It’s so not easy

I know, I know – no Hot Links this morning. I’m sorry!

Things are hectic in my neck of the woods right now. All sorts of major projects underway. I’ll have some big stuff to announce in the near future but for now it’s lots of planning and calculating and whatever else. Thank god I love what I do because it’s so not easy.

Anyway, I don’t want you to miss this from Ben on family offices, the new American status symbol of the moment.

Once you reach a certain wealth threshold the money itself tends to take a backseat to optics and status symbols. One of the newer status symbols for the richest of the rich is to have their own family office.

Like anything else, there are great versions of family office, and then most of the others are just kidding themselves.

Keep reading:

Family Office Hurdles (A Wealth Of Common Sense)

Elsewhere, Barry and our friend Nir Kaissar debated active versus passive for Bloomberg View. Barry frames the passive argument in the context of a behavioral hack. It’s one of the least often used but best arguments for a systematic investment approach.

Otherwise, people are forced to make thousands of decisions, at the worst times to make them, with information they only partially understand. The less subjectivity in an investment approach, the less room there is for emotional mistakes. If you can eliminate a good chunk of pride, greed, fear, envy, anchoring and other biases that cloud your judgment, it’s got to be a major positive over time.

However, Nir believes you can do this with the right kind of active management too. I think there’s some merit to this line of thinking.

Anyway, you should read this:

Passive Versus Active Investing: A Debate (Bloomberg View)

Tonight I’m at the Guns n’ Roses show at Madison Square Garden. I missed the first set of reunion shows last summer, so I’m really excited for it. Will be hanging with some of the guys from my show, should be an amazing night. Lots to do today so I can enjoy it – I’ll check in with you all later!