The author of The Pragmatic Capitalist is the founder and CEO of an investment partnership. Prior to establishing his own business, TPC was a Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor. TPC is a Georgetown University alumnus, growing up in the DC area and now living in Southern California.

The Pragmatic Capitalist is a jack of all trades. Rather than focus on one facet of the U.S. equity markets, the goal is to assess and address global capital markets as a whole - with the understanding that all markets are intertwined and being an “expert” in one segment of the market without a vast knowledge of the others is futile.

The saying “common sense is very uncommon” has never been more applicable than it is to modern markets. TPC attempts to approach markets with sound reasoning and as little emotion as possible. A capitalist through and through, but always pragmatic…

Research

TPC uses a top down investment approach. The research and market methodology is based on cognitive science and the theory of chaos. Through the understanding of market psychology you can derive that markets are non-linear dynamical systems which are susceptible to inefficiencies. Markets are inefficient in short time periods due to their chaotic nature (a symptom of human psychological irrationality). This creates opportunity.

Based on this methodology we employ risk management structures that account for the possibility of short-term inefficiencies and random occurrences within large and liquid systems. Although there are short-term opportunities in markets, risk management is the overriding factor in achieving high absolute returns. Black swans cannot be predicted, but they can be avoided by employing proper risk management. This analytical, quantitative and systematic approach helps us in achieving our goal of high absolute returns.