My friend works as a hedge fund administrator, and he's beginning to notice a slight increase in redemptions and liquidations for a few major (PE) funds in the past couple of weeks. In an article by CNBC, some well-known hedge funds are also closing up as fund managers are failing to beat the market. A forward redemption indicator by SS&C also measures a redemption rate of 3.76% of AUM this September, up from 3.11% of last year. Not based on any fundamentals, but this leads me to be slightly bearish in the short term, at least for the job market.

There's been a lot of posts about how certain physical traits can help (or hurt) your career. I even posted about how wearing certain colors can change how people perceive you. But now, "research" is suggesting that bald men are more likely to get raises and promotions. A recent study by Wharton and article by WSJ suggests that bald men are perceived to be more "mature" and "wiser".

In a piece from Dealbook written by Peter Lattman and Eric Lichtblau, the article writes about a lawsuit against PEs for colluding on some of the biggest deals in the past few years. The antitrust civil lawsuit was filed by former shareholders against 11 of the largest private equities (e.g. Blackstone, KKR, Bain) who claim that their “anti-competitive behaviors” had cost them higher bids. E-mail exchanges between executives were also used as evidence for cooperation between the funds.

This piece in DealBook written by Steven Davidoff exposes how WS execs profited (even more) from the financial crisis. During this period, execs and management were prevented from receiving bonuses due to TARP restrictions. This encouraged a lot more options to be given out, which has become somewhat serendipitous. Just how fortunate were these execs? Take for example Amex's CEO, who received 1.9 million stock options with a strike price at $16 when their stock fell below $10, which has now returned to their pre-recession level of $58.56 (11/05/12). That's a whopping $80M. Funny how things work out.

The other day, I explained to a friend how I had made a generous return on the market simply by buying a US index fund when the P/E on the whole was below the historic average while bond yields were still low. I am hesitant to give the same advice today. There's always been a constant debate among pundits about the appropriate balance. But what if both asset classes aren't particularly attractive right now? The market is arguably appropriately valued with P/E's hovering around its long-term average. Bond yields are still at their historic lows. Throw in inflation, and you've got a negative return for fixed income.

In an article and interview by Randall Lane from Forbes, Warren Buffett reveals how he was influenced on his philosophy on philanthropy. If you're aware, Buffett gave away $40B of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, rather than managing the distribution of his wealth himself. Some would associate this type of thinking to his investment style, where he avoids micro-managing companies that he invests in. The real reason is that he was inspired by a man named Abraham Flexner, who had counseled many, if not most, of the major philanthropists of his time including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.

There's been a few mentions about Thorium on WSO, and I'm sure some of you are much more knowledgable about this so please excuse my ignorance. If you haven't heard about it, Thorium is a metal that can be used instead of Uranium as a fuel for nuclear power. What makes Thorium different is that it appears to have almost every advantage over conventional resources; it's green, safe, doesn't produce hazardous wastes, and produces enough energy for the world to last hundreds of years!

When I came across this article by CNBC, "China—Not Wall Street—Caused 2008 Crisis: Study" written by Liza Jansen which is based on a study conducted by Erasmus Research Institute of Management, I thought to myself, "This must be a huge scandal!". But apparently, China was just being prudent with their money. Whether it was a national policy or a cultural difference, I couldn't tell ya. It basically goes like this:

1. US relaxes monetary policies during the beginning of the decade
2. American consumers spends more, which drove imports from China

It seems like tech news are dominating the headlines lately. It's been quite a year for tech, but it's just getting started. There are 3 stories that I want to touch on:

1. Hot new products! It's clear that many of these companies are trying to take part of Apple's highly anticipated releases.

Here's an update from CNET:
August 29th: Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 Smartphone and Sony has updates on their tablets and TVs
September 5th: Nokia and Microsoft talks about new Windows Phone
September 6th: Amazon is probably announcing a new Kindle Fire
September 12th: IPHONE 5!!!! ..and maybe a smaller tablet
September 13th: Nintendo talks about WiiU