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Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 18 January 2025

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Noteworthy this week

  • US budget deficit up 39%
  • Number goes up
  • Hard for the US to stay decoupled
  • Treasuries instead of real estate
  • Indian Rupee hits ATL

US budget deficit up 39%: The US budget deficit hit a massive US$711bn in 1QFY25. Now you know why the Fed wants to cut rates.

Number goes up: 43% of investors think there is a less than 10% chance of a stock market crash occurring in the next 6 months.

Hard for the US to stay decoupled: The problem with the narrative that the outlook for the US is great, and the outlook for Europe, the UK, and China is not good is that 41% of revenues in the S&P 500 come from abroad.

Treasuries instead of real estate: Rising long-term bond yields are creating big issues for real estate investors. US government bonds now have the same return as buying a house and renting it out.

Indian Rupee hits ATL: When the rupee declines against the dollar, India’s oil import bill increases.

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Weekly market performance

Click here to see more markets and periods.

Chart of the week

Discussed in the Become a Better Investor Community this week

“@channel please find the above performance chart of the 5 stock strategies and 1 asset allocation strategy you have access to in the community.”

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Podcasts we listened to this week

#212 Tony Deden – Master Value Investor – State of the Markets

This episode with the rather unknown investor Tony Deden includes tons of wisdom.

Listen on Apple or Spotify.

Readings this week

Minimum Levels of Stress

“But if America faced an existential crisis like 9/11 again, I think you’d see the same kind of unity return. There’s a long history of enemies putting their differences aside when facing a big, devastating threat. People get serious when shit gets real.”

Read the article.

Book recommendation

The Mastery of Self: A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom by don Miguel Ruiz Jr

“The Toltecs were an ancient civilization that predated the Aztecs. They believed that life as we perceive it is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and our collective dreams come together to shape the “Dream of the Planet.” But problems arise when we forget that the dream is just that—a dream, and not a fixed reality.”

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

New My Worst Investment Ever episodes

Enrich Your Future 22: Some Risks Are Not Worth Taking

In this episode of Enrich Your Future, Andrew and Larry Swedroe discuss Larry’s new book, Enrich Your Future: The Keys to Successful Investing. In this series, they discuss Chapter 22: Some Risks are Not Worth Taking.

LEARNING: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; diversify your portfolio.

Access the episode’s show notes and resources

Published on Become a Better Investor this week

In the final episode of the series, Jacob Stoller and Andrew Stotz discuss the difference between typical companies using traditional management and more successful Deming-style companies. If productivity and performance are so much better, why do companies stick with traditional management?

Listen to Moving Productivity Forward: Boosting Lean with Deming (Part 7)

Synnex Technology International Corporation (2347 TT): Profitable Growth rank of 6 was up compared to the prior period’s 8th rank. This is below average performance compared to 620 large Info Tech companies worldwide.

Read Synnex Technology International – World Class Benchmarking

Singapore Post Limited (SPOST SP): Profitable Growth rank of 7 was up compared to the prior period’s 8th rank. This is below average performance compared to 1,410 large Industrials companies worldwide.

Read Singapore Post – World Class Benchmarking

Shaanxi Coal Industry Company Limited (601225 SH): Profitable Growth rank of 2 was up compared to the prior period’s 4th rank. This is World Class performance compared to 340 large Energy companies worldwide.

Read Shaanxi Coal Industry – World Class Benchmarking

Tough end of the year. Performance review of our strategies in December 2024 – All Weather Inflation Guard fell 2.3%, All Weather Strategy fell 1.0%, All Weather Alpha Focus fell 3.9%.

Read A. Stotz All Weather Strategies – December 2024

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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