Planning My Next Meetup [hopefully not MIS] Adventure (Part 10)

I’ve been getting more organized this year by converting incomplete drafts into finished blog posts. This was the start of a nine-part mini-series. Not all of this makes sense to me now but just in case someone out there can possibly benefit, what follows is Part 10 from June 2017.

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Last time, I restructured the Meetup pitch to focus on the research rather than the actual backtesting. Along these lines, I have one more idea that will conclude this mini-series of ideas (for the time being, at least).

I am a full-time, independent trader who is looking for collaboration. I am looking for someone to work with me on building an automated backtester and conducting option research. I have already done a lot of work in designing the research plan.*

Retirement savings: what are you going to do about it? Many people think “financial advisor” as a first response. When it comes to honesty in the workplace, though, some professions have a better reputation than others. Surveys over the last couple years have seen “stockbrokers” and “bankers” near the bottom (health care practitioners and grade school teachers near the top). What about financial advisors? A 2018 Harvard study found one in 12 financial advisors have been disciplined for serious misconduct with the bad apples rarely punished. You probably don’t have to ask around for long to find a salty taste in the mouth of someone who feels taken advantage of or defrauded by such deceptive promises at one time or another.

Personally, I think financial advisors can do a lot of good and deserve proper compensation. I am not convinced that they should manage your investments. For the self-starters out there, I think you can do better.

I am a Doctor of Pharmacy, but for the last 11 years I have worked for myself trading for a living.

One thing I find sorely missing from the financial industry is hardcore research and testing of investment strategies. The healthcare equivalent would be “evidence-based medicine.” I want to trade strategies that have worked in the past when I think they have reason to continue working in the future.

With regard to investing, why hire a financial advisor and pay 1-2% of your assets under management for strategies they have not personally backtested and studied? Without the data, recommendations are nothing more than hollow promises, sales, and marketing. I see a lot of this being presented.

I have spent thousands of manual hours backtesting trading strategies. With much more left to study, I seek a quicker solution: an automated backtesting app. I suggest a collaboration: you bring the programming muscle and statistics/data science background and I bring the trading know-how and experience. Let’s find out how the data suggest we invest.

While the exact percentage and time frame varies, numerous writings cite ~90% of all traders fail in their first couple years. I bring an alternative approach, though—one that may raise some eyebrows if your investment education is based on guru talk, financial media, or classic books.

Let’s work together: I help teach you about trading and you help build the app, which will benefit us both. This is your chance to get a fresh take from an industry outsider who ironically has more trading experience than the vast majority of financial professionals. Let’s do the work, make some money, and have a good time establishing Meetup community along the way!

* — I haven’t written in detail about why automated backtesting,
       but the second paragraph here probably explains it.