For the serious investors among you, I recommended a book about the 1929-1933 crash that is the single best statistical resource on the subject I have ever encountered. After talking about it on the site, I’m going back through the 700+ pages and I really can’t emphasize enough how seeing the effects of the worst…
A week ago, I recommended a now-out of print book from 30 years ago that was an academic study of the Great Depression called The Crash and Its Aftermath. It is, hands down, the most useful statistical survey of the Great Depression and the 1929-1933 period I have ever read. It instantly ranks up there…
I am committed to this minimalism and de-cluttering project. Since beginning this change, it has been wonderfully freeing. If something hasn’t been used in the past twelve months, it is donated or discarded. Everything has a place and the systems at home were changed so that the basic act of living, going through the day, takes care of keeping everything maintained without any extra work. Now that this phase of the pantry is done, I am turning my attention to the library.
C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General of the United States, has passed away. He was 96 years old. The devout, conservative, evangelical Christian born the grandchild of German immigrants was one of the great pragmatist of the past few generations, proving that a fact-based, rational approach to life can improve standard of living, reduce disease,…
In 1985, one of the greatest scholarly works ever penned on the Great Depression was published by Barrie A. Wigmore under the title The Crash and Its Aftermath: A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933. Using actual data from the period that took years to acquire, analyze, and interpret, Wigmore takes 751 pages…
The developments on the income statement and balance sheet of Union Pacific between 2005 and 2013 are an excellent example of why it is important for you to analyze data yourself, and come to conclusions based on reasonable, rational, intelligently organized facts. The willingness to take action when others do not agree with you, and to have your action backed up by solid evidence, can make the difference between being comfortable and ending up rich. Two of the world’s wealthiest titans demonstrated this truth, not only when buying shares of Union Pacific, but other railroads, as well.
Legendary distressed debt investor, and equity mutual fund manager, Martin J. Whitman has been called “the vulture of Wall Street” for his knack at finding amazing opportunities in beat down securities. When the rest of the world is falling apart, he can often be found, cash in hand, buying up things that will be worth…
At the time it was published by the most successful mutual fund manager of all time, Peter Lynch, One Up on Wall Street was considered pie-in-the-sky by some because it was addressed to the average investor who wanted to select individual stocks for a portfolio, recounting wildly successful investment strategies. One Up on Wall Street was…
The Intelligent Investor is the portfolio management book written for the masses, made famous, in part, by the fact that it was what attracted legendary investor Warren Buffett to study under author Benjamin Graham at Columbia University. There are several different versions, updated to reflect the time in which they were published, all offering unique…
In 1958, one of the most influential investors in history, a man by the name of Philip A. Fisher, published his masterpiece, which you can still get today. Unlike virtually all other voices in the financial markets at the time, Fisher proposed that an investor should find a handful of really high quality firms, pay…