Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 4 March 2023
Noteworthy this week
- 2022 bond returns sucked, but they’ve sucked before
- Fees really matter for investment returns
- High volatility and leverage can ruin you quickly
- It’s not going to be cheap for Germany to resolve its energy crisis
- Is China collapsing?
2022 bond returns sucked, but they’ve sucked before: 2022 was a year for the history books, but according to this chart from FT, bonds delivered negative real returns over long periods before the 1980s.
What is most interesting in this chart is not the 2022 bonds return, but the fact that between 1900 and 1981 bonds had negative real return 👇 60/40 anyone? (FT) pic.twitter.com/C9KfgdsZp9
— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) February 28, 2023
Fees really matter for investment returns: The traditional 2/20 hedgefund fee will at least make your hedgefund manager rich.
If you invested $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, by 2009 your investment would have been worth $4.3 million
If Buffett had set up Berkshire as a hedge fund, and charged a 2% annual fee plus 20% of any gains, the investor would have been left with only $300,000 pic.twitter.com/AzL07JAZ5Q
— Dividend Growth Investor (@DividendGrowth) February 27, 2023
High volatility and leverage can ruin you quickly: Volatility decay can simply be explained by a stock that returns either +2% or -2% every day, eventually goes to zero. Because math bro. Check this thread for a great explanation.
3/ Consider a stock that returns either +2% or -2% every day.
Because of how compound math works, over the long run, this stock eventually goes to zero.
(Where eventually is a very long time.) pic.twitter.com/L2SztAhR6n
— Corey Hoffstein 🏴☠️ (@choffstein) February 27, 2023
It’s not going to be cheap for Germany to resolve its energy crisis: It seems like Germany needs to spend a TRILLION dollars on securing the energy supply.
Germany needs to invest $1 trillion (!!) to future-proof its energy system by 2030 🇩🇪 💰
⚡️ Around 250GW of new capacity will have to be installed by end of decade.
☢️ Part of the cost is to install more renewables to manage phaseout of nuclear & coalhttps://t.co/PfuFdXtBrz— Stephen Stapczynski (@SStapczynski) February 25, 2023
Is China collapsing?: According to this Twitter account, China is collapsing. We’ve heard this before. Some have credible arguments, while others do not. What do you think?
🧵The Chinese Nightmare🧵
1/There are still conservatives, and some NYT progressives who fear/dream that China’s authoritarianism is going to outcompete the west economically and bring in a century of Centralized control
This isn’t going to happen. China is all but collapsing pic.twitter.com/VISz7m8RSd
— CatGirl Kulak 😻😿 (Anarchonomicon) (@FromKulak) February 26, 2023
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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
“I have a comment about sector rotation and I would like hear your thoughts about it.
In my Momentum trader point of view, I usually use this chart, based on some research and sector rotation books.
as you notice, basic materials, energy, and staples have been performing the past year. following this chart, we are possibly on a ‘market top’
MY QUESTION is: what are your thoughts about those charts? and how much weight the overall performance you take in consideration?”
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Podcasts we listened to this week
Value Hive – Dede Eyesan: How To Find Stocks That Return 10x in 10 Years
“This week’s topic is about global outperformers and our guest Dede Eyesan is here to share his knowledge. Last year, Dede published a book titled Global Outperformers, where he studied listed companies that returned more than 1,000% in 10 years.”
Readings this week
Global Outperformers
“A decade study of the top performing globally listed companies.”
A digital copy will only cost you an email address
Book recommendation
Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler
“In Connected, the authors explain why emotions are contagious, how health behaviors spread, why the rich get richer, even how we find and choose our partners. Intriguing and entertaining, Connected overturns the notion of the individual and provides a revolutionary paradigm-that social networks influence our ideas, emotions, health, relationships, behavior, politics, and much more.”
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
Nuclear war is ESG-friendly, because if every human on the Earth died there would be lower sea levels, probably, we really have no idea. pic.twitter.com/dt13IURHiB
— Rudy Havenstein, ending the Fed. (@RudyHavenstein) March 1, 2022
Great analogy! Especially in February! @Th__Nielsen pic.twitter.com/kZ2gJ43X0Y
— Lars Maalen-Johansen (@larssmj) February 26, 2023
New My Worst Investment Ever episodes
ISMS 7: Financials, Cons. Disc., and Utilities Sectors Look Most Interesting
What do you think: Which of the global sectors is most attractive?
Download the PDF with all charts and graphs
Access the episode’s show notes and resources
Ep654: Logan Nathan – Your Supplier Is an Extension of Your Business, Not an Outsider
BIO: Logan Nathan is the founder and CEO at i4T Global. He’s a digital transformation specialist, a serial startup entrepreneur, a board director and advisor, and an angel investor.
STORY: Logan offers time-tested advice on how to launch a successful software product.
LEARNING: Focus on customer experience and satisfaction to win confidence.
Access the episode’s show notes and resources
Ep653: Louis-Vincent Gave – Your Success Comes Down to Portfolio Sizing
BIO: Louis-Vincent Gave is the Chief Executive Officer of Gavekal, a Hong Kong-based company he co-founded over 20 years ago with his father, Charles, and Anatole Kaletsky.
STORY: Louis’s father invested one million dollars in a portfolio of 10 Asian companies. Louis was managing this portfolio, whose size was disproportionate to his earnings. He was earning $50,000 annually at the time and had never owned a portfolio this big, which made him sick.
LEARNING: Portfolio sizing matters tremendously. Never under or over-position yourself. Invest with people who have experience.
Access the episode’s show notes and resources
Ep652: Adam Rosen – Build to Sell From the Start
BIO: Adam Rosen is an entrepreneur who loves to support business owners and share his rollercoaster startup journey to help those on a similar path.
STORY: As soon as Adam was done with college, he co-founded a business. He gave his all to the business for four years and enjoyed little success.
LEARNING: Get to product market fit as quickly as possible. Focus on delivering something that the client wants to use forever.
Access the episode’s show notes and resources
Published on Become a Better Investor this week
In this episode, Andrew and David discuss one aspect of cultivating intrinsic motivation: the role of support. Cooperation and collaboration don’t just happen, and leaving a group of people – particularly kids – to just do as they please isn’t cultivating motivation. So how do you support intrinsic motivation?
Listen to The Role of Support: Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation Series with David P. Langford (Part 3)
What do you think: Which of the largest country’s stock markets is most attractive?
Read ISMS 6: UK Looks Most Interesting Among the Top 5 Stock Markets
In February 2023, we published 10 new episodes of the My Worst Investment Ever podcast.
Listen to My Worst Investment Ever February 2023
Tupy SA (TUPY3 BZ): Profitable Growth rank of 3 was up compared to the prior period’s 6th rank. This is above average performance compared to 1,080 large Cons. Disc. companies worldwide.
Read Tupy SA – World Class Benchmarking
WHA Utilities and Power Public Company Limited (WHAUP TB): Profitable Growth rank of 8 was same compared to the prior period’s 8th rank. This is below average performance compared to 90 small Utilities companies worldwide.
Read WHA Utilities and Power – 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.