In much the same way that Jerry Lewis was said to be a big deal in France, I received a ringing endorsement from The Irish Times yesterday, for which I am most grateful. Given that my ancestry is Irish (County Down), I am especially touched. I am also in excellent company, as the other investment blogs recommended are of the highest order. The best vacation my wife and I ever took was to the Emerald Isle too. This is a lovely honor. Thank you.
Category Archives: Thank You
Thank You
My piece yesterday on market forecasting seems to have struck a nerve. It’s getting a lot of attention here and elsewhere. I encourage you to read the other commentaries, some of which I have linked below.
- Why Do Forecasters Keep Forecasting? (Barry Ritholtz at Bloomberg View; also at The Big Picture)
- Sex bot on Volcker, dream gigs at Twitter and Wall Street’s whiffs (Shawn Langlois at MarketWatch)
Links also at Pragmatic Capitalism, The Reformed Broker, Abnormal Returns, Real Clear Markets, The Prudent Trader and more. Many thanks to you all. Every writer wants to be read. I appreciate your having read my work and offering your own helpful comments.
Happy Blogiversary to Me
I have been writing Above the Market for two years as of today (August 1, 2013). I began and still write largely to clarify my own thinking and to force and enforce commitment on my part. Actual readers are a lovely bonus. Over 650 posts and now hundreds of thousands of readers later, I remain astonished at the level of interest Above the Market has received — it is far beyond what I thought possible, much less likely. I appreciate each and every reader.
A few people deserve special mention and thanks.
Tom Brakke (his terrific blog is The Research Puzzle) generously offered outstanding help and guidance before I even had any readers to speak of and continues to offer wise counsel whenever I ask. Tadas Viskanta provided my first distribution (exactly one month in) to the expert community he serves via his blog, Abnormal Returns, which remains the standard for its type. Joe Calhoun upped my exposure tremendously via Real Clear Markets. I am humbled to be featured often at both of those sites, including today.
According to Investment News, Above the Market is a blog “for all financial advisers to follow.” Thank you, Michael Kitces, for saying so. Financial Planning and Insider Monkey honored Above the Market as among the best of its type anywhere. Wade Pfau has been a great help too (be sure to read his blog and his site if you don’t already). Thanks also to some of the “big boys” (of both sexes) for help and encouragement or for simply liking or linking my work (Jason Zweig, Cullen Roche, Carl Richards, Christine Benz, Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz, among others). Special thanks too to my firm for encouraging this endeavor.
My “top ten” posts based upon reader numbers follow in order of popularity. I hope you will give them a look (or another look).
- Investors’ 10 Most Common Behavioral Biases (why does the internet love numbered lists so much?)
- Establishing Your Top 10 Investment Default Settings (see?)
- My Investing Checklist (it likes un-numbered lists too)
- Above the Market’s Leading Investment Indicators
- Financial Advice: A Top Ten List (back to the numbered lists)
- Top Ten Ways to Deal with Behavioral Biases (hmmm…)
- 10 Classic Failed Tech Predictions (I’m sensing a theme)
- Saving Investors From Themselves (we need it)
- Math Suckage and Dave Ramsey (Ramsey apologists are everywhere it seems)
- We Suck at Probabilities (sad but true)
However, I’d also like to focus on the following lucky 13 posts that didn’t get nearly as much attention — sometimes because they appeared before I had many readers — but which I think are worth reading. I encourage you to check them out.
- Beguiled By Narrative
- Financial Products are Sold, Not Bought
- It’s Not You, It’s Me
- Just Put the Ball in Play
- Gaming the System
- The Semmelweis Reflex
- Neurath’s Boat
- Bias Blindness and Political Polarization
- Michelle Pfeiffer Needs Help
- Demand for Hitmen and Yield
- Luck, Skill and Jim Harbaugh
- Librarius Booker, Confabulation and Choice Blindness
- Carolina Crazy
To everyone who has read, supported and helped me with this effort: Thank You! I hope two years leads to many more.
Thank You
Despite this blog’s short history, it has already received a gratifying amount of attention (which I greatly appreciate). Among the first people to notice my work was Tadas Viskanta at the terrific Abnormal Returns, the original site for market news aggregation. Since there is no better route to readers and general acceptance than to be linked and mentioned by quality sources, the recognition of AR has been extremely important to me. I am proud to say that I was linked for the 25th time today at AR since I started this blog last August. Thank you, Tadas, and thanks to everyone who reads, comments upon and links my work. There is nothing a writer wants more than to be read.