Intro to “Kick the Dogma: An Investor’s Guide to Breaking the Chains of Modern Finance

“…the discipline of economics has yet to get over its childish passion for mathematics, and for purely theoretical and often highly ideological speculation at the expense of historical research and collaboration with other social sciences. The obsession with mathematics is an easy way of acquiring the appearance of scientificity without having to answer the more complex questions posed by the world we live in.” – Thomas Piketty, 2014

“It is in this spirit that I invite you to examine some of the direct consequences of monotheism on our common history.” – Rodney Stark

This story begins with a Conversation. It is 2005, and I am in a marketing meeting with a prospective client for our hedge fund. It’s an old wealth management firm that allocates to third-party fund managers. The firm is named for the octogenarian in front of me and his brother, not present. They had made a lot of money for their families through this firm, though the brother’s nickname in some circles was “the Great Pretender” for his disproportionate wealth relative to his investing acumen. It’s the guy across the table from me that knows how to compound capital.

We were a new firm with a short track record. But what we did and how we did it we had done successfully elsewhere…