During the last several years of my career, my round-trip work/home train commute was ~2 hours. At 5 days/week, that would have been 10 hours/week where I could have read material to improve my knowledge. In hindsight, I did not use my time wisely. On my morning commute, I would be sound asleep within minutes [...]
Most people never set a goal and aimlessly go through life never achieving anything meaningful. Such are the people who ask 'Why?' when they hear of people of go to extremes to achieve what most people would never even remotely contemplate; this is pertinent to the financial aspects of life. In my recent The Illusion [...]
At Berkshire Hathaway’s 1998 Annual General Meeting (AGM), Charlie Munger stated: The first $100,000 is a bitch, but you gotta do it. I don’t care what you have to do. If it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn’t purchased with a coupon, find a way to get your hands on $100,000. After [...]
Perhaps it is just my DNA but I struggle to sit and read the same book for a few hours. This is why I generally have 4 - 5 books on the go. Currently, I am at various stages of reading the following books: Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll Don't Fall [...]
We often hear and read what is important to achieve investment success. In this post, however, I want to delve into something a bit more unconventional but equally important and that is 5 things investors should ignore. Beating The Market A common fault of many investors is the fixation about consistently generating investment returns that [...]
Retail investors are bombarded with investment advice from today’s media of which most relates to before-tax investment returns. We, however, live in an after-tax world. This is why we need to view tax efficiency and investment decisions together. In this post, I touch upon the importance of allocating investments in the most tax-efficient manner. This [...]
'Stay the course' is a phrase used by navigators to encourage maintaining the current direction or plan, especially when faced with challenges or temptations to change. It is rooted in maritime history where maintaining a set course was crucial for reaching a destination safely and efficiently. The phrase has broader applications in life and in [...]
One of the most memorable things I learned in business school is that TIME is the secret sauce to building wealth. A host of factors such as: Your Starting Point Income Growth Financial Literacy Expense Management Tax Planning Risk Management certainly influence wealth creation. The power of time, however, is often overlooked because most people [...]
As a follow up to my How I Identify New Companies to Research post, in this post I address the position sizing conundrum investors face when trying to determine how to properly size a position within an investment portfolio. Dollar versus Percentage Perspective Determining how much weight each particular stock receives in a portfolio is [...]
Every great business is built around a strong moat. - Warren Buffett A company’s moat is an essential concept for investors and business professionals. It refers to a company’s ability to maintain competitive advantages to protect its long-term profits and market share from competing firms. Think of a company's moat as the answer to What [...]