. Don't get me wrong, I love the industry (finance, investment and insurance) but a guy's got to make a living at it for it to make sense. (This, and golf, are the only 2 professions where your ranking is based on your ability to make money...interesting, eh? No wonder so many brokers and such golf.)

Anyways, now that that is out of my system I can now really head to the library and find something interesting to read--not that I don't have enough with studying my re-licensing course as well, but I actually enjoy reading this stuff just for fun.

Have a good weekend.

Accounting Fraud Book...Bit of a Sleeper.

2005-01-21T17:06:00.000-05:00

Finished What Every Investor Needs to Know About Accounting Fraud. Well, I didn't really finish it, I read about two-thirds of it and ended up skimming the rest. It's written by a professor, so things are very logical and if you're a student or new to investing it could be a good one to pick up, but for guys like me (who have been in the markets for 10+ years) it didn't add much. In the end, like so many other books out in the last few years, the advice is: buy mutual funds or ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and trust no one. Well, thanks, but that doesn't really make you a better investor--it just moves the asset management function to a manager (which the author already said were part of a brutal system) or to a formula (which ends up weighting you in larger companies such as Enron who may end up going under anyways). So, if you're new to accounting and investing it's pretty good, but otherwise look for something with more meat in it.

Actually, that's just what I'm about to do. I spent much of today figuring out a scenario that would help out a client and am a little braindead right now. Time to take a walk to the library, get a new book and get on the train.

The Vulture Investors - A Good Read

2005-01-20T08:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, this was a good book. It was written by an editor and writer for Institutional Investor (a great industry mag) and goes into some of the big deals in distressed securities (bankrupt or near bankrupt companies) from 1992 to 1999. Each deal/story is sort of a module (she reiterates some of the legal stipulations in a few places) so you could read one then another out of order. In the end, they all allude to each other and build on each other a little; probably because many of the deals' players overlap (it's a small world) and the tactics used in a previous deal might be looked at or used in a later one.

All in all, if you're looking for a quick way to get to know the movers and shakers of the 1990s, as well as the rules and regulations that allowed them to profit quite handsomely in many cases, this is a very good read. Even if you're 'just' an investor it could be good as well, because it gives a good insight into a world that many do not understand and are scared of (both to the benefit of the vultures).

Chantico!

2005-01-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday after work I decided to take a try of Starbucks' Chantico (named after an Aztec God). The stuff is called 'drinking chocolate', and that's exactly what you're doing. For $3.15 (CAD, including tax) you get a 6-oz little brown cup (with a brown lid) of (literally) hot chocolate. Mmmmm. Weird, but I felt better as soon as I had it (had been getting over a cold for the last while).

Of course, before telling my wife I had one I had to get her one too so I went out to the store with Spencer last night and got her one. She wasn't all that impressed. I even told her that a German life insurance company had recommended to its policyholders to have some chocolate everyday as research found that doing so lowered the probaility of heart problems. Well, she retorted that it only applies to bitter chocolate, not the crap Starbucks whips up. Hmmmm. Taking a look at the nutritional information I can see there are a TON of calories, including fat calories, in it. Well, I didn't think it would be a diet drink. Actually, it's not too far off the dangers of drinking a Caffe Mocha, so I don't feel all that bad about it.

Got to go...later.

Now I'm in Vancouver

2005-01-17T15:02:00.000-05:00

Now I'm in Vancouver. Just had lunch. While walking on the (wet!) streets of downtown Vancouver a guy resembling the Unabomber walked by and said, "Bud." (not just to me, to everyone). He wasn't calling me bud(dy) or anything. This was a solicitation to take him up on buying some marijuana from him. C'mon! I'm in a bloody suit! Well, the last time that happened I was in high school on a Law 12 fieldtrip (and, yes, I did look like a hot prospect to him in my jeans and T-shirt).

So, just like getting elbowed in the ribs by a little old lady in Seoul tells you you're a Seoulite, so does indicate that you've been in Vancouver long enough to be a local. Joy.

Weekend in the Burbs

2005-01-17T08:14:00.000-05:00

Ah, back at work. Got a laptop now from the firm...which is very, very cool. Can now work out of the office now--and use the Internet from the various hotspots in the city. I know in Korea EVERY Starbucks has WiFi, but not sure about Vancouver. You'd think they'd have it here, but you never know.

So, on the weekend we went to Ikea for an hour or so. It's pretty cool: there's a playroom for the kids, a restaurant with $1 breakfasts and a bistro with well-priced hotdogs, coffee and cinnamon buns (mmmmm cinnamon buns....). Some of the floorplans are nice, but I wonder what the total pricetag of these little decorating scenarios might be.

Last night watched Windtalkers, about the Navaho Indians (or Native Americans or First Nations Peoples or whatever the name-of-the-day is) who made a code from their native tongue so that Japanese codebreakers couldn't understand what Allied plans in the Pacific were. A very cool flick. John Woo directed it and the story was typical Woo: let the bullets and mayhem do the talking. Light on dialogue and big on action...I liked it a lot.

Time to get to work, later.

Old Friends

2005-01-14T16:37:00.000-05:00

Lunch again...just called my old bud Bruce from my SFU days. He's doing well, as usual, and now a VP at the firm he's with. Seems those I know are getting older too; good to know, I guess. As for me, I'm getting into this licensing course now...looks pretty cut-n-dry (as I've been in the industry for 10+ years now)...we'll see. I have a couple of exams in February then we're off to the races.

Man, this is getting pretty boring, eh? Been studying insurance a fair bit and having meetings with the major firms to get a handle on how their products have changed over the last 2 years (they've also had a few mergers here in that time, too). Yesterday I bought a 'crazy carpet' (it's essentially a piece of plastic that lessens the friction coefficient between you and the snow--it can go real fast if you want it to!) so I'd like to try it out tonight with Spencer if the snow is still on the sledding hills. It's been cold lately but not much fresh snow at all. Would be a shame to miss it as I looked for a week to even find this one.

Ok, back to studying!

UPDATE: This is unreal...only in Korea. It seems that the credit card binge that Koreans went through in the late 1990s is still around. The government offered great tax incentives to use plastic (10% tax credit for all amounts charged if you charged over 10% of your income--that means 2%+ lower tax rate!) got the need to charge it ingrained quickly. However, 1997 punched the stuffing out of the economy and most consumers pocketbooks, but they continue to rack up the bills. So what does the government do: offers them civil service jobs to help pay down their debts and even subsidize their housing! Um, I thought North Korea was the Socialist state.

Finished a few books

2005-01-13T08:15:00.000-05:00

Oh ya, I've been up to a bit of reading lately. Finished House of Cards. It was very, very good. At the end Brewer only spent about 3 pages getting philospohical, which was great. So many authors add a lot of crap at the end of their books to get the page count up. I was happy to see she decided to cram in more facts than feelings. A good read...get it.

For some reason I got out High Octane Recruiting--for really no reason at all except that I was just recruited and wanted to see what it was like on the other side. If you're looking for a job or looking to be a recruiter, hiring manager or human recource person this could be a good read. I skimmed it during my 30 minutes on the train last night, so it's not all that heavy.

Also blew threw The Facts of Life. It was pretty good, if you read the boxes of info and not all the bloody text. For me it was a 5-minute reader; for those not into insurance it might take 20 minutes to figure it out. Not all that tough a read; but don't buy it, that's for sure.

Now I have The Vulture Investors and What Every Investor Needs to Know About Accounting Fraud on deck. Both are not skimmers, so may be a bit before I finish them. Vulture Investors looks good so far...and one that my bud Jo in Yeouido should take a read of, for sure (he's into value investing in a big way).

Off to work!