I Miss the Old Wall Street
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Description
Back in the day, Wall Street was run by the people. You know the type. Suits, nice watches, and egos the size of small countries. It was the Gordon Gekko and Jordan Belford archetypes. Because for most of modern financial history, investing with money managers and financial advisors was pretty straightforward. You hired a person. That person read through filings, listened to earnings calls, analyzed trading multiples, and then ignored all of it because he had a hunch about a biotech startup. It was a truly poetic system because sometimes they were right. More often, they were wrong. least it felt human. And that's because there was always a story involved. Whether that story was the management looks strong, the balance sheet is healthy, or even just a gut feeling that the stock feels cheap, which, if we're being honest, is just astrology for men who wear cufflinks.
The short contrasts “old Wall Street,” where Wall Street decisions are portrayed as being driven by recognizable personalities and a more human, story based approach to investing. It says the process used to be straightforward: you hired a person who read filings, listened to earnings calls, and analyzed trading multiples. The speaker argues that the analysis was often ignored when the decision maker had a hunch about a specific company, such as a biotech startup, and that this was “poetic” because it sometimes worked. The short then underlines the drawback, noting it was more often wrong, but at least it felt human due to the narrative around management strength, a healthy balance sheet, or a gut feeling that a stock feels cheap. It concludes by describing that “cheap” gut feeling as astrology for men who wear cufflinks, framing the practice as irrational while still culturally familiar.
Viewers react positively to the balance of serious topics with a light, comedic delivery, with calls to subscribe for finance and economics “the fun way.” Several comments debate the idea that the earlier system had fewer rules and was easier to scam, and one viewer points to valuation and yield math while suggesting missing key elements of the story. Other viewers ask for clarification, including “Wait what do you mean, explain,” indicating some confusion about the implied comparison to scamming and valuation.
Topics · finance · markets · stock market · economics · business
Questions answered
- How did investing with money managers work in the “old Wall Street” style described here?
- You hired a person who read filings, listened to earnings calls, and analyzed trading multiples, but the person would often ignore much of it when making a decision based on a hunch about a specific company.
- Why does the short compare the “stock feels cheap” approach to astrology?
- It treats the gut feeling that a stock is cheap as a non analytical belief, likened to astrology for people who wear cufflinks.
- What is the main tradeoff the short highlights about the story based investing approach?
- The approach was framed as poetic and sometimes correct, but it was also described as more often wrong, even though it felt human because it always had a narrative.