Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 15 “The Most Important Thing Is…Having a Sense for Where We Stand.” Cash, Risk, Opportunity Cost “The period from 2004 through the middle of 2007 presented investors with one of the greatest opportunities to outperform […]
Continuation in our series on portfolio management and Seth Klarman, with ideas extracted from old Baupost Group letters. Our Readers know that we generally provide excerpts along with commentary for each topic. However, at the request of Baupost, we will not be providing any excerpts, only our interpretive summaries, for this series. Sizing, Catalyst, Expected […]
People often remark that “AUM is the enemy of performance.” But is this truly always the case? Here’s another thought-provoking excerpt from Stephen Duneier of Bija Capital Management that explores the nuances of the AUM-Performance relationship. AUM, Expected Return, Sizing, Selectivity, Liquidity “Since becoming a portfolio manager more than ten years ago, I have managed […]
“Investing is an art form. Take the hundred greatest painters, their paintings look nothing alike. The definition of great is not uniform.” When asked about the art on the walls, he answers he is not a collector, merely an admirer. There’s no corner office with custom or museum-quality furniture. There’s no glaring display of power […]
The following excerpts are derived from Jack Schwager’s interview with Bill Lipschutz in The New Market Wizards. Lipschutz helped build and ran Salomon’s currency desk for many years – here is a 2006 EuroMoney Article with additional background on Bill Lipschutz. There are number of worthwhile portfolio management tidbits here, mainly the relationship between making mistakes, […]
Below are numerous psychological gems extracted from Chapter 1 of More Than You Know by Michael Mauboussin. Also be sure to check out his thoughts on Process Over Outcome. Psychology, Sizing “The behavioral issue of overconfidence comes into play here. Research suggests that people are too confident in their own abilities and predictions. As a […]
Continuation in our series on portfolio management and Seth Klarman, with ideas extracted from old Baupost Group letters. Our Readers know that we generally provide excerpts along with commentary for each topic. However, at the request of Baupost, we will not be providing any excerpts, only our interpretive summaries, for this series. Hedging, Opportunity Cost, […]
Below are excerpts from an article written by Michael Mauboussin in 2006 on the importance of position sizing (Size Matters). For fans of the Kelly formula, this is a must-read. Mauboussin highlights a few very important flaws of the Kelly formula when applied to our imperfect, non-normally distributed world of investing. Sizing, Diversification “To suppose […]
Ever experience those humbling moments when you read something and think: “Wow, this person is way smarter than me” – happens to me every single day, most recently while reading a Feb 2013 Whitebox client letter during which Andy Redleaf & Jonathan Wood devoted a refreshing amount of text to the discussion of portfolio management […]
Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 13 “The Most Important Thing Is…Patient Opportunism” Selectivity, Patience, Cash “…I want to…point out that there aren’t always great things to do, and sometimes we maximize our contribution by being discerning and relatively inactive. Patient opportunism […]
Howard Marks recently wrote a letter focusing almost exclusively on equities (March 2013 Letter). Within the letter, he thoroughly explores the equity risk premium – a concept usually taken for granted or as a given figure – in such a thoughtful and intuitive way, that the usually esoteric concept becomes nearly graspable by people (like […]
Previously, we summarized an interview with Michael F. Price & an interview with David E. Shaw from Peter J. Tanous’ book Investment Gurus. Below are highlight from yet another fantastic interview, this time with Peter Lynch, the legendary investor who ran Fidelity’s Magellan Fund from 1977-1990, compounding at ~30% annually during that period. When To Buy, Volatility, Catalyst […]
Portfolio management highlights extracted from Ruane Cunniff Goldfarb’s Sequoia Fund 2012 Annual Letter. These letters always make for pleasant reading, with candid and insightful commentary on portfolio positions and overall market conditions. Risk Free Rate, Discount Rate “Valuations for stocks are heavily influenced by interest rates, and particularly by the risk-free rate of return on […]
Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 11 “The Most Important Thing Is…Contrarianism” Trackrecord, Clients, Mistakes, Redemptions, Patience “‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ market extremes seem to occur once every decade or so – not often enough for an investor to build a career around capitalizing on […]
Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Creativity, Trackrecord “…although I consider myself to be primarily in the quantitative school…the really sensational ideas I have had over the years have been heavily weighted toward the qualitative side where I have had a ‘high-probability insight.’ […]
Continuation of portfolio management highlights from Howard Marks’ book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, Chapter 9 “The Most Important Thing Is…Awareness of the Pendulum” Psychology, Risk, When To Buy, When To Sell As the title of this chapter gives away, much of Marks’ comments emphasize the importance of awareness of market […]
Continuation in our series on portfolio management and Seth Klarman, with ideas extracted from old Baupost Group letters. Our Readers know that we generally provide excerpts along with commentary for each topic. However, at the request of Baupost, we will not be providing any excerpts, only our interpretive summaries, for this series. Mandate, Trackrecord, Expected […]
Many have read about Cornwall Capital (I wrote about them awhile back), a firm that successfully profited from shorting subprime CDS. Those who enjoyed the Cornwall Capital piece are in for a treat. Below are highlights extracted from an Eurekahedge interview with Richard Hollington of 36South, a hedge fund that also specializes in profiting from volatility […]
Part 2 of portfolio management highlights extracted from an August 2010 WealthTrack interview with Consuelo Mack (in my opinion, WealthTrack really is an underrated treasure trove of investment wisdom). Be sure to check out Part 1. AUM, Compounding, Subscription, Redemptions “MACK: There’s a saying on Wall Street…that size is the enemy of performance… BERKOWITZ: …we think about […]
Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Conservatism, Volatility “Proponents of institutional investing frequently cite its conservative nature. If ‘conservatism’ is interpreted to mean ‘productive of results varying only slightly from average experience,’ I believe the characterization is proper…However, I believe that conservatism is […]