Welcome to My First Bloomberg View Column

Well now, let’s have a look around here. Hmmm, nicely typeset. Headline, URL, date are in the usual places; sidebar for other articles off to the right. Hey, this doesn’t look very different than it did at my blog, the Big Picture.

What’s different?

Oh, you out there. I see, you are a somewhat different audience than what I have been used to previously. You appear to be more of a professional investor, oriented toward shorter, pithier readings, but still intolerant of nonsense.

Good, we will get along just fine.

In case you have no idea who the hell I am, my name is Barry Ritholtz, and I will be your air hostess for today’s flight of investing fancy. No need to turn off your electronics, it’s a pleasure to meet you.

My goal here at Bloomberg View is to entertain, elucidate and, mostly, to disabuse you of the nonsense that occasionally passes for market commentary. If I do my job well enough, you should find this process both valuable and intriguing. With some luck, you could even become a bit better at whatever it is that you do for a living.

What you should expect from me: Early mornings, I try to provide some insight into a topic du jour related to our favorite subjects: Investing, markets and the economy. I like to work at the cross-section between quantitative analysis and human behavioral analysis. Lots of uncharted territory here, along with plenty of surprises.

Around the time the market opens, I pony up a short list of reads. Specifically, these are not 10 MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU MUST READ RIGHT NOW, mostly because I don’t care for all that yelling, and second, by the time you got to the office, you have already read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Instead, I prefer to hand-select a Beaujolais Nouveau, a recent harvest of some of the more interesting and important things you may have overlooked. By the time you finish the reads, something intriguing will have caught your eye, often from a source you were wholly unaware of.

During lunch, I like to dazzle you with a stand-out chart. Oftentimes, it is pushback against the so-called conventional wisdom. Occasionally, it is some inanity that insists on being demolished, which I happily oblige. Rarely, it is merely something wacky that demanded to be shared. Regardless, it is a visual depiction of something you might find of interest.

As to our earlier question (Who is this guy?) — In many ways, I am likely similar to you in some ways: I grew up in the suburbs, went to college, then grad school in New York. I fell in love with the city, and then with finance (in that order). Began as a trader, moved into research, and a few decades later, here we are.

My general approach is a product of my somewhat skeptical nature. I like to see assertions proven empirically. I am a “Show me the data” kind of guy. I never want to be contrarian for its own sake, but rather, to see what can take a punch. Much of that which passes for common knowledge on Wall Street is too often myth that fails to stand up to close scrutiny.

My goal is to provide some of that close scrutiny.

I hope you find it a worthwhile experience.

Originally: My First Bloomberg View Column: Welcome