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Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 14 February 2026

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Noteworthy this week

  • China’s UST holdings have dropped
  • Everyone wants Google debt
  • AI increases work
  • Bitcoin trades below production cost
  • Korea to the moon

China’s UST holdings have dropped: Chinese Holdings of US Treasuries plunge to the lowest level since the Global Financial Crisis.

Everyone wants Google debt: Alphabet attracted >$100bn of orders for a bond sale that’s expected to be US$15bn. The demand is among the strongest ever seen for a corporate bond offering, showing investor hunger to buy debt tied to the AI boom.

AI increases work: A new study from Harvard Business Review at a US tech company with about 200 employees found that AI use did not shrink work; it intensified it and made employees busier.

Bitcoin trades below production cost: During the week, BTC traded at about US$20,000 and more than 20% below its production cost.

Korea to the moon: Korea’s Stock Market index KOSPI is up a whopping 120% over the last 10 months.

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Weekly market performance

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Chart of the week

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Podcasts we listened to this week

Unconventional Real Estate Investments: Masters in Business with Bob Moser

“Barry speaks with Bob Moser, Owner, Principal and CEO at Prime Group. They discuss his early career in real estate and his current holdings. They focus on his investments in self-storage assets and how non-traditional real estate is essential to his investment strategy. Barry and Bob also discuss how interest rates and the change in homeowner age impact commercial real estate.”

Listen on Apple or Spotify.

Readings this week

Bayes and Base Rates: How History Can Guide Our Assessment of the Future

“The ongoing massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) aim to satisfy a huge increase in anticipated demand, which in turn has led some firms to offer rosy growth forecasts.

To assess these forecasts, investors may apply Bayes’ Theorem by starting with an initial belief and updating it as new results appear. Base rates are a sensible start for initial beliefs.”

Read the paper.

Book recommendation

Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead by Kenneth Rogoff

“Our Dollar, Your Problem argues that America’s currency might not have reached today’s lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good luck.”

Get the book on Audible or Kindle.

Audible is great; have you tried it? If not, click here to get 2 books for free.

Memes of the week

Published on Become a Better Investor this week

What happens when an entire company learns to see its work as a system? In this episode, Travis Timmons reveals how his team uses Deming-inspired pre-work, collaboration, and the Red Bead Experiment to make their offsite energizing and impactful.

Listen to Fitness Matters: A Deming Success Story (Part 2)

S P V I Public Company Limited (SPVI TB): Profitable Growth rank of 3 was up compared to the prior period’s 6th rank. This is above average performance compared to 850 medium Cons. Disc. companies worldwide.

Read S P V I – World Class Benchmarking

Thachang Green Energy Public Company Limited (TGE TB): Profitable Growth rank of 3 was same compared to the prior period’s 3rd rank. This is above average performance compared to 90 small Utilities companies worldwide.

Read Thachang Green Energy – World Class Benchmarking

PRG Corporation Public Company Limited (PRG TB): Profitable Growth rank of 4 was up compared to the prior period’s 8th rank. This is above average performance compared to 300 small Cons. Staples companies worldwide.

Read PRG Corporation – World Class Benchmarking

Recent headlines, sparked by the Financial Times’ February 2026 article, How Thailand Became the ‘Sick Man’ of Asia, raise concerns about Thailand’s economic health. The article points to economic growth stuck near 2%, household debt around 87% of GDP (Bank of Thailand, Q3 2025), and an aging population, with more than 20% of the population aged 60 or older.

Read 14 Reasons Why Thailand Is NOT the Sick Man of Asia

Gold and Emerging Markets ex China outperformed. Performance review of our strategies in January 2026 – All Weather Inflation Guard gained 2.8%, All Weather Strategy gained 8.1%, All Weather Alpha Focus gained 7.1%.

Read A. Stotz All Weather Strategies – January 2026

DISCLAIMER: This content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Readers should not consider statements made by the author(s) as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies. The author(s) cannot be held liable for any actions taken as a result of reading this article.

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