Always make people work as hard to take your money as you did to earn it. In the same manner, you shouldn’t invest in companies that don’t have your best interests in mind. Fiduciary responsibility is a term used to describe the obligation firms have to act in the best interest of shareholders. For example, […]
Readers know that one of our oft-repeated refrains is that if 95% of professional investment managers can’t beat a broad market benchmark, it’s extremely doubtful we can do better. That’s why we diversify and only hold a double-digit percentage of our total assets in tech stocks, some of that being allocated to fintech. On the […]
One of the leading thought leaders in Web 3.0 venture funding told the New York Times “investing, for me, is a form of activism to create the world I want to see.” That’s great, but you won’t see a red penny of our hard-earned money. Ideas such as providing a “guaranteed minimum income” to “creators” […]
We recently talked about how SPACs promised to “democratize” access to the world’s most exciting startups. That didn’t come to fruition because the stakeholders were incented to find a company and merge with it as quickly as possible. The SPAC managers would realize an immediate windfall, the VCs would see an exit, the company would […]
Cultural anthropologists refer to ethnocentrism as the propensity for individuals to view the world through the lens of their own culture and customs. For Americans who want to see their own inclinations towards this behavior, read the classic paper on Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner. Then have your kids read it to […]
If you’re a hiring manager in finance who recruits fresh grads, here’s a great thing to tell them. “Take the most sophisticated financial concept you know and explain it to me like I’m your grandmother.” The effectiveness is the psychological challenge. Explain a simple concept perfectly and it implies their depth of knowledge might be […]
The Chinese are a particularly superstitious lot. For proof of that, look no further than the list of things you aren’t supposed to do during Hungry Ghost month. And it’s not just restricted to a certain class of people. Hong Kong’s wealthiest home buyers won’t set foot in a house that has ghosts. In fact, […]
We’ve been called the best-kept secret in finance, yet that hardly seems the case based on how many emails we receive each day. People from all walks of life feel the need to reach out with some of the inanest rubbish you could dream up. But not all these emails are pointless. Some really hit […]
Having a tech investing methodology with a strict set of rules doesn’t mean your approach can’t change when the market changes. As the availability of easy cheap capital dries up, our “revenue at all costs” mantra is shifting to “revenue at reasonable costs.” Spending $1.5 to acquire $1 in revenues won’t be sustainable, so we […]
Investor psychology is a fascinating topic because it shows precisely why 95% of humans can’t beat the market, even when they dedicate their entire lives to that pursuit. Imagine that. A portfolio manager spends their entire life pretending to be someone they’re not. That’s what actors do, but at least they end up with the […]