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Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 21 September 2024

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Noteworthy this week

  • Fed cut 0.5%
  • Economists still can’t predict
  • 2-year UST leads the Fed
  • US$ weakens further
  • Gold is a better store of value

Fed cut 0.5%: The US central bank decided to cut 0.5%, which is considered aggressive. It might be necessary to reduce the US government debt servicing costs.

Economists still can’t predict: 105 out of 114 economists were wrong in expecting a 0.25% cut by the Fed.

2-year UST leads the Fed: Looking at this chart, it seems like the Fed might be looking at the 2-year UST yield. Even if it’s not the case, it seems to be a leading indicator.

US$ weakens further: The US$ continued to weaken as the Fed cut the policy rate. The weakening had already started as the market expected a weaker US economy and at least a 0.25% cut by the Fed.

Gold is a better store of value: Looking at gold as a currency, you can see that it likely stores value better than the US$. In the past 50 years, the gold supply is up 2-3x while the US$ supply is 35x.

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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

“We have updated our FVMR Global strategy.”

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Podcasts we listened to this week

A Few Little Ideas And Short Stories – The Morgan Housel Podcast

“Some of the most interesting stuff I’ve come across lately.”

Listen on Apple or Spotify.

Readings this week

Green Bonds: New Label, Same Projects

“Analysis of U.S. corporate and municipal green bonds, however, indicates that the vast majority of green bond proceeds is used for refinancing ordinary debt, continuing ongoing projects, or initiating projects without green aspects that are novel for the issuer. Only 2% of corporate and municipal green bond proceeds initiate projects with clearly novel green features.”

Read the paper.

Book recommendation

Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success by Gary Vaynerchuk

“In his sixth business book, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and investor Gary Vaynerchuk explores the twelve essential emotional skills that are integral to his life—and business—success and provides today’s (and tomorrow’s) leaders with critical tools to acquire and develop these traits.”

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

Ep792: Ava Benesocky – Commit and Take Action on Your Investment

BIO: Ava Benesocky is an author, public speaker, educator, CEO, and Co-Founder of CPI Capital, a uniquely innovative real estate private equity firm that helps investors invest in multifamily assets.

STORY: Ava became passionate about real estate when she was young. At 15, she convinced her parents to invest $13,000 in a course by Scott McGillivray on renovating and selling homes. Ava never did anything with the course, which made it the worst investment ever.

LEARNING: If you invest in anything, ensure you’re ready to be committed, take action, and focus completely on it. Beware of shiny object syndrome.

Access the episode’s show notes and resources

Enrich Your Future 14: Stocks Are Risky No Matter How Long the Horizon

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 14: Stocks Are Risky No Matter How Long the Horizon.

LEARNING: Stocks are risky no matter the length of your investment horizon.

Access the episode’s show notes and resources

Published on Become a Better Investor this week

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 13: Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

Listen to Enrich Your Future 13: Past Performance Is Not a Predictor of Future Performance

In this new series, John Dues and Andrew Stotz discuss John’s model for improvement. This episode includes an overview of the model and how John uses it for goal-setting and planning in his school.

Listen to Building an Improvement Model: Path for Improvement (Part 1)

Verisign Incorporated (VRSN US): Profitable Growth rank of 1 was same compared to the prior period’s 1st rank. This is World Class performance compared to 640 large Info Tech companies worldwide.

Read Verisign – World Class Benchmarking

Asia Aviation Public Company Limited (AAV TB): Profitable Growth rank of 6 was up compared to the prior period’s 8th rank. This is below average performance compared to 1,430 large Industrials companies worldwide.

Read Asia Aviation – World Class Benchmarking

Bilfinger SE (GBF GR): Profitable Growth rank of 3 was up compared to the prior period’s 9th rank. This is above average performance compared to 1,430 large Industrials companies worldwide.

Read Bilfinger SE – World Class Benchmarking

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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