The Philosophical Investor's Blog

Hiding in Plain Sight

Silicon Valley Bank Hiding in Plain Sight

Like many others, I have been looking for where cracks in the financial system might appear catalyzed by the aggressive Federal Reserve rate hiking policy and balance sheet contraction. And while the housing market has been an obvious sacrificial lamb via much higher mortgage rates,

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Random Musings and Wonderful Memory Triggers

Memory Musing Spanish Flu

This is one of those weeks where I don’t have anything pressing I feel I need to convey or work through to gain clarity so I thought I would share some random thoughts related to the coronavirus, surveying data, economic reports, and health tip. 

Coronavirus vs.

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Lessons in Leadership and Civility from Lincoln

Lincoln

I was flipping through the television channels last week, and I came across Ken Burns’s last episode of his Civil War documentary. It is such a highly regarded series and one in which I hope to see from beginning to end someday. I have always been fascinated by the Civil War,

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Down with Housing

Down with Housing

With the renewed runup in interest rates, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit the homeownership market via a frenzy of charts. Of course, all real estate is local, but these overall trends are pretty powerful, so it would be unusual for most markets to be immune to them.

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Be Indispensable!

Be Indispensable

Like many people who have had long careers and experienced the inevitable ups and downs that go with any long-term venture, I often reflexively respond to those asking for life-changing advice by telling them to do what you love. Actually, it’s more do what you’re passionate about,

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Bond Market Skepticism & Emerging Market Carnage

I couldn’t stay away from interest rates for too long. Last week was very fascinating. There was a lot of news that should have been quite bearish for long-term bonds but instead, yields moved down by about 5 basis points for the week for the 10-year Treasury note.

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Office Building Woahs

Office Building Woahs

2023 is already shaping up to be the year when the tsunami of office building defaults, foreclosures, and large losses for lenders and equity investors comes on with full force. Cracks have already appeared, and it is only going to get worse. The office building sector is impaired,

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Playing and Living Fiercely

Playing and Living Fiercely

Last week I wrote about the epiphany I had of focusing on loving to win versus hating to lose and how I savored a great forehand that I hit playing in a tennis tournament even though I lost. This led me to focus much more on the satisfaction of that great forehand versus what I didn’t do well or on the mistakes I made.

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Pedigree or Motivated Outsiders - Who Makes the Best Money Managers?

pedigree-or-motivativated outsiders

Carl Icahn has clearly done enormously well over the years in compounding capital through his highly aggressive, activist approach to investing. He is not shy about expressing his opinions, sometimes in a Trumpesque manner, to call out underperforming management teams, changes he thinks they should make to increase returns to shareholders and the performance of the business and to get more involved to either make changes and/or hold management teams more accountable.

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Two Years Later - Learning To Love To Win More Than Hating To Lose

Gary Heart Asher Kimchi February 2023

A couple of weekends ago, I played in a tennis tournament. Then on the following Monday evening, I played doubles from 5:00 to 6:30, followed by a clinic from 7:00 to 8:30. Proving there’s no rest for the weary, the next morning, I had a training session from 6 to 7 and then played singles from 8:00 to 9:30.

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