Posted by When I retired from the Bank of China in 2010, many of my friends and readers from around the world asked me to write a blog so they could continue to read my rambling missives. While my monthly investment strategy (Huaqiao in the Middle Kingdom) was focused on economics, business and stocks, it was written in a storytelling format as opposed to the dull corporate compliance scoured pieces written by my American counterparts at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. This was because I learned my trade under the old (and now mostly defunct) British brokerage model with David Scott as my chief strategist at W.I. Carr in the 1990s.
I wrote in my last strategy piece in May 2010 that, “In a way, I am hoping to follow in the footsteps of Roman Emperor Diocletian who ruled from 284-305AD… [He] also has the distinction of being the first Roman Emperor ever to voluntarily abdicate and retire to his country farm in Dalmatia. The power struggle that followed his stepping down was classically Roman, and when asked by some to return to restore order, he is reported to have said, ‘If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn’t dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed.’ Diocletian never did return to Rome and passed away a few years later in 311AD… My greatest fear is that, unlike Diocletian, the siren call of global capital markets will lure me back into her warm and ultimately fatal embrace. After all, how can one easily give up the wealth, power and prestige that a career in high finance can provide? Most of my closest friends and relatives have expressed doubts that I can pull this off, with the vast majority saying that I am too young to retire and will be bored out of my mind.”
They were all wrong; and they were also right. After six years in the wilderness of playing golf, skiing and travelling (hey, at least it didn’t take me 40 years like the Isrealites), I’m back. But I’m not back on Wall Street (or more accurately, Central); I have had enough of that for one lifetime. There have been major changes in my life and new and exciting ventures being pursued. I will eventually get around to talking about them more as time goes on.
In the meantime, this blog is a personal one. It is meant to act as a repository for my insane thoughts of the moment whether it be cultural, political, economic, or just about anything else. It will not focus on one topic and certainly not just about business and economics. I hope you enjoy it but please only leave intelligent comments and be civilized if you disagree. If this blog somehow makes it back to China, my apologies in advance as I don’t have a dedicated translator to put it into Chinese for me so Google translate will have to suffice (or just read it as so many of you guys have much better English than you were a decade ago). Allons-Y!!!