V.17:12 (552-547): Interview: Jonathan Hoenig Of Capitalist Pig by John Sweeney and Bruce Faber

On Generation X -- Jonathan Hoenig Of CapitalistPig

Generation X: You love ’em, you hate ’em, or you are ’em. Generation X, the generation after the Baby Boomers, are finally at the stage in their lives that they have money to trade with. Trader Jonathan Hoenig, whom Forbes called “the voice of finance for Generation X,” hosts an investment radio show aimed at GenXers called “CapitalistPig.” He also writes a monthly financial column, makes frequent television appearances, writes newsletters on the Internet, and in general speaks on the limitless opportunity available in trading and investing for Generation X. Not only that, Hoenig, who is 23, has been trading since his teens and is active both on the Mid-American Exchange for futures and through electronic brokers in equities. He has also written a book, Greed Is Good: The Capitalist Pig Guide To Investing, which, curiously, is a conventional, if irreverent, step-by-step to building your portfolio. Through it all, Jonathan speaks to his listeners with candor you’d expect over beer and pretzels at your local bar. Interim Editor John Sweeney and Staff Writer Bruce Faber interviewed Jonathan Hoenig via telephone on August 26, 1999, asking him, among other things, why he prefers commodities over stocks, why he believes that open outcry is on its way out, the difference between investing and trading and why it’s important for GenXers, and why his heroes are Karl Marx, Hugh Hefner, and the character “Gordon Gekko” from the movie Wall Street.