“Humility is the voice inside your head that says, ‘anyone can do it once, that’s luck. Can you do it consistently?’” – Farnam Street
Apologies for being a bit quiet. In addition to a busy work period and decamping Utah and driving cross country to Florida, we seem to be in a period of time with particularly wide error bars. So, wait and see looks like a pretty good approach to me. I am extremely curious as to where the world is in six months.
On the reading front, I finally finished Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. And have been attempting to clear out the always present backlog of saved articles. More on how that works here.
Here are my most influential reads – in no particular order:
- No News Is Good News – ” Personally, I vote for going cold turkey and simply walking away from the whole idea of news and the illusion of staying informed.”
- Take that two and a half percent and run – ” I would buy the hell out of the two-year at 2.5% but not the ten-year at the equivalent yield. “
- Paradoxes of Life – “The most persuasive people don’t argue—they observe, listen, and ask questions.”
- Bonds to Buy After an ‘Epic Rout.’ – “The iShares 20+ Year Bond exchange-traded fund (ticker: TLT), which holds long-term Treasuries, is down 14% this year, against a 5% drop in the S&P 500 index. Municipal bond closed-end funds are off 15%.”
- The Importance of Slugging Percentage in Investing – “But what matters more is how much money those winners make compared to how much the losers lose.”
- A Q&A With Mary Meeker: How Tech-Trend Guru Sees the World Now – “What macro issues worry you? It’s a long list.”
- Is U.S. Booming or Busting? It Depends on the Data You Examine. – “Trucking activity has plunged 50% in the past 10 weeks on flat unit retail sales and already excessive inventories, according to a research note. “
- There Will Be No Soft Landing. Why a Recession Is Inevitable. – “The debate over where the economy is going should be recast. A soft landing at this point is wishful thinking. “
- What Does the Bond Market Rout Mean for the Stock Market? – “The speed and magnitude of the bond market correction is something investors simply haven’t had to deal especially at the same time stocks are in correction territory.”
- Back to the Future of Twitter – “First, Twitter’s current fully integrated model is a financial failure.”
Note: This is based on when I read the article, not necessarily when it was first published. Unfortunately, my backlog of things I would like to read always seems to dwarf the amount of time I can devote to reading.
Top clicks across the site last month:
- Financial Model vs. Operating Model
- Email: Don’t Get Fired
- EBITDA Is Not A Good Proxy For Cash Flow
- Excel Tips: Football Field Chart
- Operating Model Tips
Updated stats:
| Read Articles | Books | |
| January | 89 | 1 |
| February | 110 | 0 |
| March | 102 | 3 |
| April | 103 | 2 |
| May | ||
| June | ||
| July | ||
| August | ||
| September | ||
| October | ||
| November | ||
| December | ||
| Total | 404 | 6 |