Interview with Florian Homm
Image provided by Tom Solo Int. All rights reserved.
This exclusive interview with former investment banker
Florian Homm was conducted in Kronberg, Germany by Nicola Linza and Cristoffer
Neljesjö during March 2017.
What was most fascinating for you about finance that drove you to work
on Wall Street?
I started my first investment venture as a freshman at Harvard College in 1979. I doubled my modest savings in a takeover of a company called Sunbeam in a few days. Then I speculated wildly using massive leverage in a penny stock (BFI communications), made a million dollars, then lost much of it through a commodities broker, who burned and churned my account overriding my strict orders, even though my huge bet on copper was perfect appreciating 60 percent. It was all very exciting, at times vulgar and sometimes rather brainy at the same time. I enjoyed the diversity and range of the subject matter of investing and investment banking; the steep learning curve.
What was it like working for Peter Lynch in the 1980s? Describe a
typical day from the time you get dressed to the time you go to bed.
Quite frankly, hilarious. Peter might give you as little as 30 seconds to pitch your idea. I had an absurdly good run with shipping stocks during my time at Fidelity with average returns of 700 percent over a few years. So Peter listened more attentively to me for about 200 seconds when I came to see him, which were three or four times a week. The man was so levelheaded (no issues with fear or greed), a great listener, an investor who would dig very deep to understand the key variables that made a company, even more so a sector - a winner / out performer. Okay, for balanced, relatively normal people he may seem emotionally detached, even awkward, but it was an enormous gift to learn from him. His UK counterpart was Anthony Bolton, no less brilliant and successful and I had a chance to learn the trade from him as well. Most of the great investors I know are a bit strange. My scheduling was bizarre. I was managing a fund and expected to author two company reports a month and two industry reports per year. I would often procrastinate, preferring basketball on the Boston playgrounds, but at some point I would become obsessive, stay awake for three days and nights and dig very deep. My intention was to gather unique insights, develop a competitive edge over the best analytical minds in the sectors I followed. At times I succeeded. That was gratifying.
I do view things differently, probably genetically.
However, the dimwit factor at Fidelity was also quite high at the time. Too
many “professionals” always knew everything, yet their performance was pathetic
or insanely erratic. Obviously they knew very little and had overblown egos.
That’s not a good combination for superior performance. Being around these,
self-congratulating clowns was highly demotivating.
You disappeared in 2007 and subsequently arrested at the Uffizi Gallery
what was the first thing on your mind at the time of your arrest?
That was a messy scene, because my son, his girlfriend and my former wife were with me. There were shock and total disbelief written over their faces. I read their facial expressions. Outwardly I remained very cool. I was even polite to the five officers arresting me. I knew nothing would be gained by being a bitch. These guys, as a consequence, treated me decently. Because I had worked as an English tutor at one of the worst maximum security prisons during college, and had played basketball in slums in Boston, New York and Detroit I was not too phased. I was thinking intensely, what can I do to make the best of this utterly life changing situation? How do I deal with this right now and make the best of it?
Is there anything you regret doing or not doing?
This would take about 6,458 hours, 34 minutes and 12 seconds. Major regrets: not finding or seeking faith and a true purpose much earlier in life (faith). Not realising I was already in paradise after my second retirement in 2000 and returning to the hedge fund industry in late 2001. Not being a better character to my girlfriends and wife. Not being closer and more accessible to my children until they were about twelve. Losing my wife and soul mate.
Have you found the meaning of life, what is it?
Without any doubt: love, giving, leading a purposeful life, faith, integrity and hope.
What does luxury mean to you?
Time and the freedom to allocate it lovingly and purposefully. That could mean Diogenes style freedom or a civilised lifestyle (without jets, palaces, super yachts) but with a nice home, good food and a decent ride. For now I prefer the latter, but I do not know what God has in store for me. I spent 15 months in the antechamber of hell and prefer not to experience that ever again. Good health.
How would you describe your personal style?
Intense, authentic, direct, contrarian, lateral thinker, highly unconventional, faithful. I am working on issues such as empathy, consideration and charity.
What is your view on Wall Street and economy in The West today?
It is a completely rigged game with massive market and interest rate manipulation, false macro-economic data, massive interventionism, absurd debt levels and an ever growing divide between the ultra rich and everybody else. The end game. I wrote a bestseller about this topic (Endspiel) predicting a Japan like sclerosis or a market crash between now and the end of 2019.
If you could have your portrait done by anyone at any time who would it
be and why?
I am quite mad about art and like your art features. But it would be Henry Ossawa Tanner. After my involuntary Italian vacation, even today, his work inspires me, especially the subject of Jesus and Mary. He paints faith with his brush. I am certain he would capture my little essence and my conversion.
Briefly could you tell us a bit about a really cool and fun night out in
New York during your Wall Street days?
Going through my South and Central American client
list at Merrill Lynch and making ten thousand dollars in about three hours of
work. Then heading to the South Bronx to play with my basketball team, which
included NBA, NCAA and playground standouts like Gus Williams or Tony Price.
Then having a little cocktail party at my posh flat with about five or six hot
chicks and their loser dates, heading to a club with my Porsche with some
starlet, then doing a few lines of blow with a Gambino family lawyer and getting
laid around three AM by this stunning blond goddess who was visiting me from
Germany, while overlooking the Hudson and Times Square from my oversized
bed.
The above interview with Florian Homm 2017 © Manner of Man Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.
