I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
– Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Philosophy
Octant seeks to invest deliberately, with intent and intelligence. We want to find thoughtful, intelligent approaches to achieving investment objectives. We believe that buy-and-hold is a decision, even if it doesn’t feel like one, so you might as well be intentional about your investing–however you choose to invest. We believe, however, that there are better ways.
Octant focuses on quantitative methods to research investment ideas, based on trying to identify strategies that have generated long-term, strong returns or achieved a specific objective. The following tenants are cornerstones of Octant’s investment philosophy and explain Octant’s investment approach:
Reject Average. Seek Exceptional.
Deliberate, Quantitative, Systematic:
Octant believes that the use of historical research and testing when creating investment strategies provides valuable insights into potential investment strategies, above and beyond what is available with more ad hoc, qualitative approaches. Octant believes deliberate, quantitative and systematic methods increase the likelihood of achieving an investor’s desired investment objective.
Enduring Market Patterns Exist:
Octant believes that there are identifiable patterns, or tendencies, in the market. Octant also believes that there are inefficiencies in the market. Many of these inefficiencies are created from investors’ behavioral biases, which provide opportunities for active investors. Octant seeks to identify and profit from these investor behavioral and market pricing patterns.
Simplicity Trumps Complexity:
Investing is not like gymnastics–there are no ‘extra’ points for difficulty. So, if you can explain something simply, doing so is typically the better approach. Particularly when dealing with its investment strategies and their underlying algorithms, Octant believes that simplicity is often more reliable than complexity.