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Become a Better Investor Newsletter – 7 January 2023

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Noteworthy this week

  • Europe is highly dependent on gas
  • Luckily, the winter has been mild so far in Europe
  • US mortgage rates are at a level not seen for a long time
  • The Japanese Yen has rebounded
  • 2022 was an awful year for a stock + bond portfolio

Europe is highly dependent on gas: Gas accounts for 39% of residential heating in the EU. Over 80% of the households in The Netherlands are heated with gas.

Luckily, the winter has been mild so far in Europe: The winter has been mild so far in Europe. Germany has likely experienced its hottest year on record since 1960.

US mortgage rates are at a level not seen for a long time: The average 30-year American mortgage rates have returned to a level not seen since around 2000. People will be reminded what it feels like to have to pay interest on their loans.

The Japanese Yen has rebounded: While still relatively weak versus the US dollar, Yen has strengthened 16% since October. Speculations about a policy shift from BoJ have been one of the reasons.

2022 was an awful year for a stock + bond portfolio: Looking at the returns of stocks and bonds, 2022 was the worst year since 1871. That means the traditional 60/40 portfolio did terribly.

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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

“NEW RESEARCH: The United States won WW2.5, but who lost?”

Join the Become a Better Investor Community today! You can cancel any time, and as a newsletter reader you get a massive discount when you use this coupon code: READER

Click here to learn more.

Podcasts we listened to this week

The Tim Ferriss Show #648: James Clear, Atomic Habits

A podcast of two giants!

Mastering habits, growing an email list to 2M+ people, selling 10M+ books, cultivating self-awareness, and much more.

Listen on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Readings this week

Epsilon Theory 2022 in Review – Foundation

“2022 was our ninth year of publishing Epsilon Theory. It was also our best.

  • We were early and we were right about the embeddedness of inflation and the inability of central banks to control it.
  • We were early and we were right about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • We were early and we were right about the collapse of the crypto trading world.
  • We’re changing the way investors see stock buybacks and director accountability.
  • We’re changing the way all of us see the water in which we swim – narratives.”

Read the full post here.

Book recommendation

Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam by Vivek Ramaswamy

“There’s a new invisible force at work in our economic and cultural lives. It affects every advertisement we see and every product we buy, from our morning coffee to a new pair of shoes. “Stakeholder capitalism” makes rosy promises of a better, more diverse, environmentally-friendly world, but in reality this ideology championed by America’s business and political leaders robs us of our money, our voice, and our identity.”

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

Ep639: Morad Fiki – Don’t Partner With Someone Who Has Nothing to Lose

BIO: Morad Fiki is a former U.S. Naval Officer and #1 Real Estate Expert on Social Media in Texas. He has been awarded Top 1.4% Real Estate Agents In the United States through Real Trends and has over 100 Million dollars in Career Sales.

STORY: Morad got into the restaurant business without prior due diligence causing him to buy a non-profitable business. In addition to that, he got into a partnership where he was the sole financier.

LEARNING: Don’t go into business with someone who has nothing to lose. Do your research.

Access the episode’s show notes and resources

Published on Become a Better Investor this week

In this episode, David and Andrew talk about Common Cause Variation vs Special Cause Variation, and the problem of confusing the two. Using the example of transgender students, David describes how a system’s capability should be expanded rather than using that special cause situation as a weapon to destroy the entire system.

Listen to Weaponizing Special Causes: Deming in Education with David P. Langford (Part 10)

DMCI Holdings Incorporated (DMC PM): Profitable Growth rank of 1 was up compared to the prior period’s 2nd rank. This is World Class performance compared to 1,590 large Industrials companies worldwide.

Read DMCI Holdings – World Class Benchmarking

CH. Karnchang Public Company Limited (CK TB): Profitable Growth rank of 8 was same compared to the prior period’s 8th rank. This is below average performance compared to 1,390 medium Industrials companies worldwide.

Read CH. Karnchang – World Class Benchmarking

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company Limited (002415 SZ): Profitable Growth rank of 2 was down compared to the prior period’s 1st rank. This is World Class performance compared to 740 large Info Tech companies worldwide.

Read Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology – World Class Benchmarking

In December 2022, we published 13 new episodes of the My Worst Investment Ever podcast. Listen to all of them here.

Listen to My Worst Investment Ever December 2022

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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