The Digest
Periodic compilations of short original essays and links to articles, podcasts, and videos. Readers can receive new issues via email by signing up for a subscription.
Guard your time, Tributes to Charlie Munger, Social media traps, The margin of illusion, AI colonoscopies, Advice on tipping, Alcohol and cardiovascular risks, Nicomachean ethics
Berkshire countersues Pilot's founders, Meta targeting teens, Title Insurance, Moats & capital allocation, CAVA's origin, VISA's history, Business lessons from Tom Murphy
Remembering Charlie Munger
Found Money, OpenAI drama, GLP-1 drug studies, Estée Lauder, Heart valve technology, Edwin Land, John Oliver skewers dollar stores, Apple regrets, The Great Books Journal
Pseudonyms on social media, Superinvestor portfolios, Apple Vision Pro, Gates on AI, 40% discount rates, Evolving moats, Jay Gould, Garry Tan, Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Steve Ells
Working Hard, Berkshire Q3 Recap, ProPublica attacks Buffett, Chipotle's international ambitions, The AI Gold Rush, 100th anniversary of Hitler's beer hall putsch, The Federalist Papers
Berkshire's Q3 earnings, Munger on retailing, SBF's strange philosophy, Rob Henderson on reading, Howard Marks on a full return world, Morgan Housel on writing that sells, Cities on Mars
Pilot's Founders vs. Berkshire, I Bonds, Ted Weschler interview transcript, Expanding circles of competence, Damodaran on Tesla, Thompson on AI, Charlie Munger, Chris Davis
American Prometheus, Buffett buys more OXY, Share repurchases, Lessons from Todd Combs, The nature of risk, Damodaran on markets, Keynes on the Treaty of Versailles, Attia on longevity
The Precautionary Principle, GEICO Layoffs, Superlinear Returns, TIPS for Retirement, Rockefeller's advice to his son, Impact of GLP-1 agonists, Tesla's IPO, Conference call transcripts
Apple Watch, Musical Chairs at Dollar General, IPOs, Impact Investing, Buffett in 1988, Mapping the human brain, Interviews of Nassim Taleb, Jensen Huang, John and Patrick Collison, and more ...
Charles F. Feeney's philanthropy, Howard Marks makes the case for credit, Spin-offs, Birkenstock's IPO, Costco's clothing, Todd Combs interview, Equifax, and more ...
TIPS for Retirement, BYD vs. Tesla, Katalin Karikó's vindication, Teledyne, Helzberg Diamonds, Interviews of Marc Andreessen and Shane Parrish, David Senra's review of Jimmy Buffett's autobiography
The media landscape, Dollar General's meltdown, The written word, Damodaran on Instacart, The human condition, Herb Kelleher, Merger arbitrage, and more.
Buffett on Inflation, Dollar General, Due Diligence, Personal Libraries, The role of AI in drug discovery, Small-cap opportunities, and interviews of Peter Brown, Bill Gross, Chris Bloomstran.
Howard Marks on intelligent risks, Li Lu's amazing life story, Damodaran on streaming, Thompson on Charter vs. Disney, Taleb's favorite literary works, Buffett's Japanese investments, and more ...
Corporate taxes, Berkshire's clean energy investments, Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk, ESPN's future, Nvidia, AI, Interpreting medical studies, Why Doomberg left Twitter, Jimmy Buffett, and more...
Volcker on inflation, Parametric insurance, The futility of guidance, Corporate governance reform, Keeping a notebook, Singleton and Teledyne, The pros and cons of cancer screening
Feynman on knowledge, TransDigm's controversial business model, Costco's history, The Ozempic/Wegovy band-aid; Plus insights from Todd Combs, Michael Burry, Joel Tillinghast, and Lee Ainslie.
Steve Jobs in his own words, Risk free rates, Saving for a home, Buffett's investments in Japan, Flawed memories, Podcast interviews with Rudy Havenstein, Doomberg, Paul Graham, and Guy Spier.
Montaigne on Lying, Berkshire's Q2 results, Equity risk premiums, Taking useful notes, Abandoning books, How Threads was built, BYD challenges Tesla, Katalin Karikó's inspiring life
Claude Shannon's mighty mouse, Ben Graham's father, Doomberg quits Twitter, FASB segment disclosure rules, Podcasts on old annual reports, Henry Ford's road trips, Jony Ive, Sal Kahn
Munger on windowless dorms, Damodaran on country risk, Disney's brand, Working without working, The comfort crisis, Fairfax, Markel, Vision Pro's breakthrough, iPhone hacks
Flawed clinical studies, AI and employment, Anonymous wealth, Age of the universe, 19th century anarchy, Buffett and Japan, Claude Hopkins, Benjamin Franklin
Early Retirement, Chris Davis on Berkshire's future, Howard Marks on market cycles, Threads vs. Twitter, Costco takes the high road, James Cameron, GEICO in the 1970s
Life is short, Value fund underperformance, Acquisitions, Psychological denial, Damodaran on NVIDIA, Grove's escape, GM in 1920
Apple in China, Forecasting, Financial Nihilism, Taking Notes in Longhand, Wright Brothers, Jacob McDonough on Berkshire Hathaway
Revisiting I Bonds, Reinsurance, Buffett in 1979, Private Equity, Why Inflation Matters, Justifying Optimism, Jim Simons, Jay Gould, Fred Martin
Limited Control, Down Rounds, The Hero's Journey, Unhappy Retirees, Lincoln on Idleness, The Future of Software
Southwest's Fragile Technology, Finding Time to Write, Synthetic Meat, Taiwan Semiconductor, Andrew Carnegie, Estée Lauder, Robert Caro
Investment Report Cards, Damodaran's Free Courses, Iger's Reluctant Retirement, National Indemnity's Unique History, Isadore Sharp
Fortune Cookies, FTC vs. Microsoft, AI and Education, A Meaningful Life, Flow States, Howard Marks, Tom Gayner, Warren Buffett
Ben Franklin on Free Speech, Berkshire Hathaway, Brookfield Asset Management, ChatGPT, Auto Insurance, Floor & Decor
The Buffalo News, Powell's High Stakes Mission, Longevity, Unsolicited Advice, Disneyland, Paul Graham on Reading, Keith Creel, Howard Marks
Buffett Donates $759 Million to Foundations, The Fall of Nikita Khrushchev, Jack Welch, Howard Marks, The FTX Saga, Chanos on Fraud
Self-Discipline, Exemplars, Damodaran on Meta, Chancellor on CBDCs, Four Layers of Happiness, Chobani's founder, Ancient Entrepreneurs
Gell-Mann Amnesia, GEICO, Todd Combs, Onboarding Directors, Damodaran on Meta, Paul Graham's Essays, Home Depot, Nick Sleep
Unpopular Large Companies, Meta Platforms, Activision, Peter Lynch, Taleb on Writing, Substack's Social Network, In-N-Out Burger
Old Books, Damodaran on FCF, Bonus Clawbacks, Meta's Plunging Stock, Bogleheads, Alfred Sloan, David Einhorn, FDR
It's Never Too Late, Executive Compensation, Traveling like a Local, Alien Truths, Pursuing Happiness, Silence, Vannevar Bush
Volcker and Buffett on Inflation, Is Meta cheap?, Bernanke's Nobel, Painful times for housing, Revolutionary technologies, The right heroes
The Twitter Saga, The Next Buffett, Corporate Governance, Genetics of Ancient Humans, Long COVID, Vannevar Bush, Intuit, See's Candies
Lies and Deception, Damodaran on Inflation, David Gottesman, Apple Hedges on China, Excessive Optimization, Trader Joe's
Thought Experiments, TIPS, Adler on Reading, Time is Running Short, Ellington's Gift to the Queen, Thomas Jefferson's Travel Guide
The Futility of Forecasting, Occidental Petroleum, Patagonia, Europe's Energy Catastrophe, GE's Rise and Fall, Taleb on Fed and Interest Rates
Growth vs. Value, Apple's New Products, Precision Railroading, Julian Robertson
Rational Inattention Theory, Carbon Capture Technology, Disney's Amazing Moat, Envy, Austin, Stoicism, George Zimmer Interview
The Fragile Internet, AMC, Serialized Books, Jim Grant on Fed and China, Carvana, Black Holes
Berkshire Wins FERC approval to Buy 50% of $OXY, Hoenig on CBDCs, Safety of Nuclear Power, Sloan on Automobile Distribution
Reading News, Repurchase Tax, Margin of safety in Retirement, Risk of e-bikes, $426 for a room at Motel 6?!?, Geothermal Energy, Cyber War
Fall of the Vanderbilts, Authenticity, Feynman on Evaluating Information, Jerry Seinfeld, Taking the Difficult Path, Howard Marks, Will Thorndike
Truth and Lies, Recession or Hovering?, Forward Guidance, Howard Marks, TransDigm, Tumi & Roam Luggage, Jeremy Grantham
Gayner on Markel's Value, Life in Weeks, Multi-Disciplinary Thinking, Addictive Personalities, Duolingo, TransDigm, Charles Schwab
Tom Murphy Interview From 2000, Apple's Ad Opportunity, Ruined by Crypto, Interviews of Nick Howley and Nassim Taleb
The First iPhone, Orange Julius, From L.A. to Boise, The Scientific Method, Lies About the World, Ian Cassel on Microcaps
Title Insurance, Damodaran on Risk, Leverage at Pension Funds, Money and Status, Nostalgia
Buffett's Estate Plans, Freight Rail Disruptions, Austin's Evolution, Chick-fil-A, Interviews of Vitaliy Katsenelson, Guy Spier, and William Green
Buffett vs. Saylor, Medical Debt, Capital Gains Tax cut?, Jim Chanos, Howard Marks, Andrew Marks, Mohnish Pabrai, Jim Simons
Social Security Reform, ESG, Corporate Cultures, BYD's Batteries, Iatrogenesis, Bored Elon Musk
Coca-Cola in 1923, Hyperinflation, Stoicism, CBDCs, Daily Journal Transcript, Mimetic Desire
Thomas S. Murphy (1925 - 2022)
Inflation Hedges, Startups, Madoff's Playbook, Beginner's Mind, ESG Pushback, Central Banking in the 1790s
Berkshire Buys 3.1% of Markel, The Legend of Li Lu, Crypto in 401k Plans, Buffett's Legacy, Musk and Twitter, Writer's Block
Cathie Wood on Passive Investing, Brian Chesky on Remote Work, Damodaran on Inflation, Ted Weschler Interview, Tom Gayner in Omaha
Dorsey on Twitter's Future, Musk on Passive Investing, How Buffett Could Deploy $6 Billion
Peter Cundill, Greg Abel, Passive Investing, Higher Yields, Mohnish Pabrai, Raising Cane's, Berkshire Questions
Board Pay, Should Berkshire acquire Markel?, ElonTwitterDrama, Ikea, Nutella, Afterpay, Buffett's latest interview
Buffett's a Tough Negotiator, Munger Halves Alibaba Stake, Mini-Berkshires, Heresy, Automats, Shrinkflation, Railroads, Ethereum
Starbucks Halts Repurchases, Grant on Interest Rates, Costly Signaling, Yield Curve Inversion
Charlie Munger Steps Down as Chairman of Daily Journal, ESG and Russia, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Jack Bogle, Joel Greenblatt, Carl Icahn
Trouble Ahead for Housing?
Russia's Heavy Losses, Economic Warfare, Networked Learning, Daylight Savings Time, Roger Lowenstein, Microcap Investing
Munger's Alibaba Investment, The Battle of Actium, Cyberattack Insurance, Stanley Druckenmiller, Howard Marks
Berkshire's Directors, Book Reviews, Tax Irrationality, Rethinking Globalization, Technology and War
Churchill on War, Stanislav Petrov, Economic Warfare, The Paradox of Trust, Market Meltdowns
Berkshire's Voting Control, Car Dealerships, Intellectual Junk Food, Due Diligence, Supply chains, Invasions, Hagstrom on Investing
Semper Augustus and Markel Letters
Washington's Farewell, Commitment Bias, Default Habits, Derivatives, Amazon, Executive Compensation, Better Sleep
Charlie Munger, Carl Icahn, Venture Capital, Valuable Razors, The "Hawkish" Fed, Guaranteed Misery, Washington's Farewell Address
Berkshire, Activision, Tom Murphy, Empty offices, Short sellers, Stolen Bitcoin
Trading Bans, Used Car Insanity, Focused Attention, Digital Advertising, UPS, Peloton
Nixon's Final Days, David Tepper, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Luxury Beliefs, Erosion of Trust, Twitter's Future, Taylor on Inflation
Microsoft's Future, Ackman's Triumph, Benjamin Graham, Jon Stewart Interviews Thomas Hoenig
Digital Cash, Berkshire's Annual Meeting, Productivity Traps, Taleb on Vaccines, Peloton
Executive Compensation, Howard Marks, Innovation Hubs, The Eternal Present
Apple's iMessage Moat, Living to 150, Lords of Easy Money, Buffett's Reading
Lou Simpson's Life and Legacy
Charlie Munger, Alibaba, Theranos, IKEA, Ray Dalio, Jeff Bezos
Happy New Year!
Inflation, I Bonds, Trading in Congress, The Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway
Meme Stocks, Fed Policy, Twitter's Business Model, Nuclear Fusion, Calpers
A Case of Mistaken Identity
The Four Americas, Ted Weschler's Amazing IRA, Ancient Humans, UFOs
The Fed's Epistemic Arrogance, A World Without Yield, 10-K Diver on Dividends
The Downfall of GE, Inflation Protests, Franklin's 200 Year Experiment, Paris in 1900
Inner Scorecards, SPACs, Availability Bias, America's Drinking Problem
Highway Removal, Food Delivery, Inflation, Home Prices, Reinforced Concrete, I Bonds
Kahneman on AI, PPP Fraud, Druckenmiller on the Fed, Greenblatt on Investing
Tax Policy, SPACs, David Swensen, Bruce Flatt on Offices, Masks
Berkshire Succession, Excess Efficiency, Crazy Ideas, Taleb's Mini-Lessons, VISA
Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Meeting, Tim Cook's Fortress, Elon Musk's War on Regulators, Podcast Highlights
Corporate Taxes, Greenlight Capital, Feedback Loops, Probability, Kahneman, Grant
J&J's Vaccine, The Newly Rich, Via Negativa, Costco, GEICO, Alibaba, Li Lu
Envy, Sugar, Astrophysics, Chipotle, Paradoxes, The Man in the Arena
Playing with FIRE, Larry Culp, Berkshire's legal team, Pabrai Q&A, Case Against Sugar
Dalio on Bitcoin, NFTs, Capital Allocation, Sovereign Writers, FDR Bans Gold
Vaccine Supply, ACA Changes, Screen Addiction, SPACs, Happiness, Seneca's Death
Adler on Great Books, Real Fake Meat, One Year Later, Journaling, Muir's Essays
Henry Singleton, Tracking Performance, Bogleheads, Berkshire Repurchases, The Use of Letters
Grantham, Berkowitz, Marks, Isaacson, and Tulips
Daily Journal Annual Meeting, Semper Augustus on Berkshire, Civilized Bitcoin Debate
Katlin Smith, Mark Leonard, Paul Graham, Carlos Brito
Marks and Greenblatt, The Future of NYC, Mental Models, Best Story Wins
Medical costs, Burry on Tesla and Bitcoin, Financial Literacy, Ancient Pollution
Tesla's Bitcoin Announcement, Cultivating Habits, Earned Income Tax Credit, A Collection of Short Stories
Bezos Steps Down, Podcast Roundup, Keto Diets, Liberal Arts
Short Sellers: Heroes or Villains?
So, What's Up With GameStop?
Munger's Letter, BYD, Trust and Mistrust, The Value of Failure
Monday Morning Quarterbacks
Jim Simons, Tom Gayner, Jeremy Grantham, Mohnish Pabrai
The 59th Inaugural, Top Secret Trading Strategies, January Reading List
Value vs. Growth, Take the Money, Inflation, Lazy Thinking
Vaccine Technology, Free Speech, Mr. Overton
Happy Teachers
The Middle Innings
The Moon Is Down, Diminishing Privacy, First Principles, I Bonds
The Evolution of Mass Media From the 1950s to the 2020s
COVID-19 Vaccines, Disney, Trader Joe's, Mental Junk Food
Bruce Greenwald, Twitter, Bitcoin, High Quality Sleep
The Future of Value Investing
Advice for a Newborn, NYC in crisis, Amazon's Past and Future
The Limits of Our Power
Question the Default Choice
The Scientific Consensus
Time is the Currency of Life
Dissenting Voices, Cybersecurity, Portfolio Turnover, Making Software Fun
Kennedy-Nixon Debates, Zoom Fatigue, Lifestyle Creep
Insurers and Private Equity, The Other Dr. Feynman, Negative Emotions
Medical Billing, Wall Street Bombing of 1920, September Reading
Decision Journals, Costco and Jim Sinegal
Stock Splits, The Illusion of Control, Buffett at 90
The Podcast Road Trip
Buffett Reshuffles Bank Holdings, The Power of Morning Pages
Did Buffett Sell Wells Fargo?, Going the Distance
Berkshire Hathaway Second Quarter 2020 Earnings
Gayner Sells CarMax, Deprival-Superreaction Tendency
Berkshire’s Great Transformation, An Unsung Hero
Microsoft is Cool Again, Women in Finance
Possible Berkshire Repurchases, Munger at Redlands
Buffett Invests in Pipelines, Irrational Tax Traps
The Changing Landscape of News, Jim Simons Interview
Summer Book Recommendations, Psychology of Money
The Evolution of Robert Moses, Interesting Links, Street Art
What’s Your Magic Number?, Risks Too Painful to Contemplate, D-Day + 20
Joys of Compounding, Prediction Addiction, Quality Shareholders
75th Anniversary of WWII, Bundling Business Strategy, Three Sides of Risk
Pandemic Insurance, Where Are the Customers’ Yachts, Fragile Investments
Mental Models, Gyms and COVID-19, Peter Buffett, Architecture of Music
Buffett Seems Worried, Psychology of Masks, New York City in 1911
Berkshire Meeting, Gates on COVID-19, Small Business Impacts, Ackman Interview
Thoughts on Berkshire Hathaway’s Deployable Cash
Earnings Guidance, Pandemic of 1918, Knowledge of the Future
Jamie Dimon’s Annual Letter, The World Has No Pause Button, Auto Insurers
Coronavirus and Business Interruption Insurance, Jony Ive, Thomas Jefferson
A Wild Week, Coronavirus is Not a Black Swan, Small Businesses in Crisis
Coronavirus: The Perilous Road Ahead
Market Meltdowns, Berkshire’s Occidental Investment, Markel Annual Letter
Coronavirus Correction, Daily Journal Transcripts, Treasury Bonds
Berkshire Report Links, Market Crashes, Dollar Cost Averaging
Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report Coverage
20 Years In Berkshire, Charlie Munger, Stretch IRA Update
Alchemy, Predicting the Future, The Power of Money, Chick-fil-A
Tesla, The Panic of 1901, Staying Informed, Taming Your Cell Phone
My Apple Mistake, Jim Lehrer, Coronavirus, Goodwill Accounting
Mental Models, Housel Interviews Beshore, Getting in on the 50th Floor
Berkshire’s Culture, Narrative Fallacy, Howard Marks, Reading
Bob Iger, Berkshire, Distractions of Travel, Popular Articles
The Inaugural Issue