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Comment by fensterblick | Hacker News Reader

"Talking your book" == putting money where your mouth is. Bill Gross, especially when he was at PIMCO running the world's largest bond fund, had to invest in what he believed in. They couldn't market themselves out of a losing position.

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I respectfully think you have it backwards. Generally financiers put their mouth where their money is, not the other way around. (They talk up where they are investing, not choosing to back their ideas up with investments) They're in the investment business, not the talking business. This isn't a comment on their ethics, just their incentives. Talking their book helps them in winning positions too - it can provide greater liquidity.

If it was positive NPV for them to keep quiet, every investor would.

Maybe if you're Bill Gross this is true, but the vast majority of fund managers never get on TV to talk their book in the first place. Just like (good) VCs have an investment thesis, most fund managers do too.

Going public can be a risky strategy. You only want to do it when you benefit from the exposure. You do it after you're already in the position and won't want to get more. (For instance, "I am long High Yield credit") If you're still accumulating something harder to access ("I'm buying Inverse Mortgages") then you don't want to be public. You also hold yourself up to be second-guessed. It's a tradeoff.

CNBC and Bloomberg TV are full of talking heads all day long, though they only scratch the surface on potential fund managers.

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