Moomin Valley

The academic job I applied for (there are 3-4 positions available) got more than 250 applicants from around the world. They are now narrowin...

We were told that there would be a 21 day hold on the proceeds of the U.S. cheque we deposited. But today (the first time I checked) the Co...

We received a check for just over $US3,000 for Snork Maiden's costs getting to and attending the conference in China in October. I'd...

Often I read in the media that the values of real estate and infrastructure assets owned by listed and superannuation funds are exaggerated....

The report which Harry Markopolos submitted to the SEC in 2005 with his suspicions about Madoff is pretty amazing. This is how the SEC resp...

The chart shows the MSCI All Country World Index converted into Australian Dollars and EWA including dividends converted to AUD. From an Au...

This isn't a surprise at all but I just checked our distributions from Colonial First State which were paid on 14th December. Snork Maid...

According to this chart, at the end of September the ten year return on U.S. large cap stocks was as low as it had been only four times befo...

A lot of visitors to this blog have been searching for various combinations of Madoff and Man Investments and its products. It turns out the...

As I've reported, Everest Brown and Babcock Alternative Investment Trust (EBI.AX) has been in a lot of strife with investors . The main ...

I'm getting a near record daily number of hits (and we're only halfway through 16th December at the moment) due to my first post abo...

The table shows the average monthly returns, standard deviation and Sharpe Ratio for the Fairfield Sentry fund that was "invested"...

Credit Suisse/Tremont Equity Market Neutral Index loses 40.45% in November: Up to the end of October the index was pretty much flat for the ...

A lot of people in the blogosphere are talking about how they knew that Madoff's scheme was obviously a scam. I got the returns data fro...

It's commonly believed that there is a strong relationship between the Australian Dollar and gold. But is this true? I computed the mont...

Everest Babcock and Brown Alternative Investment Trust (EBI.AX) changed course again, rendering my post from just a couple of days ago out ...

In the final post of this series I look at the performance of an endowment type portfolio over the last 12 years. 10% is invested in the CR...

In recent posts I have looked at the optimal allocation between stocks and managed futures and between stocks and a composite hedge fund in...

From now on we'll split all savings 50:50 between paying off debt (margin loans and credit card) and making new investments (in Snork Ma...

Allco Equity Partners (AEP.AX): The Liberman family got a margin call and now ANZ owns the 25% of the company that they used to own and whi...

I got access to HFRI's site . As the chart shows there isn't a lot of difference between the HFRI Weighted Composite Hedge Fund Inde...

I've recently posted about the optimal portfolio choice between a global stock index and a managed futures fund. For this post I downlo...

The chart shows the correlation between the returns of the MSCI World All Country Index and the Man-AHL fund that I've been discussing r...

The Australian Government has a sovereign wealth fund known as the Future Fund. The Commonwealth Government has run budget surpluses for man...

The chart (the y-axis is logarithmic) shows the effect of varying the allocation to managed futures from 10% to 90% (with the remainder of t...

This post follows up from my recent posts about managed futures including this one on their diversification benefits. The Ibbotson-Pimco st...

November was another horrible month. The percentage decline was not as bad as in October in USD terms. In fact, only half as bad. But we lag...

Following up on my recent post about endowment asset allocations I've updated Moom's and Moominmama's numbers for November and ...

Things maybe began to stabilize a little in November. Moominmama suffered a loss of "only" 4.76% vs. 13.06% in October. The MSCI w...

So apparently the government department who provided my contact with a grant that was never used is willing to see a new proposal as to what...

I met with the guy who might have some research funding and was trying to hire my student who got the job in Perth. He'll look at whethe...

US markets fell below the 2002 lows today. I don't know whether that is the legendary " capitulation " or not, but I capitulat...

Our estimated net realised capital loss for the year so far is $A38k ($US24). At least I won't be paying any capital gains taxes for a w...

This chart shows in Australian Dollars my/our cumulative saving over the last twelve years. It doesn't include retirement saving and it ...

No, I'm not moving to Perth, but my former PhD student was just offered a lectureship job there on the last day of his interview process...

Today, Paulson said that he's changed his mind and they aren't going to buy up mortgages using the TARP funds. Now the name of the p...

As part of my new career direction I want to set up a professional website which is not linked to this blog. Snork Maiden found a cheap and ...

I'm beginning to make contacts and explore career options. In the short-term I want to stay here in Canberra, which somewhat limits opti...

Good series of photos on the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Nothing like photos to illustrate the craziness of hyperinflation. My Dad remember...

Interesting article in Barrons this week on the performance of U.S. college endowments. In recent years endowments have increased exposure t...

After all the changes of the last couple of months, I'm posting my position level allocation as at the end of October. This is one the m...

Received the offer document for Platinum Capital's (PMC.AX) rights issue and Everest Babcock and Brown Investment Trust's (EBI.AX) w...

In percentage terms October's results are the worst on record but they were heavily influenced by the decline in the Australian Dollar t...

Added another $1,000 to Snork Maiden's Colonial First State account. Since the end of September we've added between 29% and 89% unit...

Allco went into administration i.e. bankruptcy today. Allco Equity Partners announced that they are terminating the management agreement wit...