Skip to main content

Johannes DeWaal Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08

Johannes DeWaal
N/A

Afternoon,

I was recently notified about some potential regulation that may impact the ability for ordinary people to invest in complex investments, particularly leveraged funds.

This is troubling to me. In the last 5 years I have been studying investment strategies and just recently took the series 65 with the hopes of helping other people with their investment goals. My studies have had a particularly quantitative bent to them as I am an engineer as well. This has lead me to be increasingly interested in things most investors would consider "complex".

I understand that due to the analysis required to effectively invest, as well as the potential volatility of these investments, that they are not for everyone. However the more I research these investment options the more I see the potential for them to help in the right circumstances. After all, an optimally leveraged asset will produce the best long term returns, and as a relatively young investor myself, already working toward retirement, it may make sense to have a percentage of my savings in aggressive leveraged positions, in the same way that I might want a percentage in more conservative investments.

In the end leveraged funds are just a convenient way to increase or decrease the aggressiveness of a portfolio. The same could be said for options, margin, and even different sectors of investment.

While I understand the impulse to limit risk, especially for those who are unaware of it, it is important to remember that these decisions are our own, and are calculated risks.

I personally have lost money in the last few months investing in leveraged funds as the markets have declined, but this has been a risk I understood and even expected from the start. I think it is very likely I will lose more money in the coming months, but in this time I will redistribute more of my conservative investments into more aggressive ones, and with some luck in a few years I'll have still made a good return.

The ability to control the degree of risk in you portfolio based on age/income/risk tolerance is critical to investing. This ability to control my own level of risk is made substantially easier through the use of leveraged funds and options. To invest without this ability would be like fighting with one hand tied behind my back.

I know that I am already well prepared for investing in this way, but I hope that in the future I am able to educate and advise others to help them more effectively invest. Even if these restrictions do not effect me personally they will no doubt effect many others I hope to someday advise.

Risk is inherent to all investments, please do not restrict my ability to control that risk.