ChristianKl comments on Financial Effectiveness Repository - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Gunnar_Zarncke 18 November 2014 09:57AM

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Comment author: Salemicus 18 November 2014 01:55:16PM *  7 points [-]

This is not investment advice and should not be relied on as such.

The more liquid your investment, the better. If you have a theoretically valuable investment, but in an area where finding a buyer is very hard, you may find yourself either 1) forced to sell at a knock-down price, or 2) unable to exit the investment at a time of your own choosing. Therefore (ceteris paribus) you should demand a higher expected rate of return on illiquid investments.

Most liquid to least liquid:

  • Cash
  • Home-country government bonds
  • Publically traded stocks
  • Real estate
  • Your friend's small business
Comment author: ChristianKl 19 November 2014 07:10:44PM 1 point [-]

Why are home-country government bonds more liquid than stocks? Publically traded stocks can be sold quite fast.

Comment author: Salemicus 26 December 2014 08:41:19PM 1 point [-]

Trading shares on an exchange sometimes gets suspended, for example if the company is in financial difficulties.

Comment author: Alsadius 23 November 2014 04:13:03PM 1 point [-]

The difference in liquidity there exists for institutional investors - it's faster and easier to sell a billion dollars of T-bills than a billion dollars of Amazon. For a retail investor with maybe a thousand bucks in a single position, the difference is irrelevant.

Comment author: ChristianKl 23 November 2014 04:18:10PM 0 points [-]

I think this topic is rather about retail investing than about how to be an institutional investor.

Comment author: Alsadius 24 November 2014 12:24:45PM 1 point [-]

Exactly my point. It's a distinction that exists in the literature, but it's not relevant here.