12 July 2020
Ozymandias And investing
We are all Ozymandias (revisited)
“Wendell: ‘It’s a mess, ain’t it, sheriff ?’ Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: ‘If it ain’t, it’ll do ‘til a mess gets here.’” - Cormac McCarthy, No country for old men.
6 July 2020
warren buffet
On wealth, greed and happiness
“I was once asked, at a journalism conference, how I defined my job. I said: My job is to write the exact same thing between 50 and 100 times a year in such a way that neither my editors nor my readers will ever think I am repeating myself. “That’s because good advice rarely changes, while markets change constantly. The temptation to pander is almost irresistible. And while people need good advice, what they want is advice that sounds good.” - Jason Zweig, investment writer, The Wall Street Journal.
29 June 2020
Diversified portfolio example
A year to remember
“Andrews: “The pumps are keeping the water down in this boiler room, but the first five compartments are flooding.” Captain Smith: “Well, what’s the answer ?” Andrews: “She’s going to sink, Captain.” Captain Smith: “But.. She can’t sink. She’s unsinkable.” Andrews: “She can’t float. Look.. She could float with any three of her first five compartments flooded. She could even float with four of them gone. But she can’t float with all five full up.” Captain Smith: “Yes, but..” Andrews: [cuts him off]: “These watertight bulkheads only go as high as E Deck. The weight of the water in the bow is going to pull her down by the head. So, you’re going to get the fifth compartment overflowing into the sixth; the sixth into the seventh; and so on, as she goes lower. It’s a mathematical certainty. With that amount of underwater damage, she can’t stay afloat.. How many people are there on board ?” Captain Smith: “2,200 or more. And room in the boats for.. ? How many ?” Andrews: “1,200.” Captain Smith: “I don’t think the Board of Trade regulations visualized this situation. Do you ?” - From Eric Ambler’s screenplay for the film A Night to Remember (1958).
22 June 2020
Debt to GDP
EMH ? WTF ?
“My son just told me that he can only play @FortniteGame in the evening... because half of his squad started trading. He is 10. @RobinhoodApp #TrueStory” - Tweet from Joseph S. Mauro (@jsmauro13), 11th June 2020.