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Markus Kalter

Markus Kalter

I live in a small town close to Cologne, Germany, and work as an accountant. Here´s my private website for further info:
http://mont-sylvain.eu/

Location Overath, Germany

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Activity

  • I love books and I´m fascinated by Asian, and particularly, Japanese cultures. I´m curious to learn more about this particular aspect, which combines both.

    Also, I have always loved stationary in all its forms. Paper, as a canvas for ideas and dreams, creativity, is very precious to me.

  • I think this revolves mostly around "uniforms". These are opposed to fashion as a medium to transport an individual´s beliefs and values. However, while "modern" fashion seems to strengthen individualism, which in itself is a movement originating in the West, brands and the value of brands miraculously diminish that expression of individual freedom. If wearing...

  • My name is Markus and I live in a small town close to Cologne, Germany. I have always been fascinated by the media and work in a picture agency.

    Over the years - I´m a bit oldish with 51, I suppose - I have tried out a number of games. I found that I quite liked the "building" and strategic games best, some time before the newer generation of story-telling...

  • BAM will pursue a technology-driven approach. In oder to do so, model portfolios of ETFs and smart beta ETFs will be set up to correspond to individual customers´ risk preferences. This customer interface will be largely automated by "weak" AI, using preset questionnaires and models.

    The portfolios will be continually monitored by a AI-driven preselection...

  • It can be used to build, monitor and adapt an investment portfolio.

  • The solutions are: time & evolving technology, accompanied by a regulatory and supervisionary environment.

  • How can we set up AI-supported systems on the customer data and portfolio building sides ?

  • As we´re trying to set up an advisory offering, we need tools that are capable of analysing and processing customer data as well as tools capable of analysing the markets, investment options and portfolio building alternatives.

  • I would understand non-linear to comprise a set of measures ("signals"), which are set off against each other, without the final investment choice being based on a single measure variable.

    This would mean that a value strategy, for example, will be based on book-to-market, ROI, dividend yield and quarterly EPS growth and the final choice will be for those...

  • It´s passive as it is not managed daily. Its composition will be changed at specific dates and then maintained until the next date no matter what happens. This is passive, although the index composition based on factors does introduce a certain variability that has some closeness to active management approaches.

  • As momentum is defined by the current movement of stocks, this ETF would need to be redefined and recalibrated more often than other factor ETFs.

  • It´s definitely smarter than holding a general index like the S&P500 or FTSE. One nice feature is that you are not necessarily limited to a specific country. So, you can have a worldwide allocation within a single ETF, which might, for example, screen for the most attractive dividend stocks. This, to some extent, solves the problem of ETF investors all...

  • The finance industry continually changes and evolves. I´m not sure that quantitative allocation vehicles offer the best long-term results. Still, I think a robo-advisor should stay true to its technical foundation and not try to select managed funds for clients as this approach would, at the present time, ask too much of the robo capabilities, especially with...

  • Machine learning seems to function mostly with the input of data, which is then sorted according to functions, the outcomes of which are then compared to "reality" with any divergences triggering changes in the functions.

    As a result, the quality of learning depends strongly on the quality and quantity of available data, as well as the time period...

  • The more measures you use, the more robust the stock selection should be. You would have companies excelling on more than one aspect and could be seen as healthier than others.

    On the other hand, depending on the measures you use and depending on the market environment, the "universe" of investible stocks might be rather small. This might not be a problem...

  • Assuming that we´re mostly working with ETFs, it is curious to note that the last graph of the preceding video seems to suggest a problem with the use of "signals" excactly during the time when ETFs became more and more used.

    Also, relying purely on quantitative "signals" while blending out qualitative aspects, such as market dominance and management...

  • I don´t think the decision should be an either-or decision. Having portfolio components selected through fundamental analysis and then complement this with several other components using the purely quantitative approach might have its merits overall.

  • Signal-based strategies refer to trend following. Once a threshold momentum in an equity´s price movement is detected, the software (or manager) might sell or buy this particular equity in order to further follow an established trend in the price movement. Of course, it depends on how you configure such a system, but trend following seems to be a rather...

  • Active management can outperform benchmarks. But this alpha excellence lies in great part with the fund manager´s talent. There are legends like Peter Lynch, and considering hedgefunds, George Soros, for example. The hard part for the investor is then finding these people and sticking with their approaches.

    Passive funds have a problem with market...

  • I have no direct experience with passive benchmarks. This is mostly because I´m not a huge fan of them.

    Would a fund manager, who mostly underperforms a passive benchmark during "sunny" times but succeeds in preserving most of your allocated capital during a crash be deemed a bad fund manager ? If so, why ?

  • In the creative industries, we trade rights and market them. Copyright law defines, who owns what and who is entitled to revenue streams or portions thereof. It thus clarifies the general rules, on which individual business ideas can build.

  • The simplest way would be to use benchmarks, i.e. some major index, whose composition and performance figures are widely known. You could compare your portfolio performance to the performance of the S&P500 index, for example.

    However, once you have a diversified portfolio consisting of stocks, bonds and gold, for example, you need a benchmark mixture to...

  • Robo advisors are great for people, who don´t want to spend time studying the financial markets. They are easy to use and take care of the gritty details. For most people, they could be a great way to avoid high costs as charged by comparable bank or insurance company plans.
    For me, this option is not on the table. I relish thinking about financial markets...

  • Over the recent years, it seems that not only some correlations no longer work as they did before, but also a number of financial rules of thumb are no longer applicable. Think, for example, about the "growth stocks" versus "value stocks" discussion; it seems that the last 20 years have been hugely advantageous for growth. As the robo advisor will only work...

  • I would try to suggest that life is very hard to plan and there are surprises around every corner. This might mean that in an emergency situation, the investor should be able to have access to sufficient funds without having to realise losses. This might either mean setting up two different portfolios, one with relatively safe assets and one with a riskier...

  • I think that robo-advisors are a continuation of the ETF-trend. Essentially, both thrive on using quantitative data. But when it comes to qualitative aspects, ETFs as well as robo-advisors might not (yet) be fully up to expectations. In the ETF world, this has given rise to "smart-beta" ETFs, which try to use some techniques that are comparable to a number of...

  • Talking to machines on service phone lines is obviously a part of our lives that will not go away. ETFs also are automated to reflect the indices they´re based on.

  • Property law mostly deals with easy to grasp objects. A car, a house a company all can be clearly definied and it can be clearly stipulated, who is presently in posession of that object. With intellectual property rights, things get tricky, because those rights can be transmitted easily and mere posession doesn´t hint at true ownership. It´s a bit like the...

  • Working in a picture agency, I might try to answer one or two of these questions. It is possible to have multiple copyright owners. For example, a team of photographers works on a specific project. For reasons of simplicity and ease, every picture that is marketed successfully pays a royalty, which is shared amongst this team evenly.
    Yes, the photographer...

  • When it comes to income generation as opposed to mere asset appreciation, you will need ETFs, which distribute income earned through dividends (stocks) and interest payments (bonds).
    You would then build a portfolio of ETFs according to your risk preference.
    Robo-advisors could help doing so by basing decisions on scientific findings and accurately...

  • If you want to go for average returns, you could hold a portfolio of several ETFs. For example, a stock ETF based on a major index like the S&P500, a bond ETF like the Aggregate Global Bond Index and a precious metals ETF (which is actually an ETC) holding a mixture of metals, as does the Wisdom Tree Precious Metals Basket.

  • I think the internet is really a big changing agent in many industries. Among other things it allows people to publish things and create products without having to go through formalised "professional" processes. I´ve read in an article published on Medium that, astonishing as it might sound, the author of that article proposed that a professional is not...

  • I´m a fan of the Permanent Portfolio developed by Harry Browne. This portfolio is essentially the same for everyone, consisting of four asset classes, whose distributions in the portfolio are fixed. In order to do so, you recalibrate about once a year. The overall result is a portfolio with comparatively low variance and relatively consistent returns of...

  • Risk tolerance is probably not a concept that can be measured objectively and be formalised quantitatively. I suppose, there is a lot of psychology involved. For example, at the present moment, when stock prices keep rising, everyone has a high (postulated) risk tolerance.
    But ask them again once prices plummet.
    For me that is a process of self-searching...

  • Hello, I´m Markus and I live in a small town close to Cologne, Germany. I work as accountant in a picture agency. You can take a look at this company here: www.laif.de

    The picture agency represents photographers and distributes their work. We collect fees from picture uses by our clients and pass on that money to our photographers. So, copyright issues are...

  • Of course, the internet is a wonderful source of information.

    For investment purposes, I use exchange-traded funds ever more often. These funds are, to some extent, computerised vehicles.

  • Markus Kalter made a comment

    I work as accountant in a picture agency in Cologne, Germany.

    I have long been fascinated by the financial world and love wrapping my head around investment opportunities.

    I´m also thinking about a career change and would love to venture into the field of content creation. One of my favourite subjects there would be the investment world.

    So, there...

  • The advantages of technology - "Big Data" - lie in the machines´ capabilities to number-crunch, i.e. digest large amounts of data, to do so at very high speed, and in the realm of finance, to do all this unhampered by emotions, which might humans prompt to make wrong decisions. So it´s computing power, speed and independence.
    The drawbacks can be visualised...

  • I first made contact with fintech companies by using various transfer solutions like PayPal and AmazonPay. Exchange-traded funds are also an area, where I keep using these services. I have also made a few forays into the crypto world. I have tried out various forms of crodinvesting and crowdfunding.
    Apart from that I keep monitoring what develops in this...

  • My name is Markus and I live in a small town close to Cologne, Germany. I currently work as accountant in a picture agency, although it seems that this fun pastime is slowly drawing to a close.
    In a world changing more towards digital solutions each day, I need to gain more knowledge in order to feign a semblance of keeping up.
    ;-)
    Digital stuff is not my...

  • Thank you very much indeed for this course.
    It has really added huge patches of understanding to my rather wanting patchwork study of Scottish culture and history.

  • I think the spark of learning and understanding lies within the individual. It doesn´t really mean much what media is employed to transport content, the recipient must be willing and informed sufficiently to interact with the content.
    The foremost aim of various media should be to inspire and to fascinate. If you want historic sciences, you can get that...

  • There seem to be a number of websites having been set up in Germany to highlight clan history. Like this one: https://ccsg-campbell.de/
    I suppose these might qualify as a kind of fansites.

  • Byron´s work is more personal and less accessible than Scott´s. Scott´s use of the eagle seems not only humorous, but also might be a metaphor for the landscape and / or the people inhabiting it. Byron repeatedly refers to the mountains as well as dark aspects, both of which he also evokes through historical and mythological metaphors. Both authors express...

  • Mary Macpherson´s poem has no link to the clans of old. Allan Macdougall´s poem, however, seems to echo some remnants from the past. Especially the references to Highlanders, Lowlanders and the French seem to pick up some older motives.

  • We have a line, but the Redcoats have three of their own.
    What difference can I make while their shots mow down men indiscriminately ? The shooting has started. Artillery and guns will set the scene. Swords and lances are relics of old.

  • It seems that the "government" forces had an advantage. Now, this might not be an assumption about the attraction of their cause. Maybe it was due to more coerced recruiting.

  • This was a very colourful and rich week. Thank you very much !
    I usually most enjoy the videos, which give not only the facts taught in the course, but also help enjoy the language, and I mean both English and Gaelic, as well as the landscape and historical sites.
    Of course, I´m seeing things from a standpoint of today´s world, but throughout the...

  • I think the social economic change is the real driver beneath the other mentioned factors. Clan society seems to have been a construct of the Middle Ages. It came under pressure once that Middle Age terms of societal organisation were challenged.
    The forming of the British nation that began in the 15th century was one such change. The religious changes in...

  • I think that maybe the general developments in and around the 16th century play a role. It was then that England, and later Britain as a nation, started the process that would later culminate in the building of the British Empire. It was also a time where especially England had to assert itself within the European powerbroking process. See, for example, Queen...

  • Considering that clans tried to enlargen their influence, it is probably due to the emotional character of feuds that even relatively small advances were contested in blood. I would understand a kind of political bartering through marriages or taking hostages, if need be, but openly engaging in battles over comparatively small patches of Scotland seems not...

  • I notice two strong themes. The learning and hospitality as mentioned by referring to the bards at home at his table, and the kingly and just power, strengthened by genealogy of this chief. Loved by his kindred, who support him in his military endeavours.

  • I wouldn´t even dream of contending with decades or centuries of experience.
    The only thing that might help, nowadays, would be some modern elastic bands and straps to keep everything in form and dodge one or two steps of putting the things on while lying down.

  • The tacksman seems to have needed both political / social and managerial skills. He probably acted as a mayor-like governor in the place of the chieftain, while he had to keep an eye on the economic possibilties of his flock.
    This would also have meant developing a position of authority and trust. Trust as needed from the people he oversaw as well as the clan...

  • I mentioned in an earlier comment that I would like to know a bit or two about the field to be better able to form an opinion about its possible impact on the economic field.
    Apart from this, I´ve read a number of articles over the years, which tell absolutely fascinating and mind-boggling things about quantum physics. Of course, quantum entanglement is the...

  • Good thought. Haven´t seen it from that angle.

  • Hello Joshua,
    the gold they hold will definitely be audited. I´m not sure about the redemption possibilities. But I´m sure they would indicate this on their website.
    You might also want to look into Goldmoney and Kinesis.
    These are NOT recoomendations. Please safeguard your investment decisions by speaking to a professional and doing your due diligence...

  • I don´t really remember where I first heard the term.
    Natural sciences are not my strong side. Still, I´ve tried to at least tip a toe into emerging fields here and there. Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics are just too mind-bendingly fascinating to not at least try understanding the basics.
    Also, although on a very small scale, I try to invest in the...

  • Admittedly, I´m rather late at working through the course.
    I thoroughly enjoyed the first week and found many interesting details in the presentations. One thing that I particularly noted was the cultural devide between the Gàidhealtachd and the rest of Scotland. Something I wasn´t so keenly aware of before.

  • Oral history might have advantages when it comes to certain details, that do well to make a story more colourful but might not always be deemed historically important.
    On the other hands, with the Highlands having continuously been battled over, the oral histories might have changed with allegiances. As we learned, the bards were responsible for those stories...

  • You can tell from coat of arms renditions in which period they were drawn. The early Gothic period, the Renaissance or the Baroque era all have their specific styles. This, however, doesn´t tell you anything about the true age of the coat of arms itself. An arms granted in the 12th century, for example, could be shown in differing styles used by different...

  • I suppose by "crest" you mean a coat of arms.
    Luckily, I have done that already. Please take a look here:
    https://mont-sylvain.eu/heraldry/
    Don´t worry, it´s in English, not in German.
    ;-)
    It tries to symbolise my family´s surname, which is derived from my ancestots´ main profession - making wine - and their ancestral region, the area around the...

  • I still have the idea of gold-based payments in my head. The UK company GLINT has a partnership with Mastercard and their clients have gold accounts with physical storage in London, if I remember correctly. Essentially, and somewhat similar to what Goldmoney does, the customer has paid in a certain amount, which is held in physical gold. When he or she makes...

  • The agents are monitored by the master-agents and M-Pesa tries to develop a close-knit network of agents, where agents will have to compete with each other, thus minimising the danger of local monopolies by single agents.

  • If I remember my reading correctly, the Knights Templar in Europe had a similar system indroducing cheques as "e-money", which could be converted into cash at any Templar settlement.
    One strength of the M-Pesa system might also be a weakness: the trustworthyness of the agents, which might change over time. You don´t have to study or acquire a banking licence...

  • M-Pesa seems to be designed for long-distance and 7 or across-the-border payments. Both of these issues don´t seem to be the top priority on our island. What I suppose we want is a payment system on the island itself, and later a link to the outside world.
    But let´s look at the M-Pesa system in detail and see how it operates and how it links into DM systems.

  • I would like to learn about the differences of such technologies as compared to those in place in developed markets. Also, but maybe not part of this course, I would be interested in the role cryptocurrencies might play in this regard.

  • I suppose we have customers and merchants, but do we have an issuing bank ? And we probably also don´t have someone servicing POS payment devices.

    Consequently, if we want to use the credit card system, we should stick to a mobile-based and internet-based system. Using Apple and Google Pay or Square and relaying these data to an issuer.

    As the island...

  • Very interesting and concise explanation of these security measures.
    It´s really surprising that the marketing genius of all marketing geniuses - Apple - bungled up that one.

  • We live in an age where religion has lost most of its former mystery and power. I was born into a Catholic family in Germany and although the times of being expected to adopt that creed for oneself had long been gone, I still remember the strong position it took within family life.
    So, religion is a cultural phenomenon running very deep and on several...

  • I wonder if these forms of organisation can be traced with regard to cultural changes over time. What I mean is that, for example, the strong link to the land might have evolved from pre-Christian Celtic roots.

  • I would ask the professors to further outline the techniques of EMV, tokenization and mobile-based security and then try to discuss the possibilities of these solutions for our island.

  • Speed, trust and the link to international standards and organisations.

  • Does it have to be a purely credit (!) card system ? If some customers aren´t at first trusted, why not issue debit cards to them, which must be fully paid in to use ?

  • I think the way to go would be the payment ecosystem as it is more open than a credit card system and might evolve better with new technological developments.
    But that, I believe, still doesn´t relieve us from thinking about what position we want to give to credit in general within our system. Basically, an economy without credit doesn´t work, while our...

  • This is all a function of how you organise the credit system and which rules you employ. Again, a key question here is whether we would set up our own system or join some existing outside system.

  • For me, the interesting part would be how the banks calculate the credit costs and credit risks.

  • A credit card basically veils your purchases, or rather the amounts due from them, until they hit your account with full force later.
    This means, that they might get people to buy more than they want; and, sometimes, more than they can afford. Ramping up the demand side, another form of successful marketing.

  • Both men relate to the hierachical organisation. Yet, the bard introduces a romantic moment while the lawyer undertakes a more factual analysis. Iain Maclain might see the clans from the inside; his is a "song to", something dedicated to a person, the clan chief in this case. Duncan Forbes might be well versed in clan history and politics but seems to describe...

  • 1. cash - physical money exchange
    2. money transfers - money exchange via an intermediary
    3. digital payments - employing a digital wallet, with or without further digital enhancements like an ecosystem surrounding payments and / or a social network as backdrop

    The more digital your money system gets, the quicker and less expensive with regard to...

  • The basic question would be, whether we create a new social network on and for the island or whether we join the island to an existing network from the "outside" world. The second case would then again mean the problematic reliance on another nation´s system, similar to the problem with the US-centric ACH system.

  • The discussion about abolishing cash has been going on for a while. Cash preserves anonymity, whereas digital forms of payment do not.
    This question is more an ethical and social one, which goes beyond the mere payment organisation issues. Maybe, on our island, the inhabitants should decide in a vote.

  • Setting up a digital wallet system either using PayPal or setting up a similar system still comes at the expense of it being centralised using the US-based ACH system. If we have the advantage of starting from scratch, I would advise against following that avenue. Instead I would try to explore decentralised options or options not overly relient on one...

  • That´s ok.
    However, we also need a large enough population to have more or less organised offices. The smaller the population, the less this might be needed and could be incorporated into a general administrative body looking after all the societal needs.

  • If I understood correctly, ACH is a standard used in the US only. If we further assume that our island is sovereign and aspires to stay so, I´d much rather turn to blockchain solutions.
    On the other hand PayPal and TransferWise, for example, appear to be built on ACH and they do handle international transfers. So let´s see in the next chapters how they do it....

  • Financial intermediation should be as limited as possible, which calls for the use of blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions. Here, proof-of-stake should be valued over proof-of-work concepts. For the time being, the Etherium network might be a good partner to start building financial solution on their technologies.

  • Fintech in my understanding so far was closely related to the term of disruption. I always thought that something new would brush aside the old. But from the video I learnt that there are "legacy systems", that the new can build on the old and doesn´t necessarily have to destroy it. Interesting topic to explore.
    Another thing I seem to perceive is that things...

  • Infrastructure, law and trading possibilities are the first to be looked into. Does the island have income generating trades and businesses such as tourism and the medicinal herb mentioned ?
    The next step would be going into the fintech thinking. Setting up a new currency might not really prove workable in a world of many already existing currencies. Being an...

  • I think that the word "clan" is deeply rooted in Scottish history. The word I entered on the map was "power", because I see this social structure as a pretty unique way of social organisation in medieval Europe.
    Take Germany, for example, which was broken up into many principalities and other feudal structures over centuries. But the ruling families never...

  • My name is Markus and I´m from Germany. I work as accountant in a picture agency.
    I have always been interested in history and mythology. Very early in life I fell in love with the Arthurian tales. Somehow, from then on, travelling to Europe´s western rims, reading further myths, discovering Gaelic and British culture all led to Scotland figuring ever more...

  • Hello everyone !
    My name is Markus and I live in a small town close to Cologne, Germany.
    I fell in love with British history and culture early on in my life. At a certain point I discovered that the special Scottish mixture of nature, history and a certain down-to-earth yet proud attitude of the people felt very much like a chosen home.
    Naturally, I know...

  • Markus Kalter made a comment

    I work as an account in a picture agency. For several reasons, I think that a career change or job change is on the cards for me. Actually, I´m planning to leave the accounting field and try something that I hope will address my interests and talents more favourably.

    Privately, I´m very interested in the investing and finance world. Maybe the role of...

  • One disadvantage might be the lack of counselling. Personal tax situations and planning perspective might be hard to shed light on in a robo-advisor environment.
    But, on the other hand, the opposite might be true as well. Not every bank clerk is skilled enough or allowed by his/her employer to do a fully rounded analysis of what might be the optimal solution...

  • Hello Everyone. I´m from Germany and work in a picture agency in Cologne. Although I´m working as the company´s accountant, I´m not very exposed to newer Fintech developments so far.

    Privately, I´m very interested in the investment world. I think that the newest generation of ETFs, the smart-beta ETFs, might be an example for Fintech. It´s no longer about...

  • Hello Helena, interesting idea. I think we haven´t really progressed within the realm of digital marketing beyond sending out newsletters. Using Google to develop more of a feel for our clients sounds great. However, I´m afraid that this will not meet with much praise from certain people in our organisation, who will feel their expertise and knowledge of the...

  • Coming back to my picture agency example. We have tried to organise workshops, which were aimed at transporting knowledge. However, the definition here was a direct outcome of our own self-definition. We mostly work b2b, so the workshops were photographers lecturing other photographers. That might have been interesting to a certain extent, but has its own...

  • Of course, all three agree on the importance of the mission and the values adopted. But also, in their own separate ways and different organisations, they stress the multilayered style of their approaches. Maybe something that could be addressed as network thinking. You have to be constantly aware of how things, objectives, projects and people are connected,...

  • My company doesn´t ask the "why"-question anymore. We need to relearn that. And we need to develop new communication tools. Sending out rather nondescript newsletters probably bores our clients to death.

  • With the organisation I work at, it´s all b2b. This means that marketing runs along different lines. In b2c-situations emotions, bonding and values might play an important role. But you don´t enthuse and inspire controllers in a business environment. Or, rarely, I´d say. In this kind of environment, it doesn´t do to identify values and purposes. You need to...

  • Maybe there´s even a further level to pay attention to when it comes to fundraising. Selling a product is one thing. A product is mostly clearly defined. Going back to Sinek´s talk, a computer, designed in alignment with the Why will sell like mad. But fundraising ? Is it tangible ? Does it come in a crate and does it have a specific weight ? I think, it might...