Reuters came out with a sweet feature on TIM yesterday; it’s a good summary of what I’ve done and what I’m trying to do here. Other than the fact that the reporter mistakenly said my fund earned 70% annual returns (the fund’s cumulative return for 2003-2005 was 70%), and my fund collapsed (the fund’s drawdown was 35% over 2 years, not quite a collapse and investors didn’t ask for t
heir money back – I decided to close the fund so I could create TIM ), it’s a pretty damn good article.
And, yes, I am a failed hedge fund manager, failure is not as bad as everyone assumes, it’s all part of the learning process, aka NECESSARY IN THE LONG RUN! These losses have made me much wiser and gave me an incredible education with regards to the risks involved in this profession. Only now – now that I’m battle-scarred – do I feel worthy of providing accurate commentary. The good news is I’m only about 1/3 off my highs so for all my mistakes – and there have been many – I’ve done a great many things right (one of which is to shun the use of leverage).
Not to be outdone, within hours, New York Magazine followed that up with a brief feature entitled Timothy Sykes Will Not Be Stopped, Gosh Darn It! and a crazy photo of me I’ve never seen before. Cool, I agree. Definitely check it out.
And what’s press without feedback–I’m getting a ton of emails as to the specifics of TIM . Awesome, keep ‘em coming, I want to encourage the sharing of information and debate because industry regulations sure as hell don’t!
Let me clarify TIM’s rules and purpose:
1. I’ll be posting my trade, thoughts, whatever I think will help people better understand me, my investment strategies and trading on www.timothysykes.com
2. I will restart with $12,415 not because that’s all I have left (c’mon, don’t believe the rumors, I’m only 1/3 off my highs!), but because this will put me on par withas a great many investors and traders, helping them to better relate to what I’m doing.
3. I will not stop writing, detailing and using my big mouth to promote the benefits of responsible financial speculation until I have repeated my feat of turning said $12,415 into $1.65 milion. This is not some publicity stunt, it’s my turn to show the world the process and complexity behind responsible financial speculation. I don’t expect this to be an easy jurney, but I do believe I can accomplish this within 10 years. Since I’ve already been through this, I know the real joy is in the quest, not the end result (although the end result will sure be damn satisfying!)
4. I will not use leverage. The main reason why I’m still in this game and only 1/3 off my highs is because I don’t use this detstable concoction. The first time I turned $12,415 into $1.65 million in 4 years, I used 10% leverage once – and I was dead wrong, losing nearly $100,000 on the position (as I detail in my book). I understand leverage might help me reach my goal quicker, but it also opens up the possibility of disaster, which I cannot encourage.
5. TIM is not just about me proving that I can make this astounding type of return again. It’s more important for me to do it in a conservative (OK, somewhat consverative) fashion to help others see that responsible financial speculation is a possible an. No matter what many others claim, I think this should type of investing should be encouraged, not derided. Since I will be posting all the details of this adventure each day, I expect a great many people will be watching. I will not promote wild financial speculation. That is dangerous and this is not something to be taken lightly. Getting rich is not an easy process and I intend to show everyone EXACTLY what it takes to get there.
6. I will trade all type of stocks, but will focus mainly on microcaps and smallcaps as that is my specialty. This niche, while condemned by the mainstream press as pure gambling, offers incredible rewards (if you understand the rewards) and is ideal for smaller account sizes. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) are fine for long-term investing, but they’re not going to help you make 100+ times your money within a few years.
7. Even though I want to get started trading right away, I’m going to take the weekend to research and get my setup in perfect order. I just moved into a new apartmentyesterday on the Upper East Side so my setup is nowhere near perfect right now. In fact, I’m writing this from Starbucks (on 78th and Lex, come say hi!) while I wait for Time Warner Cable to hook me up.
This brings me to TIM lesson #1: Trading is all about preparation – you cannot just dive in and play whatever you feel like without doing thorough research and planning for all possibilities. Whether you’re trading with $2,000, $2 million or even $2 billion, this rule applies to everyone.
Posted in Interviews, Press, TIM Lessons