"I just hate how much of a black box it is." Not sure I share...

"I just hate how much of a black box it is."

Not sure I share that characterisation.

To me, the term "black box" connotes business models for which it is difficult to determine the revenue model, i.e., how they actually make their money.

ENN a pretty stock-standard, garden variety asset management business, making it pretty easy to know how they make their money; it's just that the exact timing of knowing when they make more money than other times, is indeterminate.

But for the patient investor the important part is not getting that timing right; it's being right in believing that, at some point in the future, the commercial real estate market will once again move from hostile-to-benign-to-friendly, which will result in ENN once again generating above-average fees, hence profits.

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