Friends and Trends

Back in the day, this event was called Lindzonpalooza and Howard Lindzon presided over a few discussions among a crowd of maybe four dozen traders and fintech entrepreneurs. The group was small enough to fit onto the second floor terrace of the local Italian joint for dinner.

Now it’s over 300 people at the welcome happy hour, spilling out of the Tavern onto Orange Avenue, people with badges popping up all over Coronado Island.

#stocktoberfest @reformedbroker and @howardlindzon trying to take questions from an over served crowd. pic.twitter.com/XE4ca7Es3R

— Dave Kelly (@EVplusEV) October 14, 2016

(Howard and I kick things off last night with a little help from TheStreet.com and Cisco)

After six years and lots of iterating, our little get-together has become an institution. And this year, just about everyone has made the trek out here. I’m bumping into people I haven’t seen since 2011 or 2012. I’m seeing lots of exhibitors, attendees and speakers who are here for the first time. And the regulars, of course, who have kept this thing going all this time.
Finance twitter after hours.

When you come to this event, you will meet some of the nicest, most curious and inquisitive folks in the market. They are traders, investors, venture capitalists, bloggers, inventors, programmers, technophiles, fund managers, research professionals, data providers and representatives from some of the biggest brands in finance. They are early adopters and the kind of people who want to get the most out of their investing experience.

@ReformedBroker @michaelbatnick @abnormalreturns @RPSeawright pic.twitter.com/MLQUi0EBxp

— Morgan Housel (@morganhousel) October 14, 2016

(literally eating tacos at Miguel’s with the Monsters of Blog)

One of the best parts of this event is how heterodox the program can be. This morning, I’ll be giving a talk about trends in wealth management. Michael Batnick will follow me with a discussion about his early trading mistakes and what he learned from years of spinning around his own money. Then Jeff Macke comes on and walks us through the truth about the state of the consumer and does some millennial mythbusting. Chris Kimble and JC Parets are blazing through their most important charts of the moment. Eddy Elfenbein and Mark Dow and Cullen Roche and Morgan Housel and Charlie Billelo and so many more of the best commentators and writers on the financial web will also be a part of the program.

We don’t shares the same views about everything (anything?). We don’t have portfolios or investment strategies that look at all similar. There is no consensus about the right way to participate in the markets.

But we do all agree on one very essential thing: There’s nothing better than getting together with smart people, amidst an atmosphere of mutual respect and open-mindedness, to discuss the now and the future. This is why we all come to the very southwestern-most edge of the United States each fall.

Stocktoberfest is about friends and trends.

I hope to see you here next year to become a part of our tradition.

Let’s go!