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We’re a few weeks removed from Brexit and I think it’s safe to say the sky hasn’t fallen…yet.
I don’t have an opinion on the vote or the potential impact it might have either, but Jeremy Seigel did a podcast explaining much of it if you’re into that sort of thing.
The response to Brexit was a reminder to something that’s been playing out like a broken record since 2008 (since forever really). Continue Reading…
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Midway through the year, I update the different asset tables with first-half returns. It’s July, so time for an update.
Before I begin, here’s a quick reminder. The tables are meant to offer basic lessons on diversification, market cycles, and mean reversion.
The only other constant beyond that is the lack of consistency from one year to the next. In time, best performers become worst performers – expensive becomes cheap – and vice versa. And the benefit of middling is apparent. A diversified portfolio forsakes the best returns in order to avoid the worst. Continue Reading…
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I’m going to keep this brief because it’s a holiday weekend.
Thursday ended the first half of 2016. It wasn’t the greatest first half to a year, but they can’t all be greatest either. The S&P 500 traveled a lot, yet went nowhere the past six months. All that bouncing around to get nothing can be frustrating. Continue Reading…
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Before Warren Buffett took control of Berkshire, he ran Buffett Partnership from 1956 to 1969. His early partnership letters have been floating around the internet for some time.
Recently, I printed all the letters to read through chronologically. I’m only through the first five years (and will have more once I’m finished) but I thought I’d share a few takeaways from the first few years. Continue Reading…
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There are two competing ideas around handling financial news. Either check your statements once a year while you try your best to ignore all the news noise. The other is to listen to everything until you learn to filter the news from the noise. Despite what people say, there are pros and cons to both.
I bring this up because the last post highlighted a Seth Klarman interview in which he was asked about how he avoids groupthink. I touched upon it briefly and wanted to expand on it. The answer he gave was an example: Continue Reading…
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Jason Zweig interviewed Seth Klarman at a conference back in 2010. I recently dug up the transcript and wanted to highlight a few parts. The entire interview is a worthy read because Klarman always has good insights to share.
The interview also offers a reminder of the prevailing groupthink just two years after the financial crisis. If you paid attention to the financial news at the time, you might remember the constant coverage of inflation worries, gold as the answer, a double-dip recession, and the EU breaking up. Continue Reading…