Quote for the Week
Every once in awhile, people can keep a horse a secret who is making his first start, and there is a tendency towards larceny in the hearts of horseplayers. But this doesn’t happen very often and this is a pretty well-regulated sport. Nevertheless, participants in racing (owners, trainers, etc.) would rather steal a nickel than earn a dime. They all think that they’ve got big secret information. Just for the sport of it, I once kept track of a year’s worth of tips that I received – the ROI was horrendous, less than 50 percent. I worked at the tracks in New York for several years. They had betting windows on the back stretch just for the help and the trainers. Out of morbid curiosity, I looked to see how well those windows did - the take was much higher there than anywhere else at the track. I am personally skeptical of pronouncements by people who claim to have specialized knowledge because most of the time, they are saying it for reasons of ego – they want to look important, and I am immediately skeptical. It pays to be skeptical. — Steven Crist (source)
From the Archives
Last Call
- Poor Charlie’s Almanack (free online edition) – Stripe Press
- Charlie Munger’s Final CNBC interview (video) – CNBC
- A Conversation with Charlie Munger & John Collison (podcast) – Invest Like the Best
- Learning from UCLA’s John Wooden – Investment Master Class
- Chinks In The Armor – Investor Amnesia
- An Exhaustive Debunking of the Dumbest Myths About Social Security – LA Times
- Extracting Coca-Cola: An Environmental History – Daily JSTOR
- 52 things I learned in 2023 – T. Whitwell
- 75 Facts from 2023 – Idea Farm