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History and math. Those were my favorite subjects growing up. Still are, mostly. The math I do is very basic compared what I learned. History hasn’t changed. There’s something about the past – where we came from and how we got here – that is always intriguing.
I came across this the other day in The Snowball: Continue Reading…
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Ben Graham wrote a series of articles for Forbes in the summer of 1932. The basis for the articles was to get some relief to existing shareholders during the worst of the Great Depression. He had this wild idea that management should put shareholders first. And in turn, it offers a perspective of market history you won’t find in a chart.
At the time, many companies were hoarding cash – collected a few years earlier near the market peak – due to the uncertainty surrounding the economy. Yet, these companies were selling for less than their asset value and, in some cases, selling for less than their cash equivalents. Continue Reading…
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AAII is on a roll with great interviews this month. I highlighted one with Philip Tetlock a few weeks ago and somehow overlooked another with Bill Bernstein.
The conversation works around the idea of being wrong but setting yourself up for minimal losses when it happens. Of course, this is the basis of value investing. Margin of safety, capital preservation, avoiding big losses, why Buffett asks “What could go wrong?”, and even diversification is built around this concept. It’s something many investors overlook because they’re so keyed into the story, the promises, and the possibilities of everything going right.
Continue Reading…
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This is the fifth and final post to close out The Intelligent Investor series. I’ve been sharing some of Ben Graham’s timeless wisdom, four chapters at a time. You can find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
This post covers chapters seventeen to twenty. In chapter 17, Graham points out the lessons from four “extreme” cases that often get repeated in history. Then Graham compares sixteen recent stocks (recent for 1972) to show just how different one stock is from another. In Chapter 19, he takes a dig at management and offers his thoughts on dividend policy. He wraps up the book with a chapter on margin of safety – the most important concept of value investing – and finishes it off with his four principles. Continue Reading…
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I started digging into The Long Term Asset Return Study released by Deutsche Bank a few weeks ago. The 90 odd page report takes a dive into asset returns over the last century and digs into the past 35 years to project how the next few decades might look.
Most of the projections revolve around shifting demographics and globalization and its broad impact on developed and emerging economies. The outward spread of globalization has been ongoing since the ’80s. It should be no surprise to see some of that revert in the years ahead. Recent political rhetoric seems to be fanning the flames, at least, on globalization. Continue Reading…
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This is part four of The Intelligent Investor series. I’ve been going through my notes from the book – four chapters at a time – and sharing some of Ben Graham’s timeless wisdom. You can find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
This post covers chapters thirteen through sixteen, which offered a case study on four listed companies, went more in-depth on stock selection for the defensive and enterprising investors, and, finally, Graham’s views on convertible issues. Continue Reading…