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November 22, 2008

Insurance Sector Actionable Intelligence Note, Made Public
by Reggie Middleton

I recieved an email from a reporter yesterday inquiring into insurers, which prompted me to release the timely subscription content regarding the Hartford Insurance Group to the public. I grabbed a substantial position in early October, and released a timely actionable intelligence note on October seventeenth, followed up by a significant amount of research. Kudos and big ups go out to my team for doing a phenomonal job crystallizing my strategy. HIG has joined, or is close to joining the increasingly growing 200%+ return on cash investment club.

I picked up on the Hartford after investigating other life insurers, specifically Metropolitan, and found HIG to be the worst of the pack.

Hartford's yields have spiked into junk territory (pretty much where they belong)

Hartford's CDS spreads have blown by a multiple of 4x to 8x

The Hartford Insurance Group is insolvent, as liabilities currently are the equivalent or more than its tangible assets, and thier core investment sector (the financial services industry) adds to those losses literally on a daily basis

This is a graphical depiction of Hartfords own reporting of net outflows - A literal "Run on the Bank" (well, actually insurer).

Previously booked future gains are unraveling rapidly

The general public now has access to the research since the Hartford has pretty much run its course for blog subscribers.

Here is a spreadsheet formally for professional subscribers detailing the exposuse of the top 200 Hartford debt holders that I was able to dig up on short notice - more work definitely needs to be done, along with a target on the top 10. Notice that the top 10 have significant exposure.

Hartford Insurance Group spreads and counterparty/debt holders - pro (149 kB 2008-11-01 09:39:04) This is an Excel 2007 binary document, and either the newest version of excel or equivalent excel reader will be needed to acceess it.

The following are an additional smattering of the stuff my subscribers used to benefit from my research and investment positions, now all free:

10/25/08 Insurance Industry Update - Professional w/inventory addendum (7.5 MB 2008-10-27 03:00:37)

Hartford Insurance Group Forensic Analysis - Pro (619.29 kB 2008-11-06 08:44:34)

Reggie Middleton
Reggie Middleton, LLC
Perpetual Interests, LLCTM
http://boombustblog.com/

Who am I?

Well, I fancy myself the personification of the free thinking maverick, the ultimate non-conformist as it applies to investment and analysis. I am definitively outside the box - not your typical or stereotypical Wall Street investor. I work out of my home, not a Manhattan office. I build my own technology and perform my own research - in lieu of buying it or following the crowd. I create and follow my own macro strategies and am by definition, a contrarian to the nth degree.

Since I use my research as a tool for my own investing to actually put food on my table, I can stand behind it as doing what it is supposed too - educate, illustrate and elucidate. I do not sell advice, I am not a reporter hence do not sell stories, and I do not sell research. I am an entrepreneur who exists just outside of mainstream corporate America and Wall Street. This allows me freedom to do things that many can not. For instance, I pride myself on developing some of the highest quality research available, regardless of price. No conflicts of interest, no corporate politics, no special favors. Just the hard truth as I have found it - and believe me, my team and I do find it! I welcome any and all to peruse my blog, use my custom hacked collaborative social tools, read the articles, download the files, and make a critical comparison of the opinion referencing the situation at hand and the time stamp on the blog post to the reality both at the time of the post and the present. Hopefully, you will be as impressed with the Boom Bust as I am and our constituency.

I pay for significant information and data, and am well aware of the value of quality research. I find most currently available research lacking, in both quality and quantity. The reason why I had to create my own research staff was due to my dissatisfaction with what was currently available - to both individuals and institutions.

So here I am, creating my own research for my own investment activity. What really sets my actions apart is that I offer much of what I produce to the public without charge - free to distribute and redistribute, as long as it is left unaltered and full attribution is given to the author and owner. Why would I do such a thing when others easily charge 5 and 6 digits annually for what some may consider a lesser product? It is akin to open source analysis! My ideas and implementations are actually improved and fine tuned when bounced off of the collective intellect of the many, in lieu of that of the few - no matter how smart those few may believe themselves to be.

Very recently, I have started charging for the forensics portion of my work, which has freed up the resources to develop the site to deliver even more research for free, particularly on the global macro and opinion front. This move has allowed me to serve an more diverse constituency, which now includes the institutional consumer (ie., investment turned consumer banks, hedge funds, pensions, etc,) as well as the newbie individual investor who is just getting started - basically the two polar opposites of the investing spectrum. I am proud to announce major banks as paying clients, and brand new investors who take my book recommendations and opinions on true wealth and success to heart.

So, this is how I use my background and knowledge in new media, distributed computing, risk management, insurance, financial engineering, real estate, corporate valuation and financial analysis to pursue, analyze and capitalize on global macroeconomic opportunities. I have included a more in depth bio at the bottom of the page for those who really, really need to know more about me.

Visit his blog Boom Bust Blog.

Copyright © 2007-2009 Reggie Middleton

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