Weekend readings - 16 Apr, 2021 : Edition 37

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

Section 1 - Investing & Personal Finance

(a) The quicker something gets built, the more quickly it can get destroyed. “No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” ― Warren Buffett.

This post by Morgan Housel echoes the Buffet words. Prioritizing both capital growth and wealth protection as part of the financial plan is absolutely essential for investors looking to succeed over the long-term. Citing numerous examples from real life, Housel drives home the points about getting rich slowly.

(b) People often limit their creativity by continually adding new features to a design rather than removing existing ones. This article by Diana Kown illustrates how our brain typically overlooks this brilliant Problem-solving strategy.

Reason for this effect may be a greater likelihood that additive solutions will be appreciated or the so-called sunk-cost bias, in which people continue investing in things for which time, money or effort has already been spent.

Section 2 - Economic Trends & Themes

(a) Daniel Kahneman and Yuval Noah Harari are two of the most prominent sharp thinkers about history, human psychology and critical thinking. So it’s always going to be a treat for the fans when both of them got together for a discussion. This conversation, moderated by Kara Swisher touches upon multiple global trends shaping humankind. For investors, it is critical to understand that over the next 20 years, the trends will change swiftly and constantly. Hence, fine-tuning your investment strategy will become even more critical with your financial advisors.

My favourite punch line from this YT video is - “Confidence is everything to do with the internal and emotional coherence, nothing with the truth.”

(b) Coinbase, a nine-year-old start-up listed on the Nasdaq exchange earlier this week and became the first major cryptocurrency company to go public in the US, a milestone that has generated excitement in an already buoyant market for digital assets. This twitter thread explore about the journey of this company.

Meanwhile, Heath Streak was banned this week for 8 years by ICC for Corruption charges. He took the “payment” in bitcoins in 2017, which were then valued at $35,000 USD. Here is one value investor everyone missed!

Section 3 - Personality study & Development

(a) This story of Sufiya, who at the age of 35, ran along the Golden quadrilateral during the Covid lockdown is fascinating. Despite multiple roadblocks and sore muscles, she ran 50km every day to complete the run.

(b) As the coronavirus pandemic raged in her native Sri Lanka, monk JayaShri Maathaa had a thought: two magical words that planted something beautiful in her mind and blossomed into a whole new way of being. She shares how this mantra transformed her life -- and the surprising ways gratitude can invite bliss, joy and harmony between yourself and all that surrounds you.

Section 4 - Business History & management

(a) The author of one of the greatest investing Ponzi schemes of all time, Bernie Madoff died earlier this week in prison. He was 82. Madoff pled guilty to 11 crimes in 2009 and was sentenced to 150 years in prison for a fraud of around $64.8 billion. He had 4800 clients and about half of them were returned no money in the mess of unwinding his firm. His guilty plea was to protect his sons, who worked at the firm. However, his eldest son Mark committed suicide in late 2010 and his other son Andrew died in 2014 due to mantle cell lymphoma.

The movie, Wizard of Lies, starring Robert De Niro based on his life is consistently watchable and is available on Disney Hotstar. A silent reminder of how greed in stock markets is life-threatening!

Section 5 - Reading  & Entertainment

(a) The CRED advertisement of Rahul Dravid went viral in the last few days with “Indiranagar ka Gunda” becoming the latest meme over the social media. This post by Sandeep Goyal took the opposite side and criticized the ad.

My response : Some people need to realize, its not fashion to call everything as bad behaviour and crass. You need to be objective about it. Not obsessed.

(b) Two advertisements on transvisibility - Bhima Jewellary and UNAIDS were making rounds in the past few days. The hope in India prevails!

**

Additional links:

Stagflation conditions continue with higher CPI and lower IIP

***

Now Listening :  ​Thehree Si Zindagi |​ ​London Paris New York

*****

That's it for me. Have a great weekend ahead!

If you enjoyed reading this issue, please consider buying me a coffee for the encouragement to keep writing this weekly newsletter.

If you have any feedback that you’d like to share, simply reply to this email or leave a comment below.