It has been almost a year since my partner doubted something I blogged about the emergence of private equity stock markets and I began sulking that no one believed me (it turned out to be very true...).

Then I couldn't find a way to blog without bragging that all the things Sam and I saw coming were in fact happening. Now, a year later I'm glad to be able to say that the approach we have taken is not only vindicated with positive 1st and second quarters, but even being touted by others as the strategy of the future. James Montier in his new book Behavioral Investing says the following: "Rather than having endless numbers of specialist managers, each charging a fee,surely it would be better to have one manager and pay one fee,but allow that manager freedom to invest wherever the opportunities lie (p 244)." He goes on to speak about the importance of shorting rather than being tied for some abstract reason to benchmarks (ie indices which track the rising and falling markets). We are especially enthusiastic about the overlays we have designed to benefit in a continuing sideways market such as deep out of the money puts and our hedged equity pool which invests heavily in our screened indices when the market is down and divests and hedges below the market when it is up.

I'd love our analyst Keely Byrne to pick up where I left off last year, to describe the Community Impact pool that is now a reality...