There’s an @ for that

I don’t know what I would do without Twitter.

Which is funny, because for the longest time I didn’t really *get* Twitter. Technically, I opened my Twitter account in April of 2009, but by and large it sat dormant as very few of my friends used it and the “Twitter lingo” all seemed very foreign and intimidating to me. It wasn’t until 2015 that I had even begun to scratch the surface on how a social media outlet could have such an influence on my career. Today, I wholeheartedly believe that financial professionals who are not active on the platform in some form or fashion are at a disadvantage to their peers that are.

Can it be a distraction? Sure, if you let it become one. But it can also be an indispensable resource for anyone working in a knowledge-based profession as a means to connect and engage not only with others within your direct circle of competence, but also – and perhaps more importantly – to learn from those whose domains fall outside of your wheelhouse. Much like politics, there’s little benefit if all you do is surround yourself in an echo chamber of all of your preexisting beliefs.

Over the last couple of years, I have been amazed by the depth of subject matter expertise I have encountered on just about every single investment topic you can think of. It distinctly reminds me of Apple’s iPhone “there’s an app for that” ad campaign.

Only instead of there being an “app” for everything, on Financial Twitter (or FinTwit as I’m told the cool kids call it) there is an “@” for everything.

I wanted to share some of the people I follow that have provided me the most value across a broad spectrum of topics. The list is in no particular order other than being a funnel of sorts, beginning with those having what I would consider more broad based expertise down to those that I follow specifically to learn more about a particular area or niche. In other words, from a mile wide and an inch deep to an inch wide and a mile deep.

(Links to each person’s Twitter profile page have been included.)

General Investing Wisdom and Insight

Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund, @morganhousel

Ben Carlson, A Wealth of Common Sense, @awealthofcs

Bob Seawright, Above the Markets, @RPSeawright

Jason Zweig, Wall Street Journal, @jasonzweigwsj

“Jesse Livermore”, Philosophical Economics, @Jesse_Livermore

Sam Lee, SVRN Asset Management, @svrnco

Potpourri (Current Events, Market History, Shits and Giggles)

Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker, @ReformedBroker

Mike Batnick, The Irrelevant Investor, @michaelbatnick

Eddy Elfenbein, Crossing Wall Street, @EddyElfenbein

Content Curation

Barry Ritholz, The Big Picture, @ritholtz

Tadas Viskanta, Abnormal Returns, @abnormalreturns

Financial Planning

Peter Lazaroff, Plancorp, @PeterLazaroff

Isaac Presley, Cordant Wealth Partners, @SeekingDelta

James Osborne, Bason Asset Management, @BasonAsset

Reading/Book Ideas

Patrick O’Shaughnessy, O’Shaughnessy Asset Management/Invest Like the Best podcast, @patrick_oshag

Shane Parrish, Farnam Street, @farnamstreet

Mike Dariano, The Waiter’s Pad, @mikedariano

Chart Candy

Charlie Bilello, Director of Research at Pension Partners, @charliebilello

“Jake”, EconomPic blog, @EconomPic

Nick Maggiulli, Of Dollars and Data blog, @dollarsanddata

The Human Finance Encyclopedia

Michael Kitces, Nerd’s Eye View, @MichaelKitces

Quantitative Investing

Corey Hoffstein, Newfound Research, @choffstein

Meb Faber, Cambria Investments, @MebFaber

Wes Gray, PhD, Alpha Architect, @alphaarchitect

Cliff Asness, AQR Capital Management, @CliffordAsness

Behavioral Finance

Dan Egan, Director of Behavioral Finance and Investing at Betterment, @daniel_egan

Dr. Daniel Crosby, Nocturne Capital, @danielcrosby

Richard Thaler, Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at University of Chicago, @R_Thaler

Brian Portnoy, Virtus, @brianportnoy

Macroeconomics

George Pearkes, Bespoke Investment Group, @pearkes

Mark Dow, Behavioral Macro, @mark_dow

Bill McBride, Calculated Risk blog, @calculatedrisk

ETFs

Ben Johnson, Director of Global ETF Research for Morningstar, @MStarETFUS

Eric Balchunas, ETF Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, @EricBalchunas

Dave Nadig, CEO of ETF.com, @DaveNadig

Mutual Funds

Jeff Ptak, Head of Global Manager Research at Morningstar, @syouth1

Venture Capital/Angel Investing/Startups

Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures, @fredwilson

Jerry Neumann, Neu Venture Capital, @ganeumann

Craig Shapiro, Founder of Collaborative Fund, @cshapiro

Josh Wolfe, Lux Capital, @wolfejosh

Howard Lindzon, StockTwits/Social Leverage, @howardlindzon

Jeffrey Carter, Hyde Park Angels/West Loop Ventures, @pointsnfigures

Naval Ravikant, CEO and co-founder of AngelList, @naval

Cryptocurrency

Ari Paul, CIO & Managing Partner of BlockTower Capital, @AriDavidPaul

Chris Burniske, author of “Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond”, @cburniske

Technical Analysis

J.C. Parets, All Star Charts, @allstarcharts

Andrew Thrasher, Portfolio Manager for The Financial Enhancement Group, @AndrewThrasher

Jon Boorman, Broadsword Capital, @JBoorman

Permanent Equity

Brent Beshore, CEO of adventur.es, @BrentBeshore

Micro-cap Stocks

Ian Cassel, MicroCapClub, @iancassel

Fixed Income/Credit

Lisa Abramowicz, Bloomberg, @lisaabramowicz1

David Schawel, New River Investments, @DavidSchawel

Hedge Funds

Lady FOHF, @LadyFOHF

ESG Investing

Joey FIshman, Ritholz Wealth Management, @JoeyFishman

Blair H duQuesnay, ThirtyNorth Investments, @BlairHduQuesnay

Sector/Industry Investing

Lawrence Hamtil, Fortune Financial Advisors, @lhamtil

FinTech

Bill Winterberg, FPPad, @BillWinterberg

MLPs/Energy Infrastructure

Simon Lack, SL Advisors, @SimonLack

Deep Value Investing

Toby Carlisle, Carbon Beach Asset Management, @Greenbackd

“Big Tech”

Ben Thompson, Stratechery, @benthompson/@stratechery ‏

Scott Galloway, Author of “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google”, @profgalloway

As an investment professional, it’s too easy to fall into the trap of dismissing other methods of investing. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat in financial markets and just because one way works well for me, it doesn’t mean that what works well for someone else is of no value. At the end of the day, we are all here to learn and to make money in support of our financial goals. It is the very diversity of strategy and opinions that makes me love this industry so much.

So…

If you’re an indexer, follow some stock pickers.

If you invest in a plain vanilla allocation, follow some “alts” people.

If you’re “buy and hold”, follow a few technicians.

If you’re a fundamental investor, follow some quant nerds.

If you invest only in public markets, follow some private capital allocators.

I promise they won’t bite. And best of all, you’ll become more well-rounded and have fun in the process.

P.S. the list above is by no means exhaustive and I am sure there are a handful of people I have (unintentionally) overlooked or – better yet – that I have yet to come across. Message me if you have someone in mind that I should add!