tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-225175972009-07-17T10:01:29.958+10:00Personal Finance, Investing, and EconomicsmOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.comBlogger1016125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-71733324610279684052009-07-17T09:55:00.002+10:002009-07-17T10:01:29.970+10:00

Final hedge fund returns are now in for the month and they largely confirm the earlier HFRX results. In other words, performance was flat overall. HFRI returned 0.23% and Credit Suisse/Tremont 0.43%. Managed futures and systematic trading did poorly (as did short-bias). Convertible and related arbitrage strategies did best.

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-85912090998235152792009-07-15T09:55:00.003+10:002009-07-15T10:02:42.691+10:00

As I commented on the last post, I didn't get the job I interviewed for on Monday in a major Australian city. The chairman already phoned me on Tuesday to tell me. They decided to go with people who could cover their areas of particular need in teaching (at the graduate level). At first he said they liked everything else about me. But when I said I wasn't surprised because I think I messed up the

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-60309493876487364932009-07-13T19:13:00.000+10:002009-07-13T19:14:11.877+10:00

I'm sitting in the airport terminal on my way back from my interview here today. The process was very traditional on the British model of academic interviews - presentation, lunch with other candidates, and panel interview. The American model has no panel interview and involves many one on one meetings with faculty or groups of graduate students over a two day period. My previous interview in

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-78235163573303503952009-07-07T15:46:00.005+10:002009-07-07T15:57:18.969+10:00

I just got an e-mail inviting me to interview on Monday for the job I applied for last week. This is one of the top departments in the country. The university is on this list. I've never seen an academic job search move that fast. It probably won't be much work to update one of my presentations. I've asked for more details of what kind of presentation I need to give. I also want to be back home

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-59091582984660087262009-07-07T13:51:00.003+10:002009-07-07T13:55:03.022+10:00

The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index was flat for June, returning 0.04%. Macro and 'Systematic Diversified" did poorly losing more than 3%, while convertible arbitrage and event driven strategies did relatively well. HFRX is, however, based on a small sample and may not reflect the performance of the broader indices which will be available around mid-month.

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-15677240002388295192009-07-07T10:00:00.002+10:002009-07-07T10:04:48.088+10:00

So I phoned Unisuper and told them I'd sent the form in twice to switch to defined contribution (or "accumulation" as they're calling it) and I'm wondering why I'm still in the defined benefit scheme. The guy I got on the phone told me that everyone starts in Defined Benefit (so they just ignore the initial membership form despite it asking which plan you want to be in) and that they got my

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-47916370518643632402009-07-02T17:13:00.004+10:002009-07-02T17:52:14.821+10:00

The following is based on the available data as a couple of funds as usual won't report till near the end of the month and as 30th June was the end of the financial year here in Australia we're waiting for the final reports from Australian mutual funds which should improve a bit the data reported here due to the distribution of tax credits - even though there were big capital losses this

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-3666069799813473892009-07-02T15:17:00.000+10:002009-07-02T15:21:38.817+10:00

Last year I wrote about a company called Carbon Planet that was raising funds. I didn't like the look of the information provided and decided not to invest. Now an anonymous commenter has updated me on Carbon Planet and it still doesn't look good. What kind of CEO just says "he isn't having this conversation"?

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-19957214869479194892009-07-01T20:28:00.003+10:002009-07-01T20:30:13.146+10:00

They still haven't switched me to defined contribution despite me requesting this on my initial application and then sending the switch form in again, weeks ago. I'll phone them tomorrow and investigate.

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-76501044312542390642009-07-01T17:52:00.004+10:002009-07-01T21:49:02.913+10:00

Moominmama had a 1.06% gain in June while the MSCI all country stock index fell 0.52% (beta to this stock index is estimated at 0.47). US stocks were the worst performer closely followed by commodities while bonds and hedge funds did well. Part of the bond performance is due to the rise in Sterling, which along with Asian and Brazilian stocks were solid performers. The loss in USD cash is due to

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-43383994955231825622009-07-01T11:29:00.002+10:002009-07-01T11:36:51.149+10:00

Am applying for another academic position here in Australia. I only saw it advertised this morning and the deadline is Friday! The rank is Associate Professor which is I believe the appropriate rank for me (I'm currently at the equivalent of Senior Lecturer level) and they are looking for two people. The preferred specializations are not in my area but they encourage all areas of economics to

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-42996272844199150252009-06-29T09:36:00.002+10:002009-06-29T09:43:37.628+10:00

Barrons' has updated the portfolio allocations for Yale, Princeton, and the average US educational endowment:Compare these to a previous table they produced. Yale's allocation has shifted very little so maybe it isn't very up to date. Princeton and the average endowment has been forced to increase the allocation to private equity and real assets and reduce the allocation to stocks due to the

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-17397318010842084262009-06-28T15:44:00.003+10:002009-06-28T15:51:08.299+10:00

The table is from a paper by Richard Disney presented at a conference on taxation held as part of the Australian tax policy inquiry. It shows the percentage of income replaced by mandatory retirement programs at different levels of average earnings. The Australian data includes both the means tested age pension and the 9% superannuation guarantee! The two together are estimated to replace only

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-79765255105344785002009-06-27T22:43:00.003+10:002009-06-27T22:50:24.217+10:00

Today, after much searching, we finally bought a couple of couches - a two and a three seater. Yes, they are leather but not the ones in the picture - I couldn't find a picture of exactly the ones we got. Over the last month we've seen the price decline from a deal of about $A4,000, through $A3,500, to $A3,000 today for the two couches from the showroom floor. We could still have ordered some at

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-81006998694989008652009-06-24T08:57:00.005+10:002009-06-24T09:01:16.797+10:00

I haven't heard back from the headhunter so I guess I wasn't shortlisted for an on-campus interview. The department I interviewed at before here just advertised four senior positions. I doubt it makes sense to apply after I was rejected for a more junior position but I guess that means the local hiring freeze is off.

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-30313598349554054952009-06-23T00:03:00.001+10:002009-06-23T00:05:44.445+10:00

My opinion of him and Stratfor sank even lower.

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-27863857392789322042009-06-21T10:44:00.003+10:002009-06-21T12:04:19.081+10:00

An interesting article about changes in the ways people are signalling status - a switch from conspicuous consumption of material goods to online signalling through the number of Facebook friends say. I'm not sure quite how important this is as a trend in quantitative terms but there is certainly something in it. It fits in with similar news from Japan. Of course those of us in academia have long

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-10766976948262085752009-06-19T18:07:00.003+10:002009-06-19T18:11:26.906+10:00

The TFS Market Neutral Fund which I've often blogged about and am invested in, is closing to new investors. The fund's assets stand at around $US600 million. It's not a complete closure. Financial advisers and 401k, 403b plans etc. who have clients already in the fund will be allowed to open accounts for new clients. And, of course, existing investors will be allowed to add to their accounts. So

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-57757044362342373272009-06-18T08:57:00.002+10:002009-06-18T09:01:15.768+10:00

HFRI came in with a 5.58% return for May - one and a half percentage points more than Credit Suisse's estimate - and positive returns for all sub-categories.

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-65481569389495667612009-06-16T22:10:00.003+10:002009-06-16T22:14:05.381+10:00

So I went out to the airport today to meet the partner of the recruitment firm at the Qantas Club (=Lounge). I think the interview went well and that there is a good chance he'll put my name forward at the meeting with his client on Monday where the short-list of candidates to be interviewed on campus will be composed. The taxidriver on the way there told me he studied accounting but the

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-23235768214758817992009-06-16T22:05:00.004+10:002009-06-16T22:10:46.874+10:00

Credit Suisse/Tremont hedge fund indices have now reported for May. They are reporting a 4.06% gain for the month, which they say is the best month for hedge funds since some time in 2000:HFRX reported somewhat lower returns. HFRI is still to report. Most strategies did well apart from short bias. Managed futures were rather mediocre.By the way, I just realised that my last post about the suit

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-2002505964264821452009-06-13T17:54:00.005+10:002009-06-13T18:08:47.509+10:00

I bought a suit for my interview today. Only the second suit I've ever bought. We went to Myer because there are sales on. But the suit department was a bunch of racks behind the escalators there and nothing appealed to either Snork Maiden or me and there was no salesperson in sight. So we headed to David Jones next where there was a salesperson in the much larger suit department. I liked all the

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-57426698604199115692009-06-12T18:39:00.002+10:002009-06-12T18:43:11.140+10:00

A couple of nights ago it hit -6C here in Canberra which is near the coldest I've seen here (-7C). The record low for Canberra is -10C. And then today was the coldest day in 43 years with the temperature reaching just 4.1C at Canberra Airport and only 2.6C in Tuggeranong. I felt like I was back in America today :) Though of course the bad days in Troy NY were when it wouldn't get above -18C which

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-60534448957966313232009-06-12T10:08:00.003+10:002009-06-12T10:20:03.444+10:00

The phone interview with the headhunter went well. It started with me asking questions about what the job really is. He said that they basically just posted a standard description for a full professor though this job is somewhat different. It is a research chair and may include teaching in a masters program. The direction of research sounds a lot more applied than I would really be comfortable

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22517597.post-65313463103275544082009-06-11T20:42:00.006+10:002009-06-11T21:13:42.964+10:00

I've been preparing for my phone interview with the headhunter tomorrow morning. I'm not sure what to expect as I've always been interviewing with the people I will actually be working with before. I did some searching on the web about how to deal with such interviewers and came up with more tips from headhunters about how to interview with employers. The little I gleaned suggested headhunters

mOOmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03440274434662150925noreply@blogger.com0