THE FINER POINTS OF BEING WRONG

Most interviews with money managers are all about success and how wonderful the ABC Fund’s performance has been over the years. But once in a while you find a discussion on the opposite end of the spectrum, and maybe that’s a good thing if you can learn more from mistakes than from victories. In any case, author Kathryn Schulz–no stranger to analyzing mistakes via her book Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error–interviews Victor Niederhoffer on trades that went bad, decisions that derailed and unsatisfactory results of one kind or another. Neiderhoffer, of course, is a trader known as much for being a former partner with George Soros as he is for blowing up his funds. Victor’s also the author of one of the all-time great reads on the subject of speculating in markets and in life (and, no, it’s not just for traders): The Education of a Speculator. Schulz’s Q&A with Niederhoffer is a fascinating discussion of “The Wrong Stuff.” Definitely worth a read. Then again, maybe I’m wrong.