In 2010 I Learned That…

Josh Brown of The Reformed Broker has an excellent post up today, In 2010 I Learned That…, in which he aggregates a wide variety of market perspectives from his broad network. The results have a large dollop of market wisdom, yet are spiced with the type of humor and satire that is a hallmark of Josh’s efforts.

When asked for some input about what I learned in 2010, my immediate reaction what that I hadn't learned as much in 2010 as I had in 2009 and 2008. After a moment of reflection, five ideas tumbled out of my head, in the following order:

1. Substantial profits can be made from surfing the bleeding edge of Wall Street's product development engine (this is the one Josh chose to include in his post)
2. The more confident you are in the value of your primary strategies, the more difficult it is (should be) to pull the trigger on other strategies/trades with less impressive or uncertain prospects
3. There is a huge desire for investors to understand the VIX futures term structure and its implications
4. When you combine ETFs and options, almost any possible trade idea can be implemented
5. A good portfolio is one that funds a good vacation without the need for frequent monitoring of positions (my wife’s favorite of this group)

[As an aside, while Josh has a penchant for nailing the humorous side of the investment world, his On a Personal Note… from yesterday shows his talent for writing about the poignant as well.]

Readers, what have you learned in 2010? Feel free to hit up the comments…

Related posts:

• Josh Brown’s Favorite Financial Blogs
• But Am I Fast Enough to Play Cornerback?
• A Dozen Things My Trading Accounts Are Thankful for This Year
• The Art of Being Wrong

Disclosure(s): none