Well, it sure has been a while… I’m glad I remembered the login.
As some of you will remember, my unannounced departure from posting regularly came amidst a flurry of irrational exuberance in the markets. To pile on, I was fortunate to make a career move that was exciting to me. I put my head down and got to work, leaving a lot of extracurriculars behind, including my posts here. But more importantly, I felt as though I was not delivering value apart from the wave of financial blogs out there. In our industry, value-add is the pedestal upon which everything is held in comparison. There are so many news consolidators out there, and beyond that, Market Madness was not much else. In a race-to-the-bottom type of publication like news consolidation, we all must consider the balance between the hard work required and the benefits of the output.
I never expected, nor wanted, to become the next Morning Brew, the Hustle, or the Water Coolest, but as soon as I saw it heading that direction, I put a pause on the publication.
From there, it is a matter of finding a path forward. As that relates to Market Madness, I remain unsure. Why? A lot of the reason stems from the short amount of time I’ve spent outside the books applying what I’ve learned. If I can share one certainty, it is that a lot of what we study in finance and economics tends to be left at the curb when met with reality. Because I am still grounded in fundamental book learning, I lack the ability to comment on topics from the lens of a seasoned practitioner.
All that is to say, I’m still a sponge; I absorb and internalize everything I listen to, read, and see daily. I’ve not hit the point of culmination - where I take all that material and spit out my own, original thoughts. I’m very much still a subscriber to the thoughts of others - and that’s okay. And I think that’s true of all practitioners of finance. Having spent the last year plus working in private markets, I’ve started to get a true understanding of how they work and can speak to them. But even still, having started working in 2020, I can’t speak to the historical trends like someone who worked through them. I can speak to the textbook of 2001 and 2008, but I don’t really know the feelings and emotions while working through those eras - I’m not sure that I ever will. All I can do is continue to read, watch, and chat with people who have, in hopes to continue refining my understanding of the industry as I grow up in it.
In short, the above is a longwinded way to say I’m not sure what the future holds for Market Madness, but I do want to keep the keys alive on here. Stay tuned.
-C