The Digest #197
Interest rates, Passive investing, Ben Graham as a young man, Daniel Kahneman, Ken Langone, Lawrence Cunningham, Reed Hastings, Steve Eisman, and more ...
Quote of the Week
“I cannot too greatly emphasize that the very worst time to borrow money is when the banking people think that you need money.”
Articles
Jamie Dimon’s 2023 Letter to Shareholders Jamie Dimon made news this week when he said that JPMorgan is prepared for interest rates from 2% to 8% or even more. “Equity values, by most measures, are at the high end of the valuation range, and credit spreads are extremely tight. These markets seem to be pricing in at a 70% to 80% chance of a soft landing — modest growth along with declining inflation and interest rates. I believe the odds are a lot lower than that. In the meantime, there seems to be an enormous focus, too much so, on monthly inflation data and modest changes to interest rates.” (JPMorgan Chase)
What I Learned from Daniel Kahneman by Jason Zweig, April 9, 2024. Jason Zweig shares more about his friendship with Daniel Kahneman. “Once Danny taught me how unreliable the human mind is, I came to believe that everything in investing that can be done with rules, policies and procedures should be.” (The Intelligent Investor)
FDIC May Spoil Your Index Funds by Burton Malkiel, April 8, 2024. The growth of index funds is prompting regulatory scrutiny: “Passive funds are exempt from certain regulations, and some FDIC board members have signaled openness to restraining the ability of index funds to hold more than 10% of a bank’s equity capitalization. That’s unnecessary and could damage a financial innovation that proved a boon to individual investors.” (WSJ)
ToffCap’s Monday Monitor #23 by
, April 8, 2024. A weekly overview of event-driven trades and special situations. It was mentioned by Geoff Gannon and Andrew Kuhn on a recent episode of the Focused Compounding podcast. (ToffCap)Lucky vs. Repeatable by Morgan Housel, April 7, 2024. Good points to consider when learning from successful people. “It’s so important to know the difference between the two when attempting to learn from someone. You want to try to emulate skills that are repeatable. Attempting to copy the parts of someone’s success that aren’t repeatable is equivalent to a 56-year-old dressing like a teenager and expecting to be cool.” (Collaborative Fund)
Benjamin Graham, Brainy Math Whiz in the Blush of First Love, April 2024. This is a highly personal account of Ben Graham’s life as a young man as told by his granddaughter. It will be more relevant to those who have an interest in Graham’s life and background rather than his investing philosophy. (Beyond Ben Graham)
I Receive a Letter from a High School Student by
, April 4, 2024. In response to a recent article, Ted Gioia received a well written letter from a high school student. The letter provides a great perspective on what it is like to grow up in the age of smartphones and other modern distractions. (The Honest Broker)Resistance training partially reverses some of the hallmarks of aging type II muscle fibers by Peter Attia, April 6, 2024. “Exercise, and in particular resistance training, is one of the most effective ways to combat sarcopenia, and the so-called ‘age-related’ declines in muscle composition are not as unavoidable as many might assume.” (Peter Attia MD)
The Iliad, April 5, 2024. My thoughts on Homer's epic poem. (The Rational Walk)
Podcasts
Ken Langone — The American Dream, April 9, 2024. 49 minutes. Transcript. If you’ve run out of coffee, listen to this podcast for a burst of energy. Ken Langone does a great Ross Perot imitation in the course of describing the process of taking EDS public in 1968. The transcript is useful for this episode. (Invest Like the Best)
The Power of Corporate Governance with Lawrence Cunningham, April 7, 2024. 1 hour, 7 minutes. Transcript. Video. “… It takes [Warren Buffett] hundreds of hours during the last quarter of the year to produce this [letter to shareholders]. Writing is a difficult art under any circumstances. And here you’re trying to capture and explain performance over a year, and especially in his case, a lot of different businesses, a lot of different engines, and then you try to put it in the context, not only of that particular year but the arc of the company and its operating environment.” (We Study Billionaires)
Christopher Tsai on Investing in an Age of Disruption, April 4, 2024. 1 hour, 49 minutes. Related Article. “In this episode, co-hosts Elliot Turner and John Mihaljevic welcome special guest Christopher Tsai, President and Chief Investment Officer of Tsai Capital Corporation. The trio covers a range of topics, with particular focus on intelligent investing in an age of disruption.” (This Week in Intelligent Investing)
Reed Hastings, Co-Founder of Netflix, April 3, 2024. 1 hour, 4 minutes. Episode notes. “Customers would love to have everything for free. The challenge is to have great customer satisfaction and to charge them enough to have growing operating income. And that constraint is what makes business challenging, fun, and exciting.” (Tim Ferriss Show)
Embraer: Defying Gravity, April 10, 2024. 51 minutes. Transcript. “We break down how this aviation success story grew out of Brazil, the evolution of the regional jet market, the business jet market, and tap into military aircrafts, and, of course, we cover the opportunity presented by Boeing today.” (Business Breakdowns)
Steve Eisman on the Three Big Macro Stories of Our Time, April 5, 2024. 51 minutes. Transcript. “These days [Eisman] sees three dominant macro stories for investors: AI, infrastructure and crypto. The last one he just fundamentally rejects. The first two, however, he sees as tailwinds that can potentially last a long time.” (Odd Lots)
The Iliad by Homer (Second Reading), March 29, 2024. 39 minutes. I highly recommend the Books of Titan podcast if you are interested in the classics. “In this episode, Erik Rostad discusses The Iliad by Homer, book 5 for his 2024 reading list. This is his second reading of the epic.” (Books of Titans Podcast)
The Solar Eclipse from Space
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