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21 January 2025
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Munger is best known as Warren Buffett’s sidekick though he’s a formidable investor in his own right. Here he addresses what makes Buffett great, Costco's retailing genius and Berkshire's investments in Apple, Japan, and China.
Everyone including investors needs to evolve to get better. Here are five steps to improve your investment toolkit, including thinking probabilistically, running your own race, and measuring yourself objectively.
Active funds cost more than passive because the investor is paying for the skill of the manager, so why are fund managers reticent to describe their skill rather than their outcomes. Here are five reasons.
Over decades, relatively few companies generate all the stockmarket's outperformance. Is this an argument for passive investing or does it prove active investing is rewarded? Bessembinder lets you decide.
Charlie Munger is famous for applying different 'mental models' to get an edge in markets. In this vain, here's a look at how ecological niches can be applied to stock markets and may help you become a better investor.
Few of us will reach 80 years old without some kind of mental impairment that will cloud our financial decision-making. It's wise to take such decision-making out of our hands while we have the mental capacity to do so.
Individual investors think professionals have ‘smart money’ advantages enjoyed on the inside. While some perks are worthwhile, others are a rort, and overall, it's easier to invest with the freedom of ‘small money’.
If it's common knowledge, it's not an outperformance edge. You may have insights about China, a great company, US ingenuity, inflation or interest rates, but if they are common, they are already priced in.
Every successful fund manager suffers periods of underperformance, and investors who jump from fund to fund chasing results are likely to do badly. Selecting a manager is a long-term decision but what else?
It is common to see 'smart beta' as the core of a portfolio supported by high conviction active funds, or a core active manager blended with a complimentary smart beta strategy. It also removes key person risk.
From a financial view, most earnings calls and stock picks are a waste of time. For most people, their investing would be better served in an index fund. So why bother with it? The best reason is because you enjoy it.
The Warren Buffett/Charlie Munger partnership is the stuff of legends, but even Charlie admits it is coming to an end ("I'm nearly dead"). He is one of the few people in investing prepared to say what he thinks.
Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.
The housing market was subdued in 2024, and pessimism abounds as we start the new year. 2025 is likely to be a tale of two halves, with interest rate cuts fuelling a resurgence in buyer demand in the second half of the year.
The renowned investor has penned his first investor letter for 2025 and it’s a ripper. He runs through what bubbles are, which ones he’s experienced, and whether today’s markets qualify as the third major bubble of this century.
This examines the performance of key asset classes and sub-sectors in 2024 and over longer timeframes, and the lessons that can be drawn for constructing an investment portfolio for the next decade.
Key lessons include expensive stocks can always get more expensive, Bitcoin is our tulip mania, follow the smart money, the young are coming with pitchforks on housing, and the importance of staying invested.
Check out the most-read Firstlinks articles from 2024. From '16 ASX stocks to buy and hold forever', to 'The best strategy to build income for life', and 'Where baby boomer wealth will end up', there's something for all.