David Swensen lived and breathed long-term investing. From his license plate ENDOW to his aphorism “Don’t be so short-term,” David walked into the office every day with a mindset that embodied Yale’s perpetual time horizon. The issues I raised in Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain three weeks ago would have resonated with him. Since then, the […]
Morgan Housel became one of the most popular investment writers by telling stories about the psychology of money and markets – the same today as it’s ever been. Sometimes that knowledge can elicit positive change. Sophisticated institutions can build processes to increase their awareness of behaviors that might comprise optimal decisions. More often, we repeat […]
Ted recently appeared on the Panic with Friends Podcast with Howard Lindzon, where they discussed the recent FTX fraud; he was around in the days of Bernie Madoff and has a really different take on how managers should think about these events. Howard got Ted's take on how the SEC has been rambling on recently […]
“Our community already knows most of what matters within the field. It’s the interdisciplinary education outside of investing that allows us to identify new sources of return.” The hardest day to invest is always today. That investment truth seems particularly apropos today – a time managers competition has intensified and allocators are more sophisticated than […]
In the fall of 1998, I sat down with famed value investor Michael Price and asked what he learned from having invested in the accounting fraud perpetrated by “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap at Sunbeam Corporation. He responded, “Absolutely nothing!” [1] Michael went on to explain a principle about frauds. When you conduct analysis on an investment, […]
Dear Stakeholders, “May you live in interesting times.” – Ancient Chinese curse I’m excited to share our third annual letter. To set the table, I’ll start with our Why. Our mission is to Learn, Share, and Implement the Process of Premier Investors. We carry out that mission through a set of six shared values summarized […]
The financial world is ablaze with the collapse of FTX. Not since the Bernie Madoff debacle have players in the investment profession been so exposed for failures in due diligence after a frothy market environment. Back then, hedge fund of funds awash in inflows got chastised for glossing over details in the pursuit of steady, […]
