The electric kool-aid acid podcast

Hugh Hendry is… something.

In the last 24 hours alone, I have mockingly (lovingly) referred to him as “Stock Bono,” “Richard Branson on speed,” and “Charlie Methhead.” If Trainspotting was about hedge funds he’d play the lead.

He calls himself an Acid Capitalist. He’s just wired different. Warren Buffett made billions and didn’t sell his house in Omaha. Hugh made billions and moved from Castlemilk to St. Barts. His cornerstone investing principles are (1.) God is dead, (2.) Life is absurd, (3.) Rules don’t matter. He dresses like he is on his way to a Sex Pistols show. Hugh is… something.

But here’s the thing: Much of it is an act. And Hugh Hendry, in addition to being weird and at times a bit drugged out, is really really smart. Whether it is the acid or the way his brain works, he sees things that others don’t. Forex is a graveyard. You should not trade forex. But it strikes me as interesting that a lot of the people who made loads of money off of the 2008 financial crisis (The Big Short) were former forex traders. Successful forex trading is the art of seeing and interpreting far more than what your eyes are reporting back. That’s a rare and useful gift. It also tends to make you either really weird or terribly ornery.

Which is all to say you really should take the 40 minutes to listen to Hugh’s latest appearance on Odd Lots. I don’t agree with everything he says. I just babbled about the soft landing; I certainly don’t expect another rate Armageddon in the next 18 months. But his wider thoughts on China deserve reflection.

Hugh’s a product of the Reagan generation (to him, the Thatcher generation?). I am too, so perhaps I can’t help but have a similar worldview. But the concept of the difference between growing GDP and growing wealth is profound and explains a lot of what is going on right now around the world. (And his solution to the Russia problem is probably a little too spot-on).

Hear many voices. I certainly don’t mean to imply you should follow Hugh (or anyone else, me included) as gospel. But as an investor who chooses not to study charts while on acid, it is interesting to hear the world from the perspective of someone who has a different view of the world.

Disclaimer: If you don’t get any of the cultural references here, SHAME ON YOU. Fix that.

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