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Comment by sushid | Hacker News Reader

Why couldn't these companies issue more shares in secondary offerings at 100x their PE ratio, hoard all the cash, and wait for the crash to do a buyback?

Seems like a good way to hedge against a downturn. Of course, per usual, retail investors will lose out as usual, but the companies could end up just fine.

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How did you get to know all those things you're talking about? Where does one even start decrypting finance jargon and "possibilities"?

start with https://academy.investopedia.com/? helpful for jargon anyway.

Obligatory:

http://abstrusegoose.com/389

If you're serious about getting to know it, I would torrent some level 1 CFA study material and skim it in bits and pieces. Really though, I would avoid it. This jargon can rot your brain.

Doesn't CFA contain lots of law/ethics etc?

15% I think but you can skip that.

Honestly, most of the "jargon" I know is mostly by reading the news.

I guess I know a bit more than the typical layperson but that's because I do a little bit of personal investing outside of Robinhood and most of my friends not in tech are in finance.

Read Matt Levine's column on Bloomberg. All of them, and the ones from when he worked for Dealbreaker as well. He tells the stories in a clear way that makes sense, cutting through a lot of nonsense, and so you understand the key points even without getting the jargon, and then you gradually pick up the jargon too.

Matt Levine's column is great. The Economist can also bring similar-ish knowledge, but its focus is broader.

Read macro-man.blogspot.com if you really fancy some fancy terms.

In seriousness, after reading for a couple of months, and looking the odd thing up, and not worrying about the jargon, just acquire it, you'll have a seriously good understanding of markets, what they influence, and what influences them.

Play Capitalism 2 / Lab and you're half way there

It doesn't work like that in China though. No company management over there is going to let a large amount of capital sit in a bank unused.

Are you asking a company to short it's own stock ?

Isn't that what an IPO is? Or any kind of share offering?

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