Mytikas

One of the eternal questions in Investment is “Active vs Passive”. Should you just invest in a diversified index or is it worth paying a manager to pick the stocks for you? Should you invest in an Equity Fund, and are the associated fees “worth it”? Alpha is the measure of the value (defined as outperformance) added by a manager. The Existential Crisis managers face is that this can go to zero (or negative). The facts can unambiguously show you have added no value (as you define it) over the entire course of your career. Often when you are managing the most money you ever have. And after claiming fees and paying yourself a salary. I still believe in active management from a risk management perspective, but I have seen too many fallen Gods to read too much into the tea leaves about individuals. Like Natural Bee Keeping, and Rewilding, I suspect investment is more about being good custodians than claiming a well-rewarded seat on Olympus.

First Kiss

On Saturday I had my first kiss on the lips. From Bees. My Father-in-Law is a Natural Bee-Keeper and for the last few years I have watched him gently chat with, and calmly hold space for, the swarms of which he is a peer. The previous Saturday, I had been attempting a Virtual Comrades Marathon. Stuck on the other side of the globe, this Soutie had the goal of 9 Shire laps of 10kms. On the initial laps I would run into the middle of the road (head twisting to check for cars) to avoid the strange post lockdown group walks (that didn’t happen before). By the later laps, legs dying, my inner donkey belligerently thought, “stuff it, they can move, I don’t care if I get Covid”. I threw in the towel at 71km after promising not to end up in Hospital. I did care about Covid. Fast forward, I did approach the bees calmly and gently. What I didn’t know was where I was standing mattered. I was in the way of the entrance. Honey laden virtual comrades were pissed off that I was in their way. So I got stung (kissed). No malice on either part. Just a lack of knowledge because of a different world view, and a little education needed.

Kiss (Sting) on the Lips 

At the Centre

My income comes primarily from my Engine. I spend very little time managing that Engine. My investment philosophy has become gradually more aligned with that of my Yoga teachers and Natural Bee Keeping Father-in-Law. When students love their yoga classes, they can get obsessed with the teacher. It’s not the teacher, it’s the yoga. In the same way my Father-in-Law sees his primary role as getting out of the way of the bees. It’s the bees doing the work. The key advantage I have with investing is I don’t manage other people’s money. This means I don’t have to do any of the fake work required by our activity obsession. I can let the management and staff at the companies do the work. I can get out of their way. It’s not about me. When a problem needs solving, our intuition is to do something more. I believe the real solution lies in the opposite direction. Accepting that problems will arise. That noise is learning. Building structures that can adapt, adjust, and accommodate. That can listen to change. That can rest, heal, rise, and shed in their own natural rhythms. Learning to hold space rather than fill it with our determination to be in control. Our determination to do something where we are the centre of the story.