Insider Tips on Holiday Gifts for Traders
You won’t make a killing on these ideas, but this list might make shopping a bit easier.
Bloomberg, December 14, 2018
Every year about this time, we assemble an eclectic list of baubles, toys, trinkets and occasional necessities to give to the traders and fund managers who have been very good this year (an admittedly short list, I know). The goal is to make your holiday shopping a little bit easier.
On to the gifts!
Read: My list of books to read this winter has already been published, but the books below are strictly for giving as gifts:
“The Current: New Wheels for the Post-Petrol Age” ($50): For your favorite gearhead, this book details the most radical vehicles coming at us from the electric revolution.
“The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition” ($36): The influential fantasy novelist Ursula K. Le Guin died this year, but this is the perfect gift for the sci-fi fan on your list.
“Bong Appétit: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Weed” ($27): Combine cooking at home (an increasingly popular hobby) with the decriminalization of marijuana, and you end up with this book.
Listen: When I am not listening to podcasts, I like to explore interesting music, both familiar and not.
“The White Album: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” ($23): You think you know the Beatles’s “White Album,” — but do you, really?
Check out the Esher Demos, as recorded on George’s new Ampex reel-to-reel tape deck when the lads returned from their sojourn to India. Most of the 27 songs here ended up on the actual “White Album.”
These acoustic demos reveal all of intimate warmth and fun that was the Beatles. For the hardcore fan on your list, pay up for the Super Deluxe Six-CD Edition.
“Picture Him Happy” ($15): You may know Ben Sidran from his National Public Radio show and his Talking Jazz project, but he is a legit jazz artist in his own right. This disc is a laid back blend of cool tunes and vocals in the style of Mose Allison.
“Lean On Me” ($12) Jose James is best known for performing and blending modern jazz and hip-hop, but this tribute album covering 12 of Bill Withers’s best songs is a delightful surprise.
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Apps: “Headspace,” on online guide for meditation. It’s a great gift for the stressed-out trader on your list. There’s a free version, while full-service subscriptions cost from $58 to $96 a year.
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Home: Awair ($197) One of the more novel items for the home this year is this air-quality tracker — although I’m not sure I even want to know.
Backyard: Vaonis Stellina telecope ($3,499). Set the Stellina up, power it on, and the rest is automatic. The motorized telescope connects to an app, focuses on a selected heavenly body out of hundreds of suggestions, then takes a photo that can be transferred to a smartphone. (For sale at MOMA design store)
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Workout: The Hydrow ($1,999): An at-home system that aims to do for rowing what Peloton did for cycling.
Tonal ($3,000, plus $49 monthly subscription): Perhaps the highest tech home gym ever, Tonal wants to replace everything you think of as a gym, from barbells to trainers.
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Wear: Nike Air MAG Back To the Future ($24,000). If that a bit rich for the sneakerhead on your list, how about scrolling around Stock X for Adidas Yeezys, Nike Kobe 7 Poison Dart Frogs or LeBrons, all sold auction-style.)
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Time: MB&F HM9 Flow ($189,000): This watch is all about retro aerodynamic references and has been described as “unconventionally good-looking, mechanically complex and design-centric.” This may not be a watch for the casual wearer.
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Drive: Rimac C-Two ($2.1 million): Tired of all the pollution spewed by the supercars that seem to be in favor with the financial set? The Rimac is faster and cleaner. Its four electric motors generate 1,914 horsepower and propel the two-seater to 60 miles per hour in 1.85 seconds, leaving Bugattis, Ferraris and Lamborghinis in its exhaust-free dust.
That’s it for 2018. See you in January.
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I originally published this at Bloomberg, December 14, 2018. All of my Bloomberg columns can be found here and here.
