There is so much of the market worth avoiding or even better -- ignoring -- I wrote a piece called Selective Ignorance, it rhymes with the thoughts you shared 🙏🏻 hope you are well!
Ah I will read that. I brings to mind this comment from Alice Schroeder on Buffett via Frederik Gieschen:
"I have seen him make his famous 5-minute decisions on the phone. Five minutes is the outside amount of time it takes him to make a decision. If the person can be succinct and convey the salient points in 60 seconds he’ll say, “Yes” or “No” in 60 seconds.
The time is determined by how long it takes the person to convey the salient points, not how long it takes him to think about it. It’s virtually instant once he has grasped the 2 or 3 variables or points that are important to him.
Typically, and this is not well understood, his way of thinking is that there are disqualifying features to an investment. So he rifles through and as soon as you hit one of those it’s done.
Doesn’t like the CEO, forget it.
Too much tail risk, forget it.
Low-margin business, forget it.
Many people would try to see whether a balance of other factors made up for these things. He doesn’t analyze from A to Z; it’s a time-waster."
One of my favorite red flags for equities is when you read a description of what the company does 2 or 3 times and still aren’t sure what they do.
I used to call it complexity catnip. Overedicated HF analysts justifying their salary by obsessing over opaque business models “you just don’t get.”
There is so much of the market worth avoiding or even better -- ignoring -- I wrote a piece called Selective Ignorance, it rhymes with the thoughts you shared 🙏🏻 hope you are well!
Ah I will read that. I brings to mind this comment from Alice Schroeder on Buffett via Frederik Gieschen:
"I have seen him make his famous 5-minute decisions on the phone. Five minutes is the outside amount of time it takes him to make a decision. If the person can be succinct and convey the salient points in 60 seconds he’ll say, “Yes” or “No” in 60 seconds.
The time is determined by how long it takes the person to convey the salient points, not how long it takes him to think about it. It’s virtually instant once he has grasped the 2 or 3 variables or points that are important to him.
Typically, and this is not well understood, his way of thinking is that there are disqualifying features to an investment. So he rifles through and as soon as you hit one of those it’s done.
Doesn’t like the CEO, forget it.
Too much tail risk, forget it.
Low-margin business, forget it.
Many people would try to see whether a balance of other factors made up for these things. He doesn’t analyze from A to Z; it’s a time-waster."
"Like Australia, the corporate world is filled with things that want to kill you"
Ha!
NGL mate, I was pleased with that.*
*With apologies to my Aussie friends.
Don't worry about the Aussies, they can take it, they've dealt with a lot worse :P
Like the British.