Weekend readings - 11 June, 2021 : Edition 45

A compilation of few interesting, multi-disciplinary links from the internet

“In the real world, you have to find something that you can understand that’s the best you have available. And once you’ve found the best thing, then you measure everything against that because it’s your opportunity cost. That’s the way small sums of money should be invested. And the trick, of course, is getting enough expertise that your opportunity cost — meaning your default option, which is still pretty good — is very high.... Most people aren’t going to find thousands of things that are equally good; they’re going to find a few things where one or two of them are way better than anything else they know. And the right way to think about investing is to act thinking about your best opportunity cost.” —Charlie Munger

Section 1 - Investing & Personal Finance

The change in financial markets over the last 15 months since the pandemic has been nothing short of being spectacular. From rising equity markets to meme stocks to Crypto moves, everything has been on the extreme. Blair Duquesnay articulates here how old-school investors, portfolio managers and investment advisors need constant adaptation in a world where financial advice is coming from all corners of the social media. On the other hand, many have been lucky to add substantial net worth in this bull market and have been able to plan their financial lives better. Justin Castelli expands on this point here amid the madness. Be responsible. Plan. Save. But make sure you live life!

Section 2 - Economic Trends & Themes

Inflation has been a hot topic in the past few weeks. Many believe that the current rise in prices is being driven by "outliers" that will soon dissipate, resulting in prices coming back to normal levels ahead. David Rosenberg chart deck here (you need to do an email subscription to receive the presentation) is an excellent repository to understand the supply-demand dynamics. An earlier post on this - We are not following the herd here by us.

Section 3 - Personality study & Development

Most people can't just sit with uncertainty, without knowing what will happen. And this fear of the unknown makes us do some strange things. Mark Manson recaps the unknowns of the last few months here and explains how certainty of anything is an illusion and we may have to live with the current uncertainty for years.

Section 4 - Business History & management

Many comparisons have been drawn in recent months about how Bangladesh is leapfrogging India on various aspects. Mihir Sharma Bloomberg opinion here is one such piece. I am not sure if this criticism is valid, given the differences in the size and diversity of Indian and Bangladesh economies. Besides, on purchasing power parity India is presently much better. I mentioned here how single factor - higher female labour force participation can put us in better growth path (included some relevant stats)

Section 5 - Reading  & Entertainment

Family Man Season 2 took the social media by storm since it was released to rave reviews last weekend. One of them by Rahul Desai here - particularly captured my attention. It was funnier, wiser and bolder. My tweets here and here. Can’t wait to watch season 3!

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Additional links

Aggregation of Marginal Gains | A Study of Lifetime Value Creation

Trends in Cost of Capital in India

Is Nifty 50 at 15, 600 in a bubble?

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Now Watching :  Life by Ida Ali | Short film

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That's it for me. Have a great weekend ahead. Stay safe and mask up!

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