KAOBOY MUSINGS and its associated podcast KAOS THEORY focus on the intersection of 3 topics that I have a passion for: Financial Markets, Macroeconomics and Geopolitics.

I started my career in the early 90’s trading commodities at Goldman Sachs and then spent the next 25 years in portfolio management at two hedge funds — Canyon Partners and Akanthos Capital (my shop). I retired in 2019 to invest my own capital. I quickly found that I missed putting my market views out there and engaging with smart people, so here I am.

While I don’t comment on idiosyncratic positions, I am quite transparent about my Macro leanings. I don’t get everything right — not by a long shot. But as I used to tell my analysts, I always would rather be “generally accurate than precisely wrong,” so that is what I aim for. I invite you into my archives to see my historical views on Oil, Inflation, the USD, etc.

My goals here are simple:

  1. Educate

  2. Encourage Out-of-the-Box Thinking

  3. Elevate Above The Noise

  4. Entertain!

You won’t find the “market roundup” content here or “trade recommendations.” What you WILL find is thought-provoking commentary and intellectual frameworks to help you develop your OWN theses — in my opinion, that is the only way you can have conviction.

My hope is to produce content with lasting and even “evergreen” educational value and hope you will check out my archives, as I have migrated many of my old Twitter threads here.

While I cannot promise a predictable cadence of output (because I can’t predict what pops into my head and when), I hope that my pieces will cut through the noise rather than be part of the noise.

Finally, I am a big fan of bringing in mental models from other disciplines and injecting ideas from eclectic subjects, so…

If you’re curious about what lies at the intersection of Finance, Macroeconomics, Geopolitics, and Thrash Metal, subscribe to KAOBOY MUSINGS / KAOS THEORY and find out! 🤘


Soft Paywall

I don’t do this for the money and only write because:

  • I am passionate about the subject material.

  • I like to educate others.

  • I like to draw out two-way discourse from other smart people to sharpen my own thinking.

But I also want to offer something of value to my Paid Subs, so I’ve come up with the following decision around my Paywall:

  • ALL POSTS AND PODCASTS WILL ALWAYS BE FREE TO EVERYONE FOR 1 MONTH.

  • Only Paid Subs will have access to the Archive beyond the month.

  • Only Paid Subs will have access to the Daily Chats, which are very similar to my Twitter Musings of the Day, but open to a smaller, more focused audience without the noise or bots of Twitter.

I hope that is a fair and equitable solution to my dilemma of not wanting to compromise my objectivity and still wanting to provide relevant content that is accessible to everyone while also offering something of value to those who have upgraded to Paid Subs.

Thank you ALL for your kind support!


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Disclaimer:

Akanthos Capital Management, LLC (“Akanthos”) is an exempt reporting investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and Michael Kao is the Managing Member of this entity. All content on this site and/or in this message is for informational and educational purposes only, cannot be distributed without express written consent, and does not constitute advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities and may not be relied upon in connection with any offer or sale of securities.  No content here should be relied upon in making investment decisions.  The information and statistical data contained herein have been obtained from sources that we believe to be reliable but in no way are warranted by us as to accuracy or completeness.  Any accompanying performance statistics are based upon historical performance and are not indicative of future performance.  The types of investments discussed do not represent all the securities purchased, sold, or recommended for clients.  You should not assume that investments in the securities or strategies identified and discussed were or will be profitable.  While many of the thoughts expressed in this message are stated in a factual manner, the discussion reflects only Akanthos’/Michael’s opinions.  The descriptions herein are in summary form, are incomplete, and do not include all the information necessary to evaluate an investment in any investment or strategy.

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KAOBOY MUSINGS and its associated podcast KAOS THEORY focus on the intersection of Financial Markets, Macroeconomics and Geopolitics. I've spent 30+ years as a trader/hedge fund manager and now manage money for my family office across many asset classes.

People

GS Commodities Trader➡Canyon Cvt/Cap Arb➡Akanthos Multi-Arb/Distressed➡Kao Family Office🏦Globetrotter✈ Headbanger🤘Star Wars Fan🌌 Mixologist🍸Diver🤿 BIO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaomichael/