Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Sometimes the best way to complete something is to consider it done.

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Former CEO John Sculley Explains How Apple Sells Experiences. (Cult of Mac)
• Are We Really 10% Human and 90% Bacteria? Exploring the Microbiome. (Tim Ferriss)
• The Dominant Life Form in the Cosmos Is Probably Super-Intelligent Robots. (MB)
• Revive-a-Phone. A way to repair phones dropped in liquid. (Cool)
• The Top Technology Failures of 2014. What do the latest technologies to flop, fizzle, and flame out tell us about innovation? (MIT Technology Review)

 

Trading Links:

• Elon Musk is Going to Build an Internet In Space. (TheNextWeb)
• The Number of Tech IPOs Can Double By 2016. (TechCrunch)
• Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is Dead. He Left His Successor With A Lot Of Problems. (Vox)
• 19 of the Most Expensive Substances in the World. (Business Insider)
• Aggressive European Central Bank Stimulus Ushers in New Era for Europe. Planning Purchases of €60 Billion in Assets Each Month (Wall Street Journal)

What Is The Real Value Of A Dollar? The Answer Might Freak You Out.

You've probably seen one of James Schamus' movies. The former CEO of Focus Features was the screenwriter for The Ice Storm and Crouching Tiger - Hidden Dragon, and producer for Brokeback Mountain and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Schamus recently took part in a new series, We the Economy (which was produced by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock).  The series was designed to raise awareness and understanding about the mechanics of the US economy.

The video, below, sets out to address the question: "What is the real value of a dollar?"  The answer, as Schamus puts it, is going to "freak you out."

 

 

via YouTube.

Click here for the second part of the film.

Annualized Returns for Major Asset Classes

Research Affiliates takes a look back at the last ten years and calculates the annualized return of a classic 60% equity / 40% fixed income portfolio versus 16 pure asset classes on their own.

 

The 60/40 portfolio generated 7.2% annual returns (nominal) from 2005 through the end of 2014, edging out 9 of the 16 asset classes in their data set and with significantly less volatility than most as well.

 

 

 

via Research Affiliates.

 

How does that compare to what you expected?

 

Click this link to to see more about this.

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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Bad Lip Reading pours its talents on into the mouths of unsuspecting football players, just in time for the Pro Bowl and  Super Bowl.

 

 

 

via YouTube.

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Google's Larry Page: The Most Ambitious CEO in the Universe. (Fortune)
• Decrypting Google: Examining the Growing Giant's Business Methods. (Economist)
• 25 most commonly used password list 2014. (Visual.ly)
• 10 Fad Diets, Debunked. (Io9)
• Woman Sends Bank Angry Letter After They Bounced Her Check. This Is Gold. (Tickld)

 

Trading Links:

• The Best and Worst Hedge Funds of 2014 - and Everyone In-Between. (ZeroHedge)
• Top 5 Chinese Trends That Will Shape The Global Economy in 2015. (GeekTime)
• Top 10 Trading Movies. (Futures Mag)
• A Venture Capitalist's Five Predictions for 2015. (Fortune)
• 3 Reasons Why Legal Marijuana is Happening Now. (Wall Street Cheat Sheet)

What’s Going On - Playing For Change [Music Video]

Here is a different take on Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going On”.

It is a "Song Around The World" recording by Playing For Change.

It starts with an acoustic guitar in Africa, adds a drummer in Los Angeles. Next comes the electric guitar and bass on the streets of Chicago and strings in Serbia.  You get the picture ...

Now listen to the music.

 

 

 

Years in the making, minutes to watch. Very cool.

This Song Around The World is featured on PFC3. The album features 185 musicians from 31 countries.

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How the Average Hours Worked Per Week Decreased in the the Last 150 Years

The average human now lives about 75 years.

We spend about a third of that time sleeping ... a number that probably hasn't changed much across human history.

What has changed is what we do with the remaining time.

As the following chart shows, over the past 150 years, there has been a profound shift in what we do with our waking hours.

 

Our World in Data.

 

In 1870, employed persons worked close to 3,000 hours per year ... which is roughly 10 hours per day, 6 days a week, 300 days a year. That number has almost halved for the most productive countries.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Déjà vu?

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• 5 Tips for Finding Flow: A High Performance User's Guide for the New Year. (Forbes)
• Science Says This Personality Trait Predicts Job Performance. What's your guess? (BI)
• Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer. (NewYorker)
• CIA Predictions for 2015 from the Year 2000. (Business Insider)
• Coming Data Deluge Means You’ll Know Anything You Want, Anytime, Anywhere. (SingularityHub)

 

Trading Links:

• 10 Legendary Investment Rules from Legendary Investors. (Zero Hedge)
• Big Banks Manipulate Physical Market Prices | The Big Picture. (Ritholtz)
• Information in Financial Markets: Who Gets It First? (Papers)
• High-Frequency Trading Payoff Tied to News. (MarketWatch)
• Oil Companies’ Predicament: Who Should Cut Production? (Wall Street Journal)

Data About New Year's Resolutions

Here is an infographic about New Years Resolutions.  The data comes from Google searches about resolutions.

 

via Visual.ly.

Interesting.

Chart Showing U.S. Bull and Bear Markets Since the 1920s

At this point, the S&P 500 is up over 200% from its March 2009 low.

This bull market has lasted 68 months, which seems like a long time ... until you compare it to the length and strength of other bull runs.

This chart shows the history of Bull and Bear Markets in the U.S.

 

via @jerrykerns.

The blue areas represent past bull market durations and returns (total and annualized). The red areas represent past bear markets.

 

Note: this chart is a little dated - it was originally published in May.

 

Nonetheless, it is a good reminder of the bigger picture.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading

Hope you are having a Happy New Year!

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• How to Form a Habit:  A Scientific Approach. (Sqwiggle)
• What Peter Drucker Knew About 2020. (Harvard Business Review)
• The Unusual Books That Shaped Billionaires and Prodigies. (Tim Ferriss)
• Kermit the Frog Gives a TEDx Talk, and Twitter Loves It. (TED)
• Why Sadness Lasts Longer Than Other Emotions. (BPS Research Digest)

 

Trading Links:

• 2014 Portfolio Review: What Strategies Worked & What Didn’t? (PragCap)
• David Tepper Warns 2015 Is Poised To Be Like 1999. (ValueWalk)
• Saudis Tell Shale Industry It Will Break Them; Plans to Keep Pumping. (NakedCap)
• The Leading Robo-Advisers Now Manage $19 Billion and Continue to Grow. (BI)
• Florida Becomes 3rd Largest State Following CA & TX, NY Drops to 4th; Political Implications. (Global Economic Analysis)