Welcome, welcome. Come in, come in.
It is with deepest satisfaction and greatest privilege that I unveil to you how my 9th floor office and subsequent domain have signed treaty with THE INVINCIBLE NATIONS OF IBANKCOIN just this week to become an official territory of this most hallowed website.
Henceforth, all work done and published here by my hand shall have the added benefit of furthering the prestige and authority of iBankCoin, in its commendable goal to clear the stagnant and unworthy from the center stage and replace them with a gilded era of fiduciary responsibility and investing competence.
May I never deviate from this course, or find myself worthy of reprimand or replacement.
I have spent the weekend cleaning and clearing room in my office; it should now accommodate us, you and I. I hope you can tolerate the smell of aging paper, smoky wood, and the damp musk of tobacco. All are welcome, as are visitors and respectfully phrased questions.
In the process of arranging for the transference, I have also decided to file my records in a way which is more suitable for my readership’s viewing. My preference is to stick to the written word as my sole means of communication. However, I no longer have such luxuries, with this newly granted responsibility.
As such, I have begun construction of the Talir Portfolio, which shall be little more than an index for the investing decisions we make here, and an easy visual reference for performance of the fund. Moreover, I shall begin to use other visual aids for those of you who are…shall we say…”effectively deaf.”
This portfolio shall be constructed from when I first began writing here (as I find myself at a crossroads, and have no patience for fools who can’t see things in their entirety), and I shall unveil it later this week.
Now, a quick word of introduction for the benefit of those who are stumbling through my doorway for the very first time:
My name is Cain Hammond Thaler, and I have written in the peanut gallery for about two years now from my asylum in Detroit.
During that time, I made many excellent trades…and had a few enormous blowups. I present both my best and worst sides, openly, for your consideration. But, between you and I, without humility, I’m right more than I am wrong and have the established track record to prove it.
On my strategy, I never really considered to put it into words until very recently. However, I will now etch in sandstone for the masses to read:
I am an investor of distressed assets. I am a buyer of the unsteady present. I give little for the tumultuous today to make a fortune in the tepid tomorrow. I am also a purchaser of prospects. I buy the boring and unwanted before they are the best and most desirable. I am an analyst of assumptions, who seeks to gain from the misperceptions of others.
I am an opportunist.
This is different from the quaint, mainstream notion of risk/reward. I rarely make a purchase when I deem it “risky” and I always look for tremendous reward. Specifically, I move when I believe everyone else is wrong; and hence, the very notion of risk/reward is utter hogwash.
All of my best trades, whether SLB, APC, MGM, TLP, silver, etc. were conducted to this standard. I may as well embrace my roots as a vulture. It is not glamorous, but it pays well.
And when I cannot be these things; when opportunity does not present itself; then I am a fundamental investor who looks for quality stores of value which will give me ample footing to strike when the next expedient moment arrives.
Certainly, with Egypt and Tunisia falling, and the future of global maritime hanging in the balance; with bomb threats on mosques in our own backyard (my own home state, in fact); with food riots and rising costs; and deficits and unfunded debts crippling entire nations; with China fighting free trade and the Asian world raising interest to stave off absurd inflation;
In short, with uncertainty everywhere;
There couldn’t be a more opportune time to get started.
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