Dave Nadig of ETF.com sends the following along from a friend — the original author is anonymous:
Oh lord, help me to beat the benchmark. Verily, after costs.
Give me this day my insightful research, visions of undervalued-yet-thinly-held-while-still-reasonably-liquid stocks and a less efficient market.
Deliver me from the effects of low dispersion and non-existent volatility; guide me through the wilderness of low-edge ideas, a dearth of IPOs and overcrowded trades.
As I lift up my eyes to The Fed, may I walk on the right side of QE unwinding.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of ETFs, help me to fear not for, come on, there has to be some respite from billions in daily inflows, right?
And though presently I wander through the desert, may I eventually yoke the power of mean reversion to my benefit.
Lead me into a land of new factors and may they be statistically-significant and predictive in your eyes.
May I not greedily seek top decile performance but, in your favor, at least achieve a top quartile slot, if it be not too much trouble, and may I persist in said performance despite overwhelming evidence against that possibility.
Though I am beset on all sides by a skeptical media and fleeing investors, I will hold steadfast to the hope of a return to prior glories and the attendant 100+ basis points in fees.
Smite the foes of stock picking, oh lord, and shield us from the further encroachment of the passive hordes.
And remind my brothers from that tribe not to forget that pride goeth before the fall as I have discovered all too well.
In the name of the Fama, the Soros and the Harry Markowitz. Amen.
Fun stuff! Thanks, Dave!
