AI has created something I never thought was possible: endless, and I mean endless, content and insights about financial markets. For me, this is surprising as I have literally spent my waking life building, creating, and sharing financial market content and the intersection of modern investing. Content was the hard part for the last 20+ years!
Regardless, what all this has made me realize is that investing is now being reduced back to the basics. It has no other choice. It’s like a fine wine braising with short rib. You have to reduce the wine to its finest, sweetest form to actually enjoy it. That’s happening now.
The endlessly online investor is at a disadvantage now. You must distall, reduce, and boil until you’re back to the most simplified, well cooked portion.
If everyone, even the 77-year-old grandma who used to trade with her rotary phone, is now using AI to analyze stocks and make crypto trades, then the only way forward for alpha is to zag when they are all zigging. See markets with your gut feeling with a few basic metrics. For a stock investor that might look like this:
- Does the company have more cash than debt?
- Does the company build something people like that could grow because people buy more of it?
- Does the company actually manage its board and team to ensure there’s no wasteful activity?
- Does the company have some innovation in the background so it can always be growing and doing unique things?
It’s about as simple as that now. The more complex things became, the more simplified it now is for the real pros out there.
Let everyone else make AI slop and think they are building AI genius tools.
It’s over, as far as I am concerned as you would be better off showcasing your skills now by reading a newspaper and writing your own notes by hand without ever once looking at a device.
Only the true professionals can now write things down on a pad and paper. They don’t need an AI coach or responder.
That’s it. Back to the pen and paper.