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Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 5 August 2023

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Noteworthy this week

  • Fitch downgrades US gov’t debt
  • Americans don’t have much savings
  • Uber delivers first operating profit ever
  • S&P 500 has one of its best years
  • Electrification demands minerals and metals

Fitch downgrades US gov’t debt: Some fascinating historical accounts in this tweet. However, Fitch’s downgrade is likely to have a limited impact on markets.

Americans don’t have much savings: 40% of US adults now have less than US$1,000 in savings. Let that sink in.

Uber delivers first operating profit ever: Uber announced US$326 million in operating profit after accumulating US$31.5 BILLION in operating losses since 2014. Thanks for subsidizing car rides, I guess.

S&P 500 has one of its best years: Looking at the price return of the S&P 500 as of July 31st, the 2023YTD performance ranks as the 10th best year since 1927.

Electrification demands minerals and metals: Access to the required minerals and metals is likely to continue to play an important role in geopolitics.

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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

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Podcasts we listened to this week

Naval Ravikant: The Angel Philosopher (2017)

“No episode in the eight-year history of The Knowledge Project has made a bigger impact than when Naval Ravikant appeared on the show in 2017.”

Listen to the episode

Readings this week

Why Investors Need to Understand Corporate Demographics

“Investors seeking to generate excess returns can benefit from understanding the demographics of public companies and their patterns of wealth creation.”

Download PDF

The (In)Accuracy of Market Forecasts

“A large body of evidence demonstrates that market forecasts from ‘gurus’ have no value in terms of adding alpha.”

Read the article

Book recommendation

Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization by Edward Slingerland

“Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Drunk shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told.”

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

ISMS 28: Stocks for the Long Run

What long-term return do you expect for US stocks?

Today, Andrew is talking about a book that has landed on his desk; Stocks for the Long Run: The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns & Long-Term Investment Strategies.

In his book, Siegel tells us to expect a 5% long-term real US stock market return. One of the first charts that he shares in the book shows the US nominal returns. 

Access the episode’s show notes and resources

Ep717: Folarin Daniel Adeboye – Business and Friendship Can Never Mix

BIO: Folarin Daniel Adeboye was a CEO and Co-Founder at F&K Savings. In 5 years of operations, F&K Savings was able to onboard over 35,000 users while processing over 4 million dollars in transaction volume.

STORY: Daniel and his partner’s desire to grow F&K Savings fast made them lose substantial money to an investment they blindly entered. This, and other managerial mistakes, caused the business to go under.

LEARNING: Don’t mix pleasure or family with business. Never forget why you got started.

Access the episode’s show notes and resources

Published on Become a Better Investor this week

In this episode, David and Andrew ask: should we tell people when they make mistakes? How do educators manage mistakes in a classroom setting, after their organization/classroom is transformed by learning and implementing Deming?

Listen to Managing Mistakes: Role of a Manager in Education (Part 6)

In this episode of Investment Strategy Made Simple (ISMS), Andrew and Larry discuss three chapters of Larry’s book Investment Mistakes Even Smart Investors Make and How to Avoid Them. In this eighth episode, they discuss mistake number 13: Do you confuse the familiar with the safe? Mistake number 14: Do you believe you’re playing with the house’s money? And mistake number 15: Do you let friendship influence your choice of investment advisors?

Read ISMS 27: Larry Swedroe – Familiar Doesn’t Make It Safe and You’re Not Playing With the House’s Money

SM Prime Holdings Incorporated (SMPH PM): Profitable Growth rank of 3 was up compared to the prior period’s 4th rank. This is above average performance compared to 220 large Real Estate companies worldwide.

Read SM Prime Holdings – World Class Benchmarking

In July 2023, we published 13 new episodes of the My Worst Investment Ever podcast and one blog post. Listen to all of them here.

Listen to My Worst Investment Ever July 2023

Giant Network Group Company Limited (002558 SZ): Profitable Growth rank of 4 was down compared to the prior period’s 3rd rank. This is above average performance compared to 210 medium Comm. Serv. companies worldwide.

Read Giant Network Group – 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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