MICHEL PIREU: Biggest risk in the marketplace is not taking one
Day traders, derivatives traders and most forex traders will agree that there’s nothing wrong with betting provided you understand the risks
“For those people who have not yet found an investment programme that appeals to them, here is another plan which at least has a certain originality,” suggests Fred Schwed Jr in his book Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? “It was outlined to me by a bond trader one afternoon. We had been discussing the broad history of investment bonds — a depressing subject. This man had spent the past 30 years trading bonds with other people’s money. His own money he had always carefully spent. “I finally said, ‘what a hopeless game! Tell me Mac, what would you do if you had, right now, $250,000 (about $5m in today’s money) of your own?’ “He answered with such promptness that I could see he had given a good deal of thought to this improbability. ‘I would put it into 25 envelopes, in cash, of $10,000 each. I would put the envelopes in a safety deposit box. I have been told you can get a small one, such as I would need, for only $6 a year. At the beginning of each year I would take out an envelope an...
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