Paul Singer Quotes
102 Paul Singer Quotes
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[In 2013 on being considered an activist investor.] There are different flavors of activism… I think we try to be active in every situation in which we can utilize that path to try to control our own destiny.
Paul Singer
Whenever possible if there’s an angle we can use to create a better result or a different result or to control risk by being active, we seek it out.
Paul Singer
[In 2013 on activist investing.] Manual efforts help us to dig out from mistakes or possibly to create extra value from any situation.
Paul Singer
[In 2013.] We prefer situations, all else being equal, that are dependent in large part on our individual efforts, as opposed to those that are dependent solely upon market forces
Paul Singer
[In 2013.] Sovereigns that could pay their debts and choose not to may be attempting to save some money but are harming their people and their economies by making investing in their countries more risky and more problematic and by discouraging foreign investment.
Paul Singer
[In 2013.] You have to be in risk management mode all the time, not just when you might be particularly nervous, because it is impossible to time the transitions of markets to crisis conditions. And as your firm grows and you and your organization go through changes in your life circumstances, you need to keep constant the energy, humility and intelligence that built your track record. Coasting in money management does not turn out well.
Paul Singer
[In October 2013.] Let’s use the data points of history not as once-in-a-lifetime events, but as possible clues to the future.
Paul Singer
[In October 2013.] As is the case in every serious market event, it’s completely unpredictable, and it can rise basically with a moment’s notice.
Paul Singer
[In October 2013.] Anybody in my position as a money manager, who thinks that he or she can predict or assess when the tide is going to be turning, when the conditions are ripe for a loss of confidence in paper money, I think is making a very large mistake. And the people that made that mistake by the way in 2008, many of them either had their track records or their businesses shattered.
Paul Singer
[In January 2014 on Bitcoin.] There is no more reason to believe that bitcoin will stand the test of time than that governments will protect the value of government-created money, although bitcoin is newer and we always look at babies with hope.
Paul Singer
[In January 2014 on comparing Bitcoin and Gold.] We do not see this particular experiment lasting. At least you have to work really hard to dig gold out of the ground.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] The Euro reminds us of the weather in London: One minute you are basking in sparkling sunshine, and the next minute the sky opens in a deluge reminiscent of Noah’s flood.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] High inflation (or hyperinflation) is one way that devious or clueless policymakers attempt to deal with unpayable promises. It is devious, because without formally imposing a tax, it takes money from savers and investors and pays it to borrowers and voters.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] The arithmetic of government statistics (jobs, growth and inflation) is distorted and dishonest almost beyond measure.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] A doubling of velocity causes a quadrupling of kinetic energy. What is the relevance to financial markets and trading? We believe some of the same elements are present when financial leverage rises beyond certain levels. Any complex portfolio contains expectations about maximum expected price movements and possible losses, together with assumptions about the dispersion of returns and correlation. Obviously when markets turn adverse, if those assumptions turn out to be overly optimistic, then losses ensue.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] We do not believe that the system today is any safer than it was when it failed in 2007 and 2008. Global leverage is up, not down, contrary to the popular misconception. Private debt is unchanged from 2007 levels, but public debt has risen globally from $70 trillion to $100 trillion.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] The global financial system is arguably less safe than it was in 2008.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] One of the major lessons of 2008: It is wise to move assets and sell claims and securities immediately if a debtor or counterparty is perceived to be in trouble. This maxim could make the next market crisis play out on a hair-trigger, with a stressful lead-in and then a simultaneous rush to the exits.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] Why did 2008 turn into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? The answer is that the system was unsound, largely due to excessive leverage and the complexity of financial instruments… We do not think policymakers have learned anything much from the financial crisis, but that fact can truly be demonstrated only as time passes.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] We believe the world’s financial institutions are still essentially dependent on governments, but the Developed World governments themselves are hopelessly insolvent.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] Mass human behavior cannot be modeled or predicted with any degree of precision.
Paul Singer
[In 2014.] Markets focus on something when they want to, not when ‘visionaries’ think they should.
Paul Singer
Bonus
[On Paul Singer.] He's able to take very complicated scenarios and find a way of making them pay. He's one of the five to 10 best investors in our generation.
Donald Sussman
[On Elliott Management.] Elliott is very determined. They are more persistent and original than other vultures.
Mark Cymrot
[On Paul Singer.] Paul is intense and tenacious in seeing things through. He is intensely focused and result-oriented yet extremely principled.
Daniel Loeb
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