Money Is Boring

Most investors never review company annual reports. It’s easy to understand why. Full of facts, figures and detailed accounting notes, these reports are hard going. They’re not exactly bedtime reading. However, annual reports often contain valuable information for investors. As such, they shouldn’t be overlooked, no matter how dry the material is. So, what’s the best way to read these reports? Is there anything we should be on the lookout for that might provide insight into a company’s financial position…

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In 1960, Warren Buffett read a book that changed his investment mentality forever. The book was called “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits,” and it was written by Phil Fisher in 1958. In the book, Fisher described what he called the scuttlebutt method for finding investments. This method was the process of discovering as much about a company and its products as possible. To do this, Fisher recommended interviewing competitors as well as listening to rumours on the business “grapevine.” He…

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Professor Russell Napier spends most of his time studying financial markets. Author of The Solid Ground investment report for institutional investors and co-founder of the investment research portal ERIC, Russell has been writing global macro strategy for institutional investors since 1995. He’s also a student of financial mistakes. He set up the not-for-profit Library of Mistakes in 2014, a library dedicated to avoiding mistakes. The professor set the Libary up with the simple goal of educating the financial world about…

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Warren Buffett was taught how to invest by Benjamin Graham, who is considered to be the Godfather of value investing. In the early years of his career, Buffett followed Graham’s style of investing closely. He concentrated his efforts on finding so-called “cigar-butts,” stocks trading at bargain-basement valuations due to structural issues.  Here’s Buffett explaining the approach in his 1989 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders:  “If you buy a stock at a sufficiently low price, there will usually be some hiccup…

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