Good reads from around the Web.
I feel like we’re more than halfway through the financial meltdown. But unfortunately, someone far smarter than me and with a track record in far-sightedness disagrees.
Michael Burry led the tiny band of hedge fund managers who identified the US sub-prime housing disaster before it happened, and made a fortune. In Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short [1]
Well, Burry recently said the unspeakable, too, when he returned to his Alma Matter at UCLA to deliver a commencement speech to its keen young graduates.
Such speeches are meant to be rousing and optimistic affairs (Steve Jobs’ is a particularly brilliant example [2]).
But ever the contrarian, Burry warns in his speech that UCLA’s graduates face a grim future, with at least two recessions baked in. And it’s not even their fault:
The speech is a couple of months old, but I’d never seen it before. It was so powerful and unusual to hear the bearish line coming from someone I respect that I had to share.
Michael Burry no longer manages other people’s money, after his investors turned against him when his big bet on against housing stalled before it finally paid off.
So we don’t really know what he’s up to right now.
As of 2010, however, he was buying farmland, gold, and real estate:
Many readers – and most financial bloggers – are much more bearish than me, so perhaps Burry’s continuing fears won’t rattle your cage.
I’m not going to change how I invest on the back of it, either. Like Burry, I try to think for myself.
But I am going to keep it in mind should valuations start to run away.
In particular, where can I buy me a farm?
From the blogs
Making good use of the things that we find…
Passive investing
- In praise of balanced funds [US funds but relevant] – Oblivious Investor [3]
- The ETF cost war misses the point – Index Universe [4]
- How indexes are created – Part One [5] and Two [6] on Canadian Couch Potato
Active investing
- The investor’s mindset – UK Value Investor [7]
- Timber: Hard to harvest the benefits – Seeking Alpha [8]
- LSE launches a 4.75% retail bond – Fixed Income Investor [9]
- Understand these 16 key economic indicators – Money Crashers [10]
- Sleeping through bubbles – Investing Caffeine [11]
- 11 signs the bull market isn’t over – Schaeffers Research [12]
Other articles
- How to manage a windfall – Objective Wealth [13]
- Why financial advisers lie – Rick Ferri [14]
- The tyranny of having a real job – Mr Money Mustache [15]
- Save money on heating – Simple Living in Suffolk [16]
- Takeovers: An agency problem? – Stumbling and Mumbling [17]
- Build a bigger nest egg through ‘investment creep’ – Financial Ramblings [18]
Mainstream media money
Highlights from the wall of noise…
Passive investing
- Does Europe finally look good value [Includes ETF table] – FT [19]
- Swedroe: Active funds are too risky for most investors – CBS [20]
Book of the week: Talking of Michael Burry, if you’ve not read The Big Short [1]
Active investing
- Junk bonds lose their attractions – FT [22]
- Going soft on the commodities super-cycle – FT [23]
- Investment lessons from a mystery tech company – CBS News [24]
- High-frequency traders screwing the natural gas market – WSJ [25] (& more [26])
Other stuff worth reading
- 1987: The year computers began wrecking the market – NY Times [27]
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s bankrupt company – CBS [28]
- Where next for miners? [Podcast] – Motley Fool [29]
- ‘Real’ assets versus inflation [Academic PDF] – SSRN [30]
- iTunes versus Blinkbox: Which streams better? – The Guardian [31]
- … though beware – watching TV reduces your life span – NY Times [32]
Product of the week: Tesco [33] has launched a table-topping 1.99% two-year fixed rate mortgage. The Telegraph has reviewed [34] it.
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