Musing

4C/40F, steady breeze at my back as I walked east, high-speed drizzle in my face on my return, like a wintry Vancouver morning, not as west or wet

stepping into unfamiliar environment sharpens vision, noticeably distorts incongruities; whether we sit near elbows of those near the crucible of power daily or if we toil in isolation in far flung places, all things trickle down - we fear things, not so much fears of fiscal collapse, moving averages or risk-reward schtick - fears are more personal, more real

when things are too ‘up-close’ - you know, the forest and trees cliché, we can get easily confused in our zeal to focus on what is really important, what is most important and what is least important of all the really important stuff - not a priority setting exercise but more-so one of keeping really important information sorted so vision is not distorted

incredibly interesting smartest people in the industry explaining why they think what they think, how they see opportunities, what they see, what they fear – optimism mixed with high risk of no reward/great reward opportunity; really smart people admitted they know very little about the real quality of the underlying assets supporting SIVs and CDOs to an audience wanting a ‘tell me what to do’ talk; a few things abundantly clear – assurances things are OK, are un-believable, everyone is unsure where best ‘opportunities lie’ (new oxymoron) - Wall street, rather than spreading risk, really spread fear around, fear that isn’t going away any time soon; consequences, fear of being overrun, missing opportunities – some consensus we are near a tipping point, but no clarity on which way things will tip

yesterday’s conference sessions – as good as it gets; one was worth the time and cost of the entire trip; bonus - visits with musing readers; PC from Calgary and MG from Cornwall – we seem to share some key things learned in this process of exploring, becoming more self aware - a balancing act of living well, ego-centric work, mid-life reality, desire to be relevant, need to be vital, compulsion to do worthy things with time – thanks for your time

I can get worked up a little about how to best advise clients so they can make some money or insulate capital from risk is hard – challenging to do well - but not scary; things that scare me are cardio-vascular events, not being relevant, not experiencing joy and not making enough time to chase a butterfly – I’ll focus on keeping those scary things in focus, not distorted

Mark Kolke
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... with your voice, teach in order to learn


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