Sunday Hike With Snakes and Shorts

Just another non-eventful Sunday on the hiking trail.

Except for the 3 foot long rattle snake that crossed the trail right in front of me.

Luckily, when I walk alone I tend to keep my head down, concentrating on the trail and whatever I'm listening to on my ipod. If I hadn't been focusing on looking down, I could have easily stepped on the snake.

And speaking of snakes

This is what I was listening to on my ipod.

If you have not read The Big Short you need to do so right away.

No one tells a true financial tale like Michael Lewis.

Appaloosa Betting On The Banks For Big Bucks

At the end of the year we typically look back and determine whether or not we made progress over the past year. We analyze what worked and what didn't work, given the economy, and then we make assumptions about the future and conservatively formulate plans for the upcoming year.

Then we wonder how hedgefund master of the universe, David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, had the temerity of take huge positions in Citigroup and Bank of America at the bottom of the market and earn 7 billion in profit in 2009.

Fund Boss Made $7 Billion in the Panic

Mr. Tepper's hedge-fund firm has racked up about $7 billion of profit so far this year—with Mr. Tepper on track to earn more than $2.5 billion for himself, according to people familiar with the matter. That is among the largest one-year takes in recent years.
Behind the wins: a bet worth billions of dollars that America would avoid a repeat of the Great Depression.
Through February and March, Mr. Tepper scooped up beaten-down bank shares as many investors were running for the exits. Day after day, Mr. Tepper bought Bank of America Corp. shares, then trading below $3, and Citigroup Inc. preferred shares, when that stock was under $1.
So there he was buying against the tide
"I felt like I was alone," Mr. Tepper recalls. On some days, he says, "no one was even bidding."
And it paid off...big
After he was repeatedly passed over for a partnership, Mr. Tepper left Goldman to start Appaloosa in 1993. By 2008, he had a track record of annual gains averaging about 30% and a net worth estimated at about $2 billion.
And, oh the irony of his being passed over for partnership at Goldman
Mr. Tepper entered 2009 cautiously, with more than 30% of his firm's assets in cash, or more than $2 billion. He itched to do some buying. Mr. Tepper explains his investment philosophy with a line from Allan Meltzer, a professor at his alma mater: "Trees grow." In other words, growth is the natural state of economies, so optimism usually is rewarded.
And going forward
Mr. Tepper says the worrywarts have it wrong: "If you think the economy will be fine, as we do, then we're going to do very well."
Of course with billions in personal assets it's a t'wee bit easier to be optimistic
And I do, of course, hope that he's correct