Excellent interview with Ranting Andy Hoffman of Miles Franklin that was aired especially for members of The Good Ship SS. Big thanks to Ronnie666 for his efforts in organizing this [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xstbLTPWAvI[/youtube] Andy Hoffman Bio Andrew "Ranting Andy" Hoffman, CFA, has been Marketing Director of Miles Franklin Precious Metals since October 2011; and since 2004, has been writing free commentaries focusing on gold, silver and macroeconomics. Initially, his missives appeared on the Gold Anti-Trust Action (GATA) website, followed by Baby Bulls, and now, the Miles Franklin blog, where he publishes five days a week. In 2002, Andy changed his focus from energy to precious metals and worked five years as VP of Investor Relations, head of Corporate Development and consultant to dozens of junior mining companies. Over time, Hoffman became less enamored with paper precious metals investments and more on physical metals and thereafter joined US-based bullion dealer Miles Franklin as Marketing Director. Hoffman worked as a US-based buy-side and sell-side analyst for a decade, including as an II-ranked oil service analyst at Salomon Smith Barney from 1999 through 2005. Background: Born in New York, Andy graduated SUNY Albany in 1992. Starting with internships at Paine Webber, Prudential Bache, Merrill Lynch, A.G. Edwards and Shearson Lehman Brothers, Andy's Wall Street career spanned 16 years, encompassing essentially all aspects of the business. His first position was in compliance at S.G. Warburg, followed by three years trading US and Canadian government bonds at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities. He then moved to the buy-side in 1996, as a hedge fund trader/analyst for Kensington Partners. Upon earning his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification in 1998, he joined Southcoast Capital in New Orleans as an oilfield service, equipment and drilling analyst from which he was promptly recruited back to Manhattan to do the same for Salomon Smith Barney. From 1999-2005, he was an oilfield service analyst for their Institutional-Investor ranked analyst team, but starting in 2002, started to focus his personal investments entirely on Precious Metals. In 2005, he consciously left Wall Street for good, disenchanted by the conflicts of interest and corruption he witnessed firsthand, and in 2007, moved from New York to Denver, Colorado, where he increased his focus on Precious Metals, both personally and professionally. From 2007-2011, he worked as an Investor Relations Officer and/or Consultant to dozens of junior mining companies; but by the end of this tenure had become skeptical of ALL paper investments. Since joining Miles Franklin in October 2011, he has been a champion of investing in "real money" and a "whistleblower" of sorts, against the very Wall Street establishments he worked for.
