As Mark Twain said, a person who won’t read has no real advantage over a person who can’t read. It makes no sense to refuse to learn vicariously.
Atomic Habits
James Clear provides numerous practical and actionable insights to help readers develop and maintain better habits in the long run.
The Crazy Election of 1800
The first transition of executive power between rival political parties took place after the election of 1800 and it did not go smoothly.
Reward and Punishment Superresponse Tendency
Charlie Munger has said that one should never think about anything else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives. Poorly thought out incentive systems cause harm.
The Case for U.S. Savings Bonds
Few investments are as boring as savings bonds but they can play an important part of a portfolio. This is especially true based on interest rate conditions in the early 2020s.
The Psychology of Money
“Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich, not because I wanted Ferraris — I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it.” — Charlie Munger The world can appear vastly unequal in terms of the goods and services
The Illusion of Control
As much as we would like to believe that we are in full control of our lives, the reality is that much is out of our hands. Stoicism helps us deal with life’s inevitable uncertainties.
The Power of Morning Pages
Morning pages is an effective form of journaling in which one sits down to write a few pages of “stream of consciousness” thoughts right after waking up.
Going the Distance
To go the distance, you must pace yourself whether the race you are running is a marathon or saving and investing money for your financial security.
Deprival-Superreaction Tendency
Human beings feel the pain of loss much more intensely than the pleasure of an equivalent gain and there are important consequences stemming from this tendency.
Capital Allocation: The Financials of a New England Textile Mill
On a spring day in 1964, Warren Buffett received a letter from Seabury Stanton offering to purchase the Buffett Partnership’s stake in Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett and Stanton had agreed to a price of $11.50 but Stanton’s letter offered only $11.375. This annoyed the thirty-three year old Buffett and he started buying more shares starting his long journey of transforming Berkshire Hathaway into what it is today.
Lighthouse: Women Leading the Way in Finance
Maya Peterson wrote Lighthouse to inspire and empower women to study “female lighthouses in the world of finance.” While these women have navigated different paths, what they have in common is the shared experience of being women in a male-dominated field and how they found ways to overcome challenges. Although young women embarking on their careers will find the stories highly relevant, all readers should be able to draw lessons from the book.
Buffett’s SEC Filing Implies Repurchases
On July 8, Warren Buffett submitted a regulatory filing to document his annual contributions of Berkshire Hathaway stock to several charitable foundations. The filing included the total number of shares Buffett held as of July 8 along with the percentage of economic interest of Berkshire he controlled as of that date. Sharp-eyed investors and journalists noted that the disclosure implied that Berkshire has been repurchasing shares.
The Irrational Tax Trap
As an investor, are you making rational decisions when it comes to taxes?
Everyone obviously likes to think that they are rational, but it is quite likely that tax considerations have hurt your results over time. However, hindsight bias and a human tendency to remember triumphs while relegating errors to the deep recesses of memory makes it likely that we have forgotten cases where tax considerations hurt us.
The Buffalo News: From Butler to Buffett
From Butler to Buffett provides a great example of the evolution of newspapers from the late nineteenth century up through the consolidation of the industry that was largely complete a hundred years later. Murray Light provides a fascinating account of how the paper transformed from a scrappy startup founded in 1873 into the only surviving newspaper in the city 110 years later following Buffett’s acquisition of the paper.
Summer Book Recommendations for 2020
Summer is a great time to get away from the business world. Although taking a vacation during a pandemic can involve overcoming a number of issues, it is always possible to take a virtual vacation through the pages of a great book. The mini-reviews in this article cover a range of topics, most unrelated to the business world, and hopefully a few of them will spark an interest this summer.
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Robert Moses came of age at the dawn of the twentieth century and shaped the New York metropolitan region in ways that continue to have profound impacts on the lives of its inhabitants to this day. As his biographer points out, it is impossible to say that New York would have evolved into a better city if Robert Moses never lived. But it is possible to say that New York would be a very different city.
What’s Your Magic Number?
The goal of financial independence is best viewed as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Simply defined, financial independence is achieved when a person can generate a stream of cash flows from accumulated assets that exceeds his or her spending needs. No specific “magic number” translates into independence for everyone.