“Until life goes out
Memory will not vanish
But grow stronger
Day by day.”
-Anonymous
Right after the end of the year, I was speaking with a friend who is a senior portfolio manager at a private, employee-owned, independent investment firm in New York, with approximately $450B in assets under management. As such they are not beholden to Continue reading
An instance of an
Inability to recall
Makes one wonder if it
Really happened at all
Momentary by J.P. Niemeyer, 10/28/2019. Niemeyer is a retired naval officer living in Japan who writes about Japan regularly for Red Star Rising.
So, another year, and for Continue reading
Democracy is grounded upon so childish a complex of fallacies that they must be protected by a rigid system of taboos, else even half-wits would argue it to pieces. Its first concern must thus be to penalize the free play of ideas. In the United States, this is not only its first concern, but also its last concern.
Henry Louis Mencken, In Defense of Women (1918)
We are at that time of year when people should be Continue reading
“The only way a man can remain consistent amid changing circumstances is to change with them while preserving the same dominating purpose.” Winston S. Churchill, “Consistency in Politics,” Nash’s Pall Mall, July 1927, reprinted in Churchill’s Thoughts and Adventures (1932)
Horizon Kinetics, in its Q3 Commentary, again did a superb job of raising issues that investors should be Continue reading
“A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employments.” Aristotle
One of the more interesting exercises in the consumer brands space in recent years has been the efforts of companies to update brands to be more Continue reading
“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.”
H.L. Mencken, “What I Believe,” The Forum 84 (September 1930), p. 136
Is it different this time? We have made it to the end of August. Many investors have endured roller coaster rides in their portfolios. The year-to-date return for the S&P 500 Index, according to Bloomberg, is 16.74% through the end of August. The total return for the Vanguard Admiral Shares – S&P 500, charging just 4 basis points, is 18.33%. Many active-managed Continue reading
“Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He just looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.”
Winston S. Churchill
I thought I might follow David’s call for a high summer issue that offers our readers “a bit of a breather.” After due consideration, I decided to write a bit about candy and common sense, wine and changing tastes, and the struggle of value investors to deal with changing tastes, changing markets and Continue reading
“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” Winston S. Churchill to Josef Stalin, concerning plans for coordinated deception, at a party celebrating Churchill’s 69th birthday, 30 November 1943
The second quarter of the year has provided investors with a variety of results, as well as a variety of Continue reading
“Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.”
Honoré de Balzac, Epigrams (trans. Jacques Leclercq, 1959)
When last our heroes met at the end of April, the market had been on a tear pretty much since the beginning of the year. Many domestic funds were showing total returns in the high teens. International funds were likewise showing total returns in the vicinity of twenty percent at April 30th. Active fund managers, to the background music of “Happy Days are Continue reading
“If more than ten percent of the population likes a painting it should be burned, for it must be bad.” George Bernard Shaw
Where are we with one third of the year gone? Many domestic and international funds are showing year-to-date positive total return performance ranging from the low teens to just into the twenty percent range. The more instructive number is the total return performance looking back over one year. There many funds are still showing negative numbers, not having Continue reading