Good reads from around the Web.
One reason I’m still blogging about investing eight years after I began is because I keep learning new stuff even while trying to explain what I think I already know.
But another reason is because it reminds me of what I actually do already know.
Investing is not like electronic music or frontier physics – you don’t need to keep reinventing the wheel.
But you do need to remember that you don’t need to keep reinventing the wheel.
Sticking to a few stratagems will get you a long way, as Darrow Kirkpatrick explains [1] in his short course on investing:
You can commit a large chunk of your life to becoming a better investor, if you want.
You can read articles, devour books, and enroll in classes. Some people, myself included, will take that full plunge.
But in the end, most experienced investors arrive back where they started, with just a few simple principles in hand.
His post quotes me alongside the likes of Warren Buffett and Harry Markowitz, so Darrow clearly isn’t infallible. 😉
But his short course [1] is well worth the price of admission – a cup of tea, and ten minutes of your time.
And while we’re doing homework (or ‘revising’ for most of us, I hope) your next stop could be Michael Batnick’s clear overview [2] of how to think about long-term returns.
Why? Because, as Batnick writes:
Past performance is absolutely not predictive of future results.
Data can be manipulated!
Sticking with an investment plan during a bad year (or a series of bad years) is what will make them successful.
The results of diversification are predictable even if the results of an investment are not.
His full refresher is at Enterprising Investor [2].
Have a great weekend (and C’mon Aussie C’mon [3]!)
p.s. This may have been around for a while, but check out the Financial Times‘ error page [4]. Who says financial geeks can’t have fun? (Er, various exes of mine…)
From the blogs
Making good use of the things that we find…
Passive investing
- Biff could’ve just bought stocks – The Reformed Broker [5]
- A simple way to improve returns – Maven Capital Partners [6]
- The myth of downside protection – Evidence-based Investor [7]
- Dave Ramsey doubles down on bad investment advice – W.C.I. [8]
- Underperforming is even worse than high fees [Research] – Cornell [9]
Active investing
- Move to the beach and live off the interest? – AWOCS [10]
- Long-term FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 forecasts – UK Value Investor [11]
- Has Dunelm been the perfect retail roll-out? – Richard Beddard [12]
- Avoid low-yielding government bonds [Back test] – Meb Faber [13]
- Valuing the ride sharing business – Musings on Markets [14]
- Perhaps frequent trading isn’t so bad, if you’re good? – Alpha Architect [15]
- The whole should be greater than the parts – The Value Perspective [16]
Other articles
- Investing lessons from Downton Abbey – The Escape Artist [17]
- Real estate and the fallibility of tangibility – Investing Caffeine [18]
- Hard work is overrated, most likely by you – 99u [19]
- Some thoughts on ethical investing – Keeper of the Cauldron [20]
- A contrary view on compound interest – Simple Living in Suffolk [21]
Product of the week: The Post Office [22] has launched a new credit card offering 27 months of 0% interest rates on new purchases, says ThisIsMoney [23]. Remember you should ideally only use such credit cards when you don’t need to, and are just taking advantage of the interest-free period for some reason. (e.g. I’m considering using one to borrow about 5% of what I already have in cash and cash-like assets.) You must pay the card off in time to avoid interest at the full whack! Not a game for personal finance dilettantes.
Mainstream media money
Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view these enable you to click through to read the piece without being a paid subscriber of that site.1 [24]
Passive investing
- Jack Bogle’s 5 rules for equity investing [US but relevant] – AARP [25]
- Swedroe: Do these active value investors add value? – Advisor Perspectives [26]
Active investing
- Merryn: Investing in oil is a slippery slope [Search result] – FT [27]
- Peer-to-peer startup TrustBuddy goes bust, delists – Telegraph [28]
- 18 high-yielding investment trusts – ThisIsMoney [29]
- Latest mini-bond offers 10% in a bet on London property – ThisIsMoney [30]
- 5 tips from an unapologetic fund-picking active manager – ThisIsMoney [31]
Other stuff worth reading
- Bargain supermarket sweeping – The Guardian [32]
- Warren Buffett’s Millionaires Club [Search result] – WSJ [33]
- My first million: Richard Corrigan – chef [Search result] – FT [34]
- Why is the cost of energy so high in Britain right now? – Telegraph [35]
- Interview with rogue trader Kweku Adoboli [Podcast] – FT [36]
- Giggs & Neville are heroes of housing, but it’s not enough – The Guardian [37]
- How an F student became American’s most prolific inventor – Bloomberg [38]
Book of the week: I read an interesting interview [39] this week with the world’s second greatest living comedian, Stewart Lee, at Exeunt Magazine. If you’re a fan of his or just of any great stand-up comedy (i.e. you’re a person of taste who just hasn’t seen him yet) then his sort-of biography – How I Escaped My Certain Fate [40]
Like these links? Subscribe [41] to get them every week!
- Note some articles can only be accessed through the search results if you’re using PC/desktop view (from mobile/tablet view they bring up the firewall/subscription page). To circumvent, switch your mobile browser to use the desktop view. On Chrome for Android: press the menu button followed by “Request Desktop Site”. [↩ [45]]