Novel Investor

Not long after telegraph and telephone lines were strung across the U.S, the wireless telegraph was invented by Guglielmo Marconi. His two-way radio broadcast transmitted telegraph signals long distances without any wires.

Marconi recognized the disruptive potential of his new invention and sought out investors in England to fund his new venture. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company was formed in 1897.

A similar story played out across the pond in Chicago. Lee De Forest, fresh out of Yale, took a job as a laboratory assistant. De Forest joined Edwin Smythe and Clarence Freeman to help build their own wireless apparatus. In 1901, they successfully sent a communication to a yacht five miles off the coast of Lake Michigan.

The three quickly realized the business potential. All they needed was capital. So De Forest traveled to New York to find investors and form a company. He found Henry Snyder, a promoter, who scrounged up $3,000 from five investors and incorporated the Wireless Telegraph Company of America in New Jersey.

But it was Abraham White who changed the fate of their company forever. White was a self-made speculator who once made $100,000 on a 44-cent gamble. White immediately saw the potential of wireless technology to enrich himself and cooked up a scheme to make it possible: Continue Reading…

The stock market is a giant distraction machine that drives investors to act against their best interests. The daily price swings. The clickbaity headlines. The 280-character hot takes on social media. Every bit of it feeds speculative urges and subtracts from long-term success.

What does matter? Timeless investing principles exist to remind us of the simple concepts that drive success. Focusing on the long run, avoiding excessive risks, keeping costs low, limiting the number of trades, and understanding what’s in your portfolio are examples of common sense ideas that have kept investors out of trouble for a few centuries.

A case in point is a list of investment principles by Morrell Walker Gaines in his 1922 book, The Art of Investment, that could have been written yesterday. He intended for the book to be a foundation for the average investor to learn from and build off.

What’s interesting is that Gaines had similar beliefs as Ben Graham. His seven principles are based on value, prioritize investment over speculation, and proposed that investing should be treated as a business. Continue Reading…

The story of markets is one of transition. Bull markets, taken to excess, lead to bear markets and back again. The first half of 2022 saw the transition to a bear market in stocks.

Yet, investors expecting their bond allocation to pick up the slack due to the decline in stocks were disappointed. Uncertainty around inflation and rising interest rates negatively hit bond prices, making it one of the worst starts to the year for both stock and bonds.

Bear markets are never enjoyable but they have some benefits. First, bear markets wash away the widespread complacency and easy money mentality in late-stage bull markets. Investing is never easy, but there are moments in the market cycle where it appears that way. Investors who confuse ease with a rising market get punished the most when the market turns.

Second, bear markets test your tolerance to drawdowns. If the performance of your portfolio makes you queasy, now is a great time to tweak your asset allocation to something you can stomach. This is especially true if this is your first bear market. Remember, you’ll never eliminate losses from your portfolio. The key is to find an asset allocation that fits your risk tolerance so you can stick to it in good times and bad.

Third, bear markets are long-term buying opportunities. Investors who diligently add new money to their portfolios every month bought stocks at lower and lower valuations over the past six months. And lower valuations lead to better returns. Continue Reading…

Here’s what I’ve been reading the past three months:

• The Great Depression: A Diary – Benjamin Roth was an Ohio lawyer who lived through the Great Depression. In 1931, he realized that the country was going through a financially significant moment, so he began a diary. The book is a collection of his diary entries that describe how people coped with the economy and financial markets from 1931 to 1941. It’s a great book for financial history buffs. (notes)
• There’s Always Something to Do – Peter Cundill was a Canadian investor who outperformed the market over his career. He happened about Graham’s deep value approach and applied it globally. The book covers Cundill’s investment career, dives into specific investments, and frequently pulls directly from his journal entries, which he kept for 45 years. (notes)
• Lessons from Century Club Companies – It’s a perfect little book for investors and business managers based on a study of 100-year-old companies. The author covers the unique characteristics that allowed these companies to survive for over a century. (notes)
• High Returns from Low Risk – The author explains why the low vol anomaly exists and offers one example of how to build a portfolio to take advantage of it. I’ve been testing a low vol strategy and read the book to confirm I was on the right track. (notes)
• Your Complete Guide to Factor-Based Investing – The Guide filters the factor zoo down to the most persistent factors like size, value, momentum, and quality. The author then breaks down each factor by summarizing the research, why it persists, and how it fits in a portfolio. The book is perfect for anyone who wants an intro to factor research or to fill in any gaps from the research you might have missed.

Continue Reading…