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re: Cole Reet III ... Anyone ?
Posted on 5/1/10 at 10:27 pm to coolpapaboze
Posted on 5/1/10 at 10:27 pm to coolpapaboze
quote:
coolpapaboze
Thanks for the insight. I am hardly an expert, but I'm about to get a much closer look at all of this.
1
Posted on 5/1/10 at 10:53 pm to TheHiddenFlask
I hope you have a strong stomach. Good luck. 
Posted on 5/1/10 at 10:57 pm to coolpapaboze
Just wondering, how did you come to know so much about this particular area?
Which fund were you dealing with?
Which fund were you dealing with?
Posted on 5/2/10 at 8:14 am to TheHiddenFlask
I worked for what was, prior to being bought last year, the largest institutional asset manager in the world, for twelve years. I ran a couple of business units, both of which dealt exclusively with DB and DC plans. At various points in my career, I also managed client relationships, and in that capacity, I had hundreds of meetings with clients and prospective clients. There is a certain personality that can be very successful in managing and cultivating relationships with public pension plans. I don't have that personality. 
I worked with several county plans in CA, had multiple meetings with the state plans in LA, and some smaller plans in LA as well. I had one public client in Louisiana and it was a well run plan with a staff that was conservative and had a lot of integrity. That plan had a board that behaved like you mentioned in a previous post you'd expect a board to. They took the staff recommendations and provided a soft touch on oversight. It worked because the guy running the plan was a good guy and ran the plan the way they should be run. It was, unfortunately, atypical for public plans in general, more so for public plans in Louisiana.
I worked with several county plans in CA, had multiple meetings with the state plans in LA, and some smaller plans in LA as well. I had one public client in Louisiana and it was a well run plan with a staff that was conservative and had a lot of integrity. That plan had a board that behaved like you mentioned in a previous post you'd expect a board to. They took the staff recommendations and provided a soft touch on oversight. It worked because the guy running the plan was a good guy and ran the plan the way they should be run. It was, unfortunately, atypical for public plans in general, more so for public plans in Louisiana.Posted on 5/2/10 at 9:12 am to coolpapaboze
Thanks for the insight.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 9:20 am to TheHiddenFlask
Posted on 5/2/10 at 10:17 am to coolpapaboze
quote:Got to be Parochial Employees Retirement System. Director is Tom Sims. He's a CFA so you know he's really, really smart and a good guy.
It worked because the guy running the plan was a good guy and ran the plan the way they should be run.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 10:19 am to LSURussian
quote:
He's a CFA so you know he's really, really smart and a good guy.
Is this a stab?
It seems like you are being legit, but I'm sure every fund has CFAs running it.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 10:28 am to TheHiddenFlask
quote:No, not at all. I admire CFA's very much. It takes a lot of perseverance to become one. I know Tom Sims. He is a genuinely good guy.
Is this a stab?
quote:Nope.
I'm sure every fund has CFAs running it.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 10:49 am to LSURussian
I can neither confirm nor deny that. But yeah, he's a great guy and I have a lot of respect for him. Seriously, it takes a lot of integrity to stick to your principles, particularly when your peers don't.
And flask, no, I wouldn't assume most people running pensions have the CFA designation. Hell, I know a few who probably need directions to their own offices on a regular basis. So passing one, much less three, levels of that exam would be out of the question. 
Seriously, it takes a lot of integrity to stick to your principles, particularly when your peers don't. And flask, no, I wouldn't assume most people running pensions have the CFA designation. Hell, I know a few who probably need directions to their own offices on a regular basis. So passing one, much less three, levels of that exam would be out of the question.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 10:55 am to LSURussian
quote:
No, not at all. I admire CFA's very much. It takes a lot of perseverance to become one. I know Tom Sims. He is a genuinely good guy.
I hope to join that group one day.
quote:
And flask, no, I wouldn't assume most people running pensions have the CFA designation. Hell, I know a few who probably need directions to their own offices on a regular basis. So passing one, much less three, levels of that exam would be out of the question.
I guess I'm making my assumptions off of a very limited base.
Your comments are actually making me feel a lot better about my possible job prospects when I graduate.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 11:17 am to TheHiddenFlask
If you are considering sitting for the CFA exams, I highly encourage you to do so. It is the benchmark credential for the institutional asset management industry whether you are on the plan sponsor or asset manager side. It is, in my opinion, more useful than an MBA and in interviewing candidates I preferred the CFA charter to almost any graduate degree.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 11:23 am to coolpapaboze
quote:
If you are considering sitting for the CFA exams, I highly encourage you to do so. It is the benchmark credential for the institutional asset management industry whether you are on the plan sponsor or asset manager side. It is, in my opinion, more useful than an MBA and in interviewing candidates I preferred the CFA charter to almost any graduate degree.
I'm finishing my first year of MBA school right now and taking level 2 in June. I nailed level 1, but level 2 is a lot more difficult.
ETA: If you are looking for someone to hire in the summer of 2012, I know a guy who will be looking for a job.
Half of the posters on this board have my resume because of a thread here last week, so it shouldn't be hard to come by.
This post was edited on 5/2/10 at 11:25 am
Posted on 5/2/10 at 11:28 am to coolpapaboze
Just speaking out pensions/retirement planning in general ,my mom works for a mi-sized law firm in nola. They don't get a match or anything, the only benefit of using the company plan is that they get the "services" of the fund manager. So, the "services" they get are:
1) you talk to the guy, he puts some bullshite in a program, and determines whether you are low/medium/high risk. Your money gets put into a mix of those pre-determined categories. You have no idea what is in those buckets, and they won't tell you unless you're really persistent.
2) You can change your allocation if you disagree with the fund manager choice, I think 4 times a year, that's it. Once a quarter.
3) You get a full update ONCE A frickING YEAR.
I was amazed at this. My dad said that's how almost all small-company plans work. I understand that the 50 yr old secretary or some one like my mom, who has no idea wtf a mutual fund is, needs someone to manage their retirement, but this is just fricking stupid man. Some amsterdam-like DB is punching some numbers into the asset-manager-calculator and that's it.
I asked my dad why they don't just get rid of the load and put them in index funds, and the way I interpreted his answer was essentially "if the investments do poorly, its their fault," eg we can blame them, and I would imagine that mindset is prevalent among non-finance people. Sad and scary. I could probably teach my mom what an index fund is and why to use it in a matter of an hour or two.
1) you talk to the guy, he puts some bullshite in a program, and determines whether you are low/medium/high risk. Your money gets put into a mix of those pre-determined categories. You have no idea what is in those buckets, and they won't tell you unless you're really persistent.
2) You can change your allocation if you disagree with the fund manager choice, I think 4 times a year, that's it. Once a quarter.
3) You get a full update ONCE A frickING YEAR.
I was amazed at this. My dad said that's how almost all small-company plans work. I understand that the 50 yr old secretary or some one like my mom, who has no idea wtf a mutual fund is, needs someone to manage their retirement, but this is just fricking stupid man. Some amsterdam-like DB is punching some numbers into the asset-manager-calculator and that's it.
I asked my dad why they don't just get rid of the load and put them in index funds, and the way I interpreted his answer was essentially "if the investments do poorly, its their fault," eg we can blame them, and I would imagine that mindset is prevalent among non-finance people. Sad and scary. I could probably teach my mom what an index fund is and why to use it in a matter of an hour or two.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 11:41 am to kfizzle85
quote:
I interpreted his answer was essentially "if the investments do poorly, its their fault," eg we can blame them, and I would imagine that mindset is prevalent among non-finance people
My dad does this too. He pays an Edward Jones guy 1.5% of his deposits so he can bitch at someone when things go bad.
I challenged him to let me manage some of his money for a while. He gave me 4,000 dollars. Withing 8 months it was over 20,000 dollars (during the major upswing in the market). He got mad about taxes and told me I needed to study more and stop being so risky. FML.
Posted on 5/2/10 at 11:47 am to TheHiddenFlask
Ha yeah I wasn't going there with this, but I did tell him that I thought it was dumb, and he pretty much agreed, but with a "but what else can we do" type of response, to which my response was "WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU, PUT IT IN A frickING INDEX FUND JESUS CHRIST ITS THE SAME THING."
Posted on 5/2/10 at 12:21 pm to TheHiddenFlask
Flask, you going to work/intern for TRSL or LASERS?
Posted on 5/2/10 at 1:46 pm to TheHiddenFlask
quote:Can I give you a couple of million dollars to do that with?
He gave me 4,000 dollars. Withing 8 months it was over 20,000 dollars
ETA: I'm not saying I want you to turn it into $20,000 in 8 months.....fwiw. I don't need your help to do that.....
This post was edited on 5/2/10 at 1:49 pm
Posted on 5/2/10 at 1:52 pm to Greenspan
quote:
Flask, you going to work/intern for TRSL or LASERS?
LASERS
Posted on 5/2/10 at 2:02 pm to LSURussian
quote:
Can I give you a couple of million dollars to do that with?
If you can get the market down to 7000 again, I can.
Irrationality was insane among investors and I had a PhD student/Teacher giving me tips. Bear Stearns at 2 bucks and selling at 10 a week later was a good one, as were GS out of the money calls at 65 (This is where I made a lot of money). RSBR also gave me a tip on SRSR to buy at 2 cents I sold at 17 cents.
There were some dumb moves too, but a monkey throwing darts at the financial sector would have made a lot of money in that time period.
quote:
ETA: I'm not saying I want you to turn it into $20,000 in 8 months.....fwiw. I don't need your help to do that.....
Haha, I know I guy named Bernie that can help you out.
This post was edited on 5/2/10 at 2:04 pm
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