Friday, February 18, 2022
I feel foolish giving this disclaimer but such is the world we live…..therefore, **DISCLAIMER: nothing I ever provide should be considered investment advice!!**
1. Given we’re at the end of earnings season, I found this bit of info interesting. Where can someone find one of the highest returns for their money? Well, look no further than……the National Basketball Association. That’s right, the NBA has seen the highest returns amongst other sports leagues and against the S&P 500. Below is a quick look at those returns between 2002-2021:
- NBA: +1,057%
- MLB: +669%
- NFL: +558%
- NHL: +467%
- S&P 500: +458%
So what am I saying here? Let’s pool our money together and buy a team!! Who’s in? We can go the traditional route or the DAO route (more on that below) but I’m open to both.
2. Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment…...aka The Titanic
- Her Ark Innovation ETF is down 26% YTD.
- 100% of the stocks in her Innovation ETF are in a bear market.
- 87% of those stocks are down at least 40% from their highs last year.
- The ARK fund has lagged the Nasdaq since 20018…..while still managing to collect over $200M in fees from investors.
- This ETF peaked in February of 2021……ouch.
And her response was basically…..
- Don’t look at our returns over the last year. Look at it over a 5 year rolling average.
- Our innovation stocks are waaaay undervalued.
- These recent fund losses are only temporary. (my personal favorite)
- If we’re right, it will disrupt the historical benchmarks other people are running to.
Below are my general thoughts on this…..
- Hah!!
- You’ve got to be kidding me!!
- I’m sure that was likely NOT part of her pitch when the fund raising funds last year.
- It seems like elementary level decision making and worse…trying to double down and justify that now.
Good words to live by……**MESS UP, FESS UP, DRESS UP!**
- If you find yourself in a scenario where you’ve screwed up (which inevitably everyone does) it may be the best, and fastest, way to address said scenario.
Now the big head scratchers…..
- Total investments coming into ARK ETFs peaked at $42B last year….and only ~25% of that money has exited.
- ARKK’s fund has managed to attract more than $70M of net inflows YTD!!
- Who in their right minds would put money into this fund given the current dynamics?
- Whoever it is….they clearly don’t believe in Crypto!! 😊
3. Speaking of Crypto.....though great Grandpa Charlie (yes, same Charlie Munger) had some pretty harsh words this week about Crypto, the Godfather of Twitter himself (yes, Elon Musk) took to social media to share some words of encouragement he received in the past from Mr. Munger that date back to 2009.
"I was at a lunch with Munger in 2009 where he told the whole table all the ways Tesla would fail," wrote Elon Musk on Twitter. "Made me quite sad, but I told him I agreed with all those reasons and that we would probably die, but it was worth trying anyway," he added.
He went on to follow that up with:
“This is exactly why immortality is horrible for the advance of civilization. When people get old, they just get more and more cornered in the world they were familiar with, and close themselves from receiving new ideas. Only way to fix that is natural cycle of live and death.”
- In what appears to be a very straightforward and reasonable tweet….Elon is right on this one.
- Everyone is entitled to a professional and well thought out opinion, including Grandpa Charlie. But he’s also entitled to being wrong.
- It is worth trying to do something because one might succeed, even when success is not certain. #VivaLaCrypto!!
4. Have you heard of people refer to a DAO lately? (not to be confused with one of my favorite wines DAOU!!) Yes, it’s part of the decentralized world and it’s pretty cool at its core. Here are the nuggets worth noting if you aren’t up to speed…..yet (#growthmindset)
- DAO: Decentralized Autonomous Organization
- It’s a member owned group/community/company without a centralized leadership structure (no CEO, COO, CMO, CIO, CCO…..you get the point)
- It’s a way for people to sometimes [read: often times] trust complete strangers from the internet to band together for something they believe in.
- No one person has authority or decision-making power. All decisions are made by the group via votes. And all voting is 100% transparent and verifiable by anyone.
- Probably the most famous example to date was when a group from the internet, called ConstitutionDAO, banded together and raised around $40M in a few short days to purchase US Constitutions that was for sale. They ended up getting outbid.
- If you want a deeper understanding there is plenty on the internet to keep you busy for days. But I may recommend you START HERE.
“And if you don’t know, now you know!”
5. Happy Friday people! Here’s what I’ll be jamming out to today. !!!LET’S GO!!!
Deuces. ✌️