Investing in the Future: The Glass Is Half Full

Abstract

Sometimes reviewing history can help us understand the present as a part of a current or passing trend. What I have observed in the past 30 years in the financial industry is that markets continuously change and financial products continuously evolve. I like to make reference to the “Exocet missle analogy.” Most adults who were living during the brief 1982 war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands will remember the devastating effect of the new Exocet missle technology which, when the missile was launched, seem a real game changer in war technology. Financial products today really have no Exocet missle––that is a product that when developed is so special that when you have it, nobody can compete with you. Whatever product a bank or financial institution may develop, its market advantage is ephemeral and likely only a matter of months before other competitors will be offering a similar product at the same or cheaper price. Essentially the color of money is the same at all banks. (Note: And by the way, the Exocet missile, too, was eventually replaced by more sophisticated and deadlier air-to-target missile defense weaponry.)

“I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful

world”

—Lyrics from Louis Armstrong song, “What a Wonderful World”