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Last year I highlighted a lecture Seth Klarman gave to a Columbia MBA class back in 2010. The video was posted on Youtube at the time, but since then it’s been made private for some reason. Because of that, I thought I’d share all my notes from his presentation. Continue Reading…
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A lot of people claim to be contrarian, but few actually are. Either, they think they’re unique in having an idea, even though everyone shares it. Or they claim it but never act.
Take Valeant Pharmaceuticals. First, imagine a stock rising to lofty heights – about $262 – from a 2009 low around $11. Had you bought it at any point before June 2015, you would have made money.
Then August came with bad news and the hits just kept on coming. The stock collapsed 87% from its highs to $35. Continue Reading…
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With the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting right around the corner, I thought I’d dig through the site to unearth a few nuggets of Buffett wisdom that I’ve collected over the years. Continue Reading…
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Volatility gets way to much attention. It’s almost as if investors are codependent on the short-term twitches in the market. They need it, just know the market is working for them. And good ole Mr. Market loves the attention.
Jason Zweig summed this up nicely in a short article: Volatility: In the Eye of the Beholder. In it, he included this image showing volatility over three different periods. Continue Reading…
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I sat down with Brian Bain, on the Investor in the Family podcast, to discuss investing and my early life in the finance industry. Brian’s had a bunch of great guests in the past. You can find the episode on iTunes or at Investor in the Family.
It was a fun experience, though I have a newfound respect for the recorded medium. Writing – with the ability to edit – is a lot less nerve-racking than a live interview. So, if I sound like a rambling fool, I’m blaming first-time jitters.
Anyways, I thought I’d expand a bit on my past experience in the industry since I rarely cover it here. Continue Reading…
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Morgan Housel wrote a great piece on why it’s so hard to predict outcomes. Really, it’s about feelings.
How investors feel about stocks five years from now will have a big impact on performance between now and then. If you could semi-accurately predict broader shifts in market mood, you’d do fairly well for yourself. Except, predicting how people will feel in the future is just as hard as predicting everything else about the future. Continue Reading…