Year: 2020

Nifty FANGAM and Other “One Decision” Investment Strategies

Nifty FANGAM and Other “One Decision” Investment Strategies

In early January we would not have guessed the stock market would be at today’s level, there must be more to the stock market than FANGAM.

De-Numb Your Mind

De-Numb Your Mind

I can definitely see how we are always trying to numb our minds. We constantly need the mental organ entertained and well-numbed with external stimuli. It seems that whenever we are left with ourselves, that is, with our minds, we reach out for our favorite portable numbing device and happily lose ourselves in Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, or YouTube. We spend little or no time with ourselves.

The Fischer Random Chess Stock Market – Ep 76

Vitaliy grew up in Russia, where chess is a spectator sport. Any player who takes chess seriously will carefully study opening systems – the series of first moves early in the game that lead to the middle-game formation of pieces. Because chess...

The Fischer Random Chess Stock Market

The Fischer Random Chess Stock Market

There is a parallel between today’s stock market and Fischer random chess. The last time we faced a global pandemic was in 1918. The only common denominator between now and then is that humans have not really changed that much – it takes a few millennia to rewire our DNA and thus our fundamental behavior.

Be Kind – Ep 75

In April 2018, Vitaliy met with one of his best investment friends, John Mauldin. John has been an inspiration to Vitaliy both personally and professionally, but no more so in the context of writing. John writes at Mauldin Economics, one of the web's...

What Not to Buy in Today’s Stock Market – Ep 74

The average stock out there (that is, the market overall) is very, very expensive. At this point it almost doesn’t matter which valuation metric you use; they all point to the fact that stocks were only more expensive during the dot-com bubble. In...

It’s not just Amazon’s fault – Ep 73

Retail stocks have been annihilated recently, despite the economy eking out growth. The fundamentals of the retail business look horrible: Sales are stagnating and profitability is getting worse with every passing quarter. Jeff Bezos and Amazon get...

The Jet Lag Series: How do I work? When do I find time to write? – Ep 72

People often ask Vitaliy about his writing process, when he finds time to write, and how he manages to do investment research. In this podcast, Vitaliy walks the listener through his process -- from getting up at 4:30 in the morning, to researching...

Finding High Quality Companies – Ep 71

Vitaliy was slated to give a speech at a conference in Omaha, a day before the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. He was more nervous than usual. Usually, Vitaliy needs a looming deadline to build the pressure to unleash creativity. Two days before,...

Rebuilding Good Habits after Lockdown – Ep 70

Though Vitaliy loved working from home, it came at a cost – he destroyed some good habits he built up over the last few years. In March, he worked super long hours and wanted to make sure he got enough sleep. He usually writes early in the morning,...

Why The Survival Of Traditional Carmakers Is Far From Certain

Why The Survival Of Traditional Carmakers Is Far From Certain

Traditional carmakers do have strengths in designing, assembling, and marketing cars. They can afford to make an enormous investment in EV and absorb the losses that come with them. But will they?

Rebuilding Good Habits after Lockdown

Rebuilding Good Habits after Lockdown

Though I loved working from home during the lockdown, I now realize that it came at a cost – in March and April I destroyed most of the good habits I had worked very hard to build over the last few years.

Options, Hurricanes and Hedging – Ep 69

Vitaliy always looks at IMA's investment process and asks himself, “What can we do better? How can we increase returns and lower risk?" Vitaliy thinks he has found a sensible way to do both -- by purchasing index put options, where possible, on a...

The Jet Lag Series -Should You Copy Your Heroes? – Ep 68

Early in his career, Vitaliy tried to emulate Warren Buffett and spurned the use of spreadsheets. But here’s the thing: Buffett has a supercomputer in his head and Vitaliy doesn't. Vitaliy needs to visualize financial statements by building models;...

Investing Q&A: Small Caps vs Large Caps, Increasing Your Circle of Competence and Should Value Investors Buy Gold? Part 2 – Ep 67

Nearly every year, Vitaliy does a Q&A-style lecture for students at universities in Denver. But since campuses are closed, he decided to take this year's talk online. This podcast is part 2 of 2 of that recording. Enjoy! Listen to Part 1 here->...

Investing Q&A: Small Caps vs Large Caps, Increasing Your Circle of Competence and Should Value Investors Buy Gold? Part 1 – Ep 66

Nearly every year, Vitaliy does a Q&A-style lecture for students at universities in Denver. But since campuses are closed, he decided to take this year's talk online. This podcast is part 1 of 2 of that recording. Enjoy! Disclosure:  

A framework for investing during the COVID-19 crisis – Ep 65

Vitaliy recently sat down (virtually) for a conversation with Gerhard Sogl from the CFA Society of the United Kingdom. They discussed IMA's approach to investing during the uncertainty of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and a framework that the IMA team...

Was Our Money Manager Kidnapped? – Ep 64

This had never happened before. Several clients reached out to Vitaliy wondering if he had been kidnapped and someone else was making investment decisions in their accounts. The gist of their questions was: how you can go from making conservative...

The Jet Lag Series: How do I work? When do I find time to write?

How do I work? When do I find time to write?I get asked this question a lot. People wonder when I have time to do research. Do I do research at all? Or do I have someone else do it for me?

InvestED Interview Part 2 – Ep 63

Vitaliy spoke with  of the  podcast last October. They originally sat down to talk about investing, but the conversation turned into a reflection on his upbringing in Soviet Russia, parenting, budgeting, and more. Danielle is a New...

InvestED Interview Part 1 – Ep 62

Vitaliy spoke with of the podcast last October. They originally sat down to talk about investing, but the conversation turned into a reflection on his upbringing in Soviet Russia, parenting, budgeting, and more. Danielle is a New York Times...