In my October 16 Select Your Asset Manager Investment Wisely post, I state that there are some great firms in the highly fragmented asset management industry. One such industry participant is BlackRock (BLK) which I consider to be an asset manager investment for the long term. At the end of Q3 2024, it had ~$11.5T [...]
Select your asset manager investment wisely if you are remotely considering investing in an asset manager! On September 27, I published my Consider Investing In Asset Managers post in which I disclosed exposure to BlackRock (BLK), Brookfield (BAM.to and BN.to), and Blackstone (BX). My rationale for investing in these firms is that I want private [...]
When I last reviewed Paychex (PAYX) in this April 3, 2024 post, the most current financial information was for Q3 and YTD2024. In that post, I disclosed the purchase of additional shares @ ~$117.55. Fast forward to October 1. We now have Q1 2025 results and shares are trading @ ~$140.80 as I compose [...]
It seems like it was just the other day that I posted my FFJ Portfolio - August 2024 report. Now it is time for my FFJ Portfolio - September 2024 report. Purchases None. Sales None. Dividend Income Dividend metrics are of little relevance in my investment decision making process. Nevertheless, I track dividend income and [...]
Avoid value traps. I suspect most of us look back on some of our investment decisions and ask 'what was I thinking!?'. I was lulled into investing in some value traps because of: attractive valuation metrics for an extended period (ie. price to earnings (P/E), price to cash flow (P/CF), or price to book value [...]
Lately, I have been giving more thought to how stock-based compensation (SBC) distorts Free Cash Flow (FCF). What If Employee Compensation Was 100% SBC? I have no objection to the use of SBC to reward employees. My concern is when it goes overboard. As a shareholder, I want the weighted average number of diluted outstanding [...]
In prior BlackRock (BLK), Blackstone (BX), and Brookfield (BN.to and BAM.to) posts accessible through the Archives section of this site, I touch upon why you should consider investing in asset managers. What Are Asset Managers? In September 2024, KKR (a leading global investment manager) published an excellent perspective of the past, present, and future of [...]
In my September 13, 2024 How To Think About Risk post, I include a link to Howard Marks' - co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management (the largest investor in distressed securities worldwide) - explanation about the character of risk, the relationship between risk and return, the misconceptions about risk, and how to think about [...]
If social media is any indication of the typical small retail investor, financial freedom ranks highly as a goal. Reading various social media posts, however, and I can't help but wonder just how few will attain financial freedom. Many posts on social media reference the desire to find the next '10 bagger' (a home run). [...]
Don't listen to the hype around '10-bagger' stocks. You don't need them to create financial freedom. What Is A 10-Bagger Stock? A '10-bagger' is a company whose share price multiplies by a factor of 10x from your average cost. As you may well imagine, a very select few of companies globally (~2%) achieve this. Typically, [...]