Reading is a core investment skill

“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. I read and think." Warren Buffet

Welcome to the latest post in my journey to build financial literacy for young adults and their families. Today’s post is an update on information I shared in a previous post titled Reading, learning and thinking are core investing skills in which I wrote that investment success is a slow process which takes a lot of time. The best investors realize that being a good investor requires being informed and that making well-thought and less impulsive decisions is one of the key competitive advantages that incredibly successful investors develop.

A growing and easily accessible resource for insightful reading is the internet. There are a number of newsletters / email lists for which I have signed up which provide some really good information and viewpoints and are worth your exploring. The vast majority of these resources have free and paid subscription levels within which I mix and match based on the level of insight I find from the author. Here's an updated list which adds on some new resources I've found since my original article (please note that I've listed these in no particular order):

• John Mauldin: Thoughts from the Frontline: John Mauldin is a well-known economist and investment manager. He shares weekly thoughts the economy and markets
• Joseph Calhoun: Weekly Market Pulse: Alhambra Partners is an investment management company. Joseph Calhoun is the CEO and shares his weekly view on the market in this newsletter
• Lance Roberts: Real Investment Newsletter: The Chief Investment Strategist for Real Investment Advisors shares his views on the market several times each week
• Steve Blumenthal: On My Radar: Founder and Executive Chairman of CMG advisors, an investment management firm, /Steve Blumenthal shares his view on the market weekly. He also keeps an updated set of charts which provide insight into key market trends
• John Hussman: Hussman Funds Market Comment: A former University professor, John Hussman runs an investment firm. He provides highly detailed market views based on his deep academic research
• Jesse Felder: The Felder Report: A former hedge fund manager and keen follower of markets, Jesse Felder provides a wealth of knowledge on markets and current trends
• Young Money by Jack Raines: A very insightful young man who provides lessons and insights which are very topical for younger folks. The insights cut across many aspects of life with Jack being wise beyond his years
• HFI Research: A contrarian-focused research provider whose current focus is on energy markets
• Open Insights: A collaboration between HFI Research and hedge fund Open Square Capital, this provides great insight into energy market events and trends
• Compound Advisors Newsletter: Compound Capital Advisors is a research focused firm which provides weekly charts of key events in markets and the economy
• Ritzholtz Reads: The founder of Ritzholtz Wealth Management shares daily links to key items he's reading, across the economy, markets, politics and other relevant trends
• Haymaker: David Hay runs an investment advisor and provides his views on markets, the economy and investments
• Compounding Quality: A blog focused on quality investing aimed at discussing generational wealth-building opportunities through buy-and-hold

As with any other source of information, you should read these authors with a critical mindset. There will certainly be insights and learning you can gain from them, but you need to also recognize that they don't know everything and cannot predict the future any more than you can. Read a broad range of sources and synthesize your own viewpoint after having gotten exposure to multiple viewpoints. Also, make sure to diversify your list of reading - read those whose views differ from you as well as those who are aligned with you to ensure that you don't fall prey to groupthink or confirmation bias.

In addition to these newsletters, I've recently started spending more time on Twitter. There is an even larger pool of writers who I follow whose insights and thoughts I find interesting. I would certainly recommend that you follow a few of these and see if they add to your knowledge base. Please note that I've listed these in no particular order, but have grouped them by theme. With respect to themes, a number of Twitter posters focus on specific topics. For example, I believe there is opportunity today in the Uranium mining space (long story short, fast-growing demand already exceeds supply in an industry where it takes time to bring on new capacity; however, this is a very volatile industry where it's easy to lose one's money quickly so be very careful in any investments you consider making) so I've got a few Uranium follows in the list to give you a flavor of theme-specific Twitter posters:

Macro-economic themes

• @urbankaoboy
• @Oxfordsceptic
• @DoombergT
• @AlessioUrban
• @hussmanjp
• @bennpeifirt
• @TOzgokman
• @LynAldenContact
• @LukeGromen
• @pboockvar
• @Paulomacro
• @Capitalistexp
• @dollarsanddata

Investing ideas

• @Qcompounding
• @contrarian8888

Real estate

• @johnburnsjbrec

Uranium

• @jhinster1
• @quakes99
• @Yellowbull11
• @jekyllCapital
• @Uraniuminsider
• @capnek123

Oil and gas

• @Anasalhaji

I do want to add two additional caveats to the Twitter universe that I recommend you keep in mind:

• Be even more critical in your reading of Twitter accounts than the newsletter authors I mentioned above. Many Twitter users are out there to maximize their number of followers so they say outrageous or hyperbolic things. Twitter can also be a place where you are exposed to "pump and dump" schemes. This is where someone touts a "can't-lose" investment with the aim of dumping low-value investments on unsuspecting buyers. Please be very careful and exercise extra critical thinking when reading Twitter content. If you do decide to make an investment based on something you've read on Twitter, make sure you've done extra due diligence on that investment before you proceed
• Twitter can become a real time sink - it's very easy to get caught up in all the latest tweets and responses to them and end up wasting a lot of your time. You will need to balance gaining truly insightful and additive information versus wasting precious time reading anything and everything out on the internet

This completes today’s post providing my updated reading list. The practical steps you can start taking from today’s post are:

• Try out the lists that I've provided above. Sign up for the newsletters and follow the Twitter handles I've provided
• Be diligent and thoughtful in reading the information shared by these great resources. Remember to think critically by making sure to get multiple views on any subject you find interesting. Through this process, you develop your own view which is informed by them, but also layers on your own unique worldview and investing circumstances
• Make sure to prevent yourself from confirmation bias or falling prey to groupthink. Seek out a range of sources, some of which are aligned with your views, but also others which differ from you. Reading and thinking through views opposite to yours can bring many insights and help you refine your own views
• If you find any of these resources to be less helpful after you've given them a chance, feel free to unsubscribe or unfollow. You will need to balance truly insightful and additive information with wasting precious time reading anything and everything out on the internet
• Lastly, if you run across a great resource, I would be very much appreciate your letting me know about it as I'm always on the lookout for new, insightful folks to follow

Thank you again for joining me on my journey to build financial literacy for young adults and their families. If you have found this post interesting and have friends and family who would benefit from it, please share it with them. If you are interested in reading more of my posts, please consider becoming a subscriber by clicking the button on the right. You can always access all the posts I have published on my author page at https://vocal.media/authors/sudhir-sahay. Additionally, if you have any questions on today’s topic or if there are any topics you’re interested in my broaching in future posts, please let me know. I can be reached at [email protected].