Do you remember what you were still doing wrong at that time?
I think I wasn't patient enough to wait for a clearly defined situation.
Did you think of just tailcoating Ed, because he was so successful?
No, I couldn't bring myself to do that.
Did you ever think of just giving up on trading?
I would sometimes think that maybe I ought to stop trading because it was very painful to keep losing. In
"Fiddler on the Roof," there is a scene where the lead looks up and talks to God. I would look up and say, "Am I really
that stupid?" And I seemed to hear a clear answer saying, "No, you are not stupid. You just have to keep at it." So I
did.
At the time, I was befriended by a very kind, knowledgeable, and successful semiretired broker at Shearson
named Amos Hostetter. He liked my writing, and we used to talk. Amos reinforced a lot of the things Ed taught me. I
was getting the same principles from two people.
Were you making recommendations for the firm at the time?
Yes.
And how did the recommendations work out?
They were better because I was more patient. Anyway, I was totally out of money, and out of people who
would lend me money. But I still had a kind of stubborn confidence that I could somehow get back on the right track
again. I was only making $12,500 a year, but I managed to save $700. Since that wasn't even enough to open an
account, I opened a joint account with a friend who also put up $700.
Were you totally directing the trading in this joint account?
Yes, my friend didn't know anything about the markets. This was in July 1972 and, at the time, we were
under price controls. The futures market was supposedly also under price controls.
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