Blog Archives

Long-Term Investors and The Value of Illiquidity

long-term investors

One of the great advantages and pleasures of being with a company that was founded in 1969 is the tremendous number of long-term investors we have and the wonderful relationships formed over the years.

The downside is that aging is inevitable and an increasing number are passing away.

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Healthy Ecosystems and the Philosophical Investor

Ecosystem

The ecosystem and nature are fascinating to me. What I find so interesting is how systematic and interconnected it is and how species and ecosystems evolve. I naturally (pun intended) wanted to see if there were any lessons that could be applied to investment firms like CWS (and ourselves individually) from the characteristics of healthy ecosystems.

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A Muddled Approach to Guesstimating Libor's Next Peak

LIBOR Guesstimating Libor's Next Peak

Although I’m in the camp that the Fed will stick to its word and not raise short-term interest rates until after 2023 at the earliest, the market is betting differently. Rather than focusing on when the Fed will start raising rates, let’s assume that they will.

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Stuck Ships and Chips

stuck ships in Suez Canal March 2021

[UPDATE] 3:00 PM Egypt – 6 AM PST the Ever Given was refloated and is on the move again. Credit is given to the full moon bringing the spring higher tides, 14 tug boats, and the 27,000 meters of sand removed. The following was written prior to this news.

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How to Identify and Leverage Your Munger Moment

This week I revisit one of my favorite concepts discussed in the book: The Munger Moment. The video discusses what I mean by this. For those of you who either prefer to read about the concept or have the video amplified by the key points, here you go.

What is a Munger Moment

  • ‘Munger Moments’ are those rare opportunities when the odds align strongly in our favor and all we need are the resources and courage to take advantage of them.

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I Won't Back Down - Powell and Yellen versus Wall Street

Jerome Powell Janet Yellen Wall Street

Well, I won’t back down

No, I won’t back down

You can stand me up at the gates of hell

But I won’t back down

No,

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GamePop and the Lollapalooza Effect

Gamestop r_wallstreetbets Robinhood

Here is GameStop’s stock price chart for one month. Setting aside that it was up 62% for the time and day when I captured this screenshot, it’s up over six times during this one month period. And at its peak, it was up about 10 times!

GameStop Robin Hood 5 Day Stock

Now let’s look at a three-month view and the meteoric rise can be put in more perspective.

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Roneet Kimeldorf Carmell Center for Jewish Life

Roneet-Carmell-Center-for-Jewish-Life B

This post is designed to share with you the rationale as to why I have taken the lead to fund the purchase of the land and construction of a synagogue and community center in Tustin, California that will be called the Roneet Kimeldorf Carmell Center for Jewish Life.

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March of Folly and the Federal Reserve

Folly-and-the-Fed

In The March of Folly author Barbara Tuchman defines folly as acts that are clearly contrary to the self-interest of the organization or group pursuing them. It would seem like the Fed would fall into this definition. Its mandate is full employment and price stability while also providing prudent financial oversight to minimize the risks of financial contagion (I added the third one).

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Let's Get Real

COVID19 Vaccine Stimulus Jobs Numbers

The jobs report released on Friday was disappointing. 

Job growth has seriously slowed - economists react to 'disappointing' November employment report December 4, 2020

Disappointing Job Growth

Perhaps the report shouldn’t have been such a surprise on the downside based on this chart.

Meager Bounce for Job Hunting Searches in November 2020 Oct 1, 2019 - Feb 1, 2021

It would appear that job seekers are less confident about their prospects as they have significantly reduced their searches.

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