The Philosophical Investor's Blog

What Were Trump Voters Really Looking For?

Trump Voters

With the midterm elections kicking into high gear and political rhetoric heating up and true believers huddling in their echo chambers and cocoons, I thought it would be interesting to look at some research carried out with regard to the 2016 presidential election and some of the surprising findings.

…

Read more ›



Life and Death Location Decisions - Innovative Technology Sectors

Decisions high tech

When we started to scale our apartment business in the mid to late 1990s our location decisions were based on investing in cities that would be highly appealing to knowledge-based workers. It was starting to become clear that economic growth would be driven by technological innovation deployed widely throughout U.S.

…

Read more ›



Cultivating the Art Form of Loving

I recently completed a wonderful, classic book called The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm. It has great applicability to all relationships, not just your primary one with your spouse or significant other. I found there was also a lot to apply in terms of helping us at CWS to build upon our tremendous focus on communicating with and serving our investors.

…

Read more ›



Man Up Revisited - Winners Like Apple and Amazon

Apple Amazon.com

In an earlier blog, I discussed a fascinating study that asked whether stocks outperformed T-Bills. Surprisingly, the answer was that most stocks do not and the bulk of stock market returns have come from an incredibly small number of companies that have produced the estimated $32 trillion in wealth (returns in excess of T-Bills) between 1926 and 2015.

…

Read more ›



The Benefits of a 98-Year Investment Horizon - The Buster Keaton Estate

Buster Keaton estate

There was a time when most people thought that you could never go wrong buying well-located real estate for the long term. This faith was definitely destroyed by the collapse of the housing bubble. Even with this experience, my guess is that most people would not assume that Beverly Hills real estate would be worth less than what it cost to build 46 years later.

…

Read more ›



What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

personality

In 1986 Dan Rather was attacked on the streets of New York City by an assailant who kept asking “Kenneth, What’s the frequency?” And if Dan Rather hoped to forget about the incident this became impossible as R.E.M. memorialized it with their huge hit in 1994 of a slightly different title called What’s the Frequency,

…

Read more ›



Power of Visualization: What Do You See?

Visualization

I recently read an article I enjoyed very much that touched on the importance of visualization in the context of  how to find the next million dollar idea. I highly recommend the entire commentary as it is extremely well thought out and quite holistic in its approach.

…

Read more ›



Should You Focus Relentlessly On The Process Or Goals?

Process or GoalsPaul O’Neill, who ran Alcoa and quintupled profits during his 13-year tenure, famously focused on one keystone habit to transform the company. It’s worker safety. Analysts and investors couldn’t believe their ears when he was introduced as the new CEO when he said that would be the company’s most important focus.

…

Read more ›



Suck it Up and Tough it Out - The Lessons Hardship Can Teach

Polish Kresey 1944 tough

Tom Petty used to sing that you don’t have to live like a refugee. On the other hand, John Mellencamp said “suck it up and tough it out, be the best you can.” So what would most people choose?

…

Read more ›



Winner Take Most - Can Firms Gain a Large Share of the Market?

Google Firms

Income inequality has many economic and societal impacts. When more wealth is concentrated in fewer hands, this can negatively impact aggregate demand as a large percentage of marginal dollars earned are saved versus spent. And since one person’s spending is another person’s income, a growing pool of savings will lower aggregate demand unless one or more sectors of the economy spend more than it earns as output will go unsold and have to be marked down for it to clear.

…

Read more ›



Categories

Free Insights