New Board Game - How Big Is Your Pond

I blogged about this about 5 years ago. Its a fun game. As investors or banking/finance professionals in the markets, we need to get a grip and look at where we are in the whole scheme of things. No matter how"great" we are its only in a very tiny pond. Of course I am not belittling ourselves here, big pond small pond, still a pond ... but don't let it get to our heads when it comes to why we are only a small boat in a sea storm whose waves could sometimes overwhelm our tiny boat, no matter how well built it is.

As things stand, just the US markets alone is as big as the next 7 markets COMBINED: Japan, China, HK, UK Canada, France and Germany all totaled up.

Hence thats why we mainly look to the US for direction. The blog post below on how big each state's GDP is in terms of another country would show beyond a shadown of a doubt why America is the world in business, trade and finance.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Why Global Investors Keep Looking To United States For Guidance

Thats the first thing you learn when you step into an investment career, but do we know why. I mean, we know its big, but just how big? This map shows clearly why. It dissects out the states of the United States and correspond that to a country with the similar GDP for that state. 

Its an incredible map as it puts into perspective just how important that entire economy is ... its like over 50 countries .... That may partially explain why most Americans do not travel much, they have most of what they need there. For us, we may need to travel for business, but for them traveling within a few states there is like making business contacts with a few countries.

We also give Americans a hard time when we find out how few actually travel outside of America ... but just trying to cover a few states is already like covering a few countries, and each of the states are actually quite different in their make up and essence.