Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 5 April 2025
Noteworthy this week
- The great math behind Trump’s tariffs
- The real reason behind the tariffs
- Gold hits US$3,200
- Russia and Australia have the largest gold reserves
- Larry Fink shills Bitcoin
The great math behind Trump’s tariffs: For every country, they just took the US trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to the US, or applied a minimum 10% tariff.
Just figured out where these fake tariff rates come from. They didn’t actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did. Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.
So we… https://t.co/PBjF8xmcuv
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) April 2, 2025
The real reason behind the tariffs: As Bill Ackman says, the tariffs are a negotiation tactic. However, the response is uncertain, and therefore, it’s a high-stakes game, which could lead to a trade war.
The countries that make the first tariff deals with @realDonaldTrump will make the better deals. The countries that wait or retaliate will regret that they were not part of the early deal group or worse.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 3, 2025
Gold hits US$3,200: With Trump’s tariff galore, uncertainty spread throughout global financial markets, and gold hit US$3,200/oz t for the first time in history.
JUST IN 🚨: Gold hits $3,200 for the first time in history 📈📈 pic.twitter.com/tkRLfGn6js
— Barchart (@Barchart) April 2, 2025
Russia and Australia have the largest gold reserves: At 12,000 tons each, Russia and Australia have the largest gold reserves in the ground, followed by South Africa with 5,000 tons. Indonesia, Canada, China, and the US have around 3,000 tons of gold reserves.
Gold Reserves in the ground, by country. pic.twitter.com/W2yBw4tYxC
— In Gold We Trust (@IGWTreport) April 2, 2025
Larry Fink shills Bitcoin: BlackRock’s Larry Fink said Bitcoin could threaten the US dollar’s reserve currency status. As Assness says, maybe not the most unbiased source.
If someone who was an actual great investor or economist said this I’d have to think a bit. But when the world’s most successful (it really was well done) roll-up casino operator without a conviction in his body (ESG today? Bitcoin today? Privates for mom and pop today?). Nah. pic.twitter.com/yK7iBR1No0
— Clifford Asness (@CliffordAsness) March 31, 2025
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Podcasts we listened to this week
Russell Napier, Edward Chancellor, and Neil Rogan at Money Makers podcast: 29 Mar 2025
“In the latest editions of the Money Makers investment trust podcast released this week, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook and winner of the 2024 AIC Best Broadcast Journalist Award, is joined by Russell Napier, global market strategist and founder of the Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh; Edward Chancellor, historian and author of The Price of Time; and Neil Rogan, chairman of Invesco Asia Dragon (IAD) and Baillie Gifford UK Growth (BGUK), and a non-executive director at J.P.Morgan Global Growth and Income (JGGI).”
Readings this week
Investing Politics: Globalization Backlash and Government Disruption!
“I will start with a couple of confessions. The first is that I see the world in shades of gray, and in a world where more and more people see only black and white, that makes me an outlier.”
Book recommendation
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter by Joseph Henrich
“Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments.”
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
No one is safe, not even the penguins https://t.co/jcWlK1FqZv pic.twitter.com/7rtzUGR2wJ
— greg (@greg16676935420) April 3, 2025
— litquidity (@litcapital) April 3, 2025
New My Worst Investment Ever episodes
Ep801: Stu Heinecke – How to Get a Meeting with Anyone
BIO: Stu Heinecke is the author of How to Get a Meeting with Anyone, named one of the top 64 sales books of all time and the #1 sales book ever written on prospecting.
STORY: Stu discusses his updated book edition, which caused a worldwide stir when the first edition was released in 2016. He talks about how to get a meeting with anyone.
LEARNING: Be audacious and try to get that meeting that seems impossible.
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 27: Pascal’s Wager and the Making of Prudent Decisions.
Listen to Enrich Your Future 27: Pascal’s Wager: Betting on Consequences Over Probabilities
Sri Trang Agro Industry Public Company Limited (STA TB): Profitable Growth rank of 3 was up compared to the prior period’s 10th rank. This is above average performance compared to 860 large Cons. Disc. companies worldwide.
Read Sri Trang Agro Industry – World Class Benchmarking
China, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, and Hong Kong were the only markets with a positive return in 1Q25. China was the strongest performer in USD and local terms.
Read China Was the Best Performer in Asia in 1Q25
In March 2025, we published 4 new episodes of the My Worst Investment Ever podcast. Listen to all of them here.
Listen to My Worst Investment Ever March 2025
VGI Public Company Limited (VGI TB): Profitable Growth rank of 9 was up compared to the prior period’s 10th rank. This is poor performance compared to 180 medium Comm. Serv. companies worldwide.
Read VGI – 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.