- Understanding Random Forest — my first viral article and the one that got me serious about blogging. Still a top hit on Google if you search “Random Forest”.
- Understanding Neural Networks — the single article I spent the most time writing.
- The Curse Of Dimensionality — I thought really hard about how to make this explanation intuitive. I am reasonably proud of the way it turned out.
- Understanding PCA — ditto as 3.
- Understanding Logistic Regression — my very first data science article.
- Bitcoin Is Irrational Exuberance — the article that put my publication Alpha Beta Blog on the map…
What will be the result of the current fractional ownership trend?
One of the more interesting trends lately is also an age-old trend. These days if you want to own 0.001% of a Picasso, you can go on Masterworks. If you would like to own $1,000 worth of a pristine version of Michael Jordan’s rookie card (worth ~$750,000), you can do it via Collectable.
More traditionally, most brokers offer fractional shares allowing you to buy whatever dollar amount you like of Amazon (whose shares trade at $3,327 as of this writing).
Younger investors will say crypto started this trend — where coin investors pretty much always had the ability to buy…
What We Look For In Our Stories
As more writers start to join Alpha Beta Blog, I thought it made sense to talk about the types of articles we are hoping to publish and share from you all.
The overall goal of Alpha Beta Blog has not changed since its founding. I want it to be a place for differentiated content around investing, economics, tech, and business strategy.
The goal for every piece of mine on Alpha Beta Blog has always been to think, analyze, and explain. …
The threat from the Delta Variant is real and should not be neglected
Life seems to be finally returning back to normal. The stock market, economy, and U.S. consumers have all put COVID behind themselves and are ready to look ahead. Many are vaccinated, infection rates are much lower than they were during the roughest parts of winter 2020, life is good again right?
If there were an observable index for COVID fatigue, I would say it’s at an all-time-high right now, especially in the U.S. We don’t want to mask up anymore or hear about it on the news — we’re all just so over it.
But this COVID fatigue and an…
An illustrated guide to the impact of earnings and discount rates on stock market valuations
(Not intended to be investment advice. Article is for educational purposes only.)
I’ve been writing a lot about bubbles lately and recently wrote an article about my opinion that stocks are not in a bubble. In that post I wrote that:
As high as valuations are, there’s a certain amount of resilience that’s present in stock markets today that the housing market lacked in 2008 and that revenue-less tech stocks lacked in 2001. People aren’t buying stocks just because prices have been going up — the businesses themselves are also doing well.
Is a 25% plus decline possible? Sure it…
Financial advice needs to be nuanced and more importantly empathetic
I’m starting to see a bit of a backlash against so-called financial experts and gurus these days. And it makes total sense. Many experts sell a dream — “achieve financial independence, live anywhere you choose, be your own boss, etc.”
But on the other side are people with real problems and numerous constraints. Against this, the experts advise some combination of the following (I am generalizing here):
- Stop complaining and work harder.
- Invest your time and money more wisely.
- You are your best asset, invest in developing yourself.
- Find side hustles and diversify your income streams.
- Take risks.
Positive Change Is Hard
The problem…
It’s A Perfect Machine
(Not intended to be investment advice. Opinions are my own. I own shares of Disney.)
A friend and I walked by a Little Caesar’s yesterday and he turned to me and said, “Pizza pizza,” to which I laughed. My girlfriend who didn’t grow up here looked at us perplexed. So we explained that during our formative years, we were bombarded with Little Caesar’s commercials over and over so that when I think of them, a little voice in my head goes, “Pizza pizza” without fail. And by reverse association when I think of pizza, I think of Little Caesar’s. …
Something’s Gotta Give Soon
Inflation has been running at a way above average clip for several months now — year over year inflation first surpassed 4% in April of this year and it’s only accelerated from there.
And Let’s Keep Growing This Platform Together
Almost exactly one year since I started Alpha Beta Blog, I hit 1,000 followers today. It’s an extremely happy milestone for me and I wanted to thank you all for making that happen.
When I started Alpha Beta Blog, I wanted it to be a place for differentiated content around investing, economics, and business strategy. I also wanted a place where I could write about whatever I wanted to without having to worry about whether my message or topic fit the publication.
The goal for every piece of mine on Alpha Beta Blog has always been to think, analyze, and…
For Now
(Not intended to be investment advice. Opinions are my own.)
I’m on the record saying that stocks are overvalued. I may have even mistakenly labeled them a bubble a few months back. But after thinking about it a lot, I don’t believe we’re in a stock market bubble (outside of certain meme stocks). Going back to my framework for bubbles that I recently wrote about (linked below), stock markets are incredibly deep and liquid (more so than they’ve ever been). …
Tony Yiu
Director of Data Science @Solovis. Founding Editor of Alpha Beta Blog. Doing my Best to Explain the Complex in Plain English.
