The Rational Walk publishes articles on topics including investing, personal finance, and worldly wisdom encompassing multiple disciplines. Many book reviews on a wide range of subjects have been published over the years. There is a Berkshire Hathaway resource page available for readers with a specific interest in the company. The Rational Walk was founded in 2009 and contains hundreds of articles, all of which are available in the full archive.
Rational Reflections is a newsletter covering current events, investing, personal finance, philosophy, book reviews, and more.
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Recent Articles
This post is a list of books that I read in the second quarter of 2022, most notably two classic titles by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov
Soul in the Game is a difficult book to categorize. Is it a memoir? A book on stoicism? A book on classical music? It is none of these things in isolation, but all of these things in combination.
Sometimes, it is a good idea to purposely "throw sand in the gears" in order to force yourself to slow down during bear markets. This is necessary to avoid mistakes.
Recent research suggests that inflation, adjusted for methodology changes, is getting close to the peak of the early 1980s, casting doubt on the sufficiency of the Fed's response.
Politicians and economists seem baffled by low consumer confidence in the midst of low unemployment. One explanation is that rampant inflation is hammering the poor.
Consumer behavior can often seem crazy. But if a successful company is built around "irrational" behavior, chances are that you might be missing something important.
If reading Benjamin Graham represents "vaccination" against speculation, then having a small “mad money” account could be a form of "variolation".
The Rational Walk is no longer on Twitter after thirteen years of using the platform. Readers should consider subscribing to Rational Reflections to receive new content.
This article is the first in a series about the dialysis industry. It was originally published on Rational Reflections, an email newsletter published by The Rational Walk.
If you are a long-term investor, it is pointless to update the quotes for your portfolio on a daily basis. There is simply too much day-to-day noise to make this exercise meaningful.
Financial independence enabling early retirement is a worthy goal, but there are important considerations that are often ignored by the FIRE movement.
The rise of passive investing is the topic of Robin Wigglesworth’s recent book, Trillions: How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented the Index Fund and Changed Finance Forever.
We can learn a great deal about business and capital allocation by studying Tom Murphy’s long and successful career in broadcasting.
This post is a list of books that I read in the first quarter of 2022, most notably two classic titles by Leo Tolstoy: War & Peace and Anna Karenina.
Optimization is generally positive but it can be taken too far. When the cost of redundancy is low and the cost of falling short is high, accepting redundancy can make sense.
The underlying science that made COVID-19 vaccines possible is the product of decades of painstaking research, well described in "A Shot to Save the World".
Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to acquire Alleghany for $11.6 billion. The offer values Alleghany at 1.26x book value. This article examines the specifics of the deal.
Most corporate directors have minimal skin in the game. Berkshire Hathaway is a notable exception. This article looks at the ownership interest of each Berkshire director.
Berkshire Hathaway's dual class share structure concentrates voting power with Class A shareholders. This advantage will become much more important in the future.
This article explores selected items from Warren Buffett's 2021 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders and also includes a detailed analysis of recent share repurchases.
In 1796, George Washington left his countrymen with insights on factionalism, respect for the constitution, separation of powers, debt, taxes, and foreign policy.
Joe Coulombe founded Trader Joe's in 1967. Over the next quarter century, Coulombe grew Trader Joe's into a much loved and trusted brand. His memoir shares the secrets of his achievements.
Trading bans for members of Congress and other government officials risk sending the wrong message about the capitalist system. Sunlight is a far better disinfectant.
Christopher Leonard's book examines the history, controversies, and internal dissent surrounding the Federal Reserve's increasingly unconventional monetary policy during the 2010s.