Objective research to aid investing decisions

Value Investing Strategy (Strategy Overview)

Allocations for April 2024 (Final)
Cash TLT LQD SPY

Momentum Investing Strategy (Strategy Overview)

Allocations for April 2024 (Final)
1st ETF 2nd ETF 3rd ETF

Classic Essay: The Foolish, the Theoretical and the Practical

| | Posted in: Investing Expertise

How can investors and speculators tell foolish, theoretical and practical investing/trading schemes apart? In his August 2002 paper entitled “Cranks, Academics and Practitioners”, former head of quantitative strategies at Goldman Sachs Emanuel Derman briefly circumscribes this question. He notes that:

“…[A]s I skimmed through the crank file I found it hard to feel superior. Instead, …I always saw a pale reflection.”

“Holy [the crank], holey [the academic], wholly [the practitioner]. Which approach is best? Sometimes you can’t even tell which approach is which. Finance, after nutrition and psychology, may be the field in which it’s hardest to distinguish between a really enthusiastic academic or practitioner and a genuine crank…”

“Crankademic? Pranktitioner? The real thing? Can one devise a Turing test to tell the difference? The mind reels, boundaries blur, not a bad thing really.”

In summary, it seems that nature to a significant degree favors diversity over survival of the fittest.

Consider reading the entire one-page essay.

Login
Daily Email Updates
Filter Research
  • Research Categories (select one or more)