“Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.”  – Nancy Pearcy  

As a boy and later a young man growing up, I was ultra competitive and took losing very hard.  The same can be said for many people, but consider yourself fortunate if you receive the proper guidance on dealing with the short end of a sporting endeavor. If one figures out the mistakes made and how to improve those areas, ultimately you can wind up stronger in the long term.  

In nearly every field, but especially business, competition is brutal. Let’s take money management as an example. If you are a good investor and find a way to outperform market indexes (a very difficult task), you would think people would beat down the door so you can help them grow their capital. Maybe, maybe not. It turns out there are other good investors, and not just in equity investing. They can be also be found in fixed income (bonds), venture capital, real estate, commodities, private equity, hedge funds, currencies, and options. With technology, the current environment makes it so you can mix and match any one of these asset classes looking for your ideal portfolio. You know, the one where you gain 30% per year with no risk, the one everyone wants.  

Anyway, in every area of the economy the competition is fierce.  Interestingly, maybe the best investments are ones where there is lack of competition, or none at all. Oops, darn it, I might have given away an important secret to my worthy competitors. 

In the market this week, the February jobs number came in hot at 235,000, essentially making it all but certain Janet and the Federal Reserve Board will raise interest rates .25 basis points on March 14.  Elsewhere, large institutional investors are now reticent to embrace the new IPO of SNAP as the dual class structure gives them pause, even going so far as to push for SNAP to not be included in major indexes.  Another emerging area, the artist known as Bitcoin, was handed a setback late Friday as the Winklevoss twins were rejected by the SEC in their efforts to create an ETF centered around the asset. Bitcoin’s price had shot up to 1200 before retreating after the SEC’s decision. It is up significantly from the $300 level only a few years ago.