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Where to find good investment writing and advice

Recently, I listened to a podcast featuring Andy Puddicombe, who founded the wildly successful meditation app called Headspace. He told his remarkable story of going from a Buddhist monk to circus performer, before founding Headspace and achieving global success.

In his teens, he endured tough times. His parents divorced. Then, he witnessed friends being killed by a drunk driver. And later, his stepsister died.

At university in the UK, it led him to question everything and suddenly quit his course to pursue meditation in Asia. He first went to India, then other countries, practicing the strict discipline of Burmese meditation. It often involved getting up at 2.30am each day, practicing meditation for 18 hours a day, with three hours of sleep. He did that for 10 years and was ordained a Buddhist monk.

Following this, he went back to the UK and pursed a degree in circus studies! After a decade of long bouts of silence and meditation, he needed to express himself physically via the circus. It was the yin to meditation’s yang.

While doing this, he gave a lot of thought about how to take all he’d learned about meditation and bring it to a Western audience.

He was teaching meditation to individuals and groups in London, when he met a student, who was a burned out advertising employee. Together, they formed the idea for Headspace.

For those who are unfamiliar with meditation, it’s akin to sport – there are lots of different ways to do it. Many people have tried to bring the practices of meditation from Asia to the West, with varying degrees of success. Puddicombe’s Headspace changed all that: it took off like a rocket ship.

The question is: how did he do it? Here’s my theory, and it comes from personal experience. I’ve been an intermittent meditator for several years, struggling to find a style that suits me. Recently, I discovered Headspace and it’s transformed my practice. The app eased me into so-called mindfulness meditation and made what is often a religious and esoteric experience into a secular, easy-to-understand one.

There’s a certain genius to Headspace and I think it comes from two things. First, it feels authentic. Puddicombe comes across as a guy who genuinely thinks meditation can benefit everyone and he wants to be an enabler for that to happen. And he does it without bastardising the ancient traditions of meditation. Second, Headspace converts complex meditative practices and philosophies into simple, digestible morsels. Puddicombe makes it easy for the average person to understand and practice meditation.

How Headspace relates to investing

It struck me that these qualities of authenticity and simplicity apply not only to building a business app but to many aspects of the investment world.

A few months ago, a friend asked me where he could go to read and learn more about investing. Of course, I pointed first to Firstlinks. I then relayed other sources but quickly realized that getting sound investment advice isn’t easy.

If I had my time again, I would tell my friend to read broadly, and go with those thinkers and practitioners who are authentic and keep things simple.

Why? Because authenticity means they’re being true to themselves, their profession and their audience. Simplicity means that they understand the topics well and can explain it in a way that any layperson can grasp. Simplicity is a skill that only a real expert can obtain.

Think about the greatest investor and thinker of the last century: Warren Buffett. People admire Buffett because he’s authentic. He comes from mid-West America and despite his immense wealth, he’s never forgotten his roots. Buffett has also been able to communicate complex financial theories with simple, folksy stories that everyone can understand. As Puddicombe has democratised meditation, Buffett has democratised the stock market.

The same qualities were evident in Buffett’s offsider, Charlie Munger, who died earlier this year. People liked him because he was authentic. He was blunt and could be offensive at times, but people respected that he was feisty and spoke his mind.

Munger also had the gift of simplifying the complex. Phrases of his such as “invert, always invert’ a problem come to mind.

Other writers who I admire display similar attributes. Vitaliy Katsenelson immigrated to the US as a Russian Jew as an 18-year-old. Learning a new language and fitting into a new country can’t have been easy. He not only did that but quickly rose to head a small investment firm. Katsenelson has been writing about investing for 20 years, and both his blogs and books have proven popular. The reason? He comes across as a real and humble person. Not only that, he’s also able explain investing concepts through beautiful stories and analogies that most people can relate to. There’s a certain genius to Katsenelson that reminds me of Andy Puddicombe.

Here in Australia, I admire Peter Thornhill, who’s written several articles for Firstlinks. I don’t agree with everything he says but most of it makes sense. Thornhill attracts an audience because people can see that he believes what he says, and he has a track record of implementing what he speaks of. That’s authentic.

Plus, he explains the share market in understandable terms. And his investment strategy reflects that simple approach.

Detecting bad investment advice

If authenticity and simplicity are features of sound investment writing and advice, then inauthenticity and complexity are the flipside of that.

Being inauthentic broadly means not being yourself. This happens all the time in investing. Being inauthentic can mean making up stories to suit an audience, distorting personal backgrounds to suit a topic, or trying to imitate more famous industry people.

Those who favour complexity over simplicity are doing it for a few reasons. It might be that they don’t understand a topic well enough to be able to explain it in a simple way. Or it could be that they use complexity to hide something.

I’ll give a specific example of an investment writer who I wouldn’t recommend to my friend mentioned above. And he’s a famous and wealthy writer too. His name is Morgan Housel and many of you would have read him or heard of him. He’s sold millions of books by making investment accessible to the masses. He’s done that by making things simple to understand.

A little too simple, in my view. In doing so, he crosses over into being as much a marketer as an investment expert. And it lacks authenticity, in my view.

Housel often offers ‘hacks’ or ‘mindsets’ to get wealthy that cater more to those who are already wealthy or others who are ‘self-help’ junkies. His advice offers less at a practical level to the average investor.

This may be a little harsh on Housel, and there are a lot worse proponents of investment advice out there.

Beyond investment writing and advice

The qualities which made Andy Puddicombe successful not only apply to investment writing but many other things in finance - to seeking formal financial advice, investment funds, and investment products. Look for authenticity and simplicity, and your investment journey is likely to be a more successful one.

 

James Gruber is editor of Firstlinks and Morningstar.

 

21 Comments
Bruce
October 07, 2024

Howard Marks ticks all the boxes

John
October 07, 2024

Colin Nicholson is an Australian investor and author who is one of the most authentic share market investment writers I have come across. He provided a detailed plan of how he invests in the Australian stock market in his book Building Wealth in the Stock Market. He was a terrific public speaker too. Unfortunately, Colin completely retired from writing and publicly speaking in 2019. His books can still be purchased from various online book sellers. He had a great website bwts.com.au, but the site has since been closed down by Colin.

Jim
October 07, 2024

The guy who trades based on technical charts. No thanks.

Gar
October 07, 2024

I think you are a little harsh on Colin. Yes he did refer to charts, but he also looked, in my view, fairly thoroughly into fundamental financial data about companies. He published his results - both successes and failures - and the lessons he learned from both. His approach was based on around 40 years experience investing in the ASX. I think the main strength of his approach was risk management. Also if I recollect correctly he considered himself an investor not a trader. To follow his approach you need to devote a lot of time to regular monitoring of your investments. When he turned 75 he decided to simplify things for the benefit of his wife whom he assumed would end up managing his portfolio, so he sold all his individual holdings and invested in AFI, ARG and MLT, the latter ended up more recently being merged or taken over by SOL. I did quite well following Colin's approach, but like him, reached a point in my life where I had better things to do than spending a lot of time following shares. I still have a modest portfolio but one that I think (and hope) will fare ok without me investing a lot of time in it

michael walmsley
October 06, 2024

James

Could you explain why you dont like Housel please

I dont think you did ??

Also could you comment on the idea that reasonably often what Buffett says and what he does are two different things -If you really follow things ?

Thanks

Michael

James Gruber
October 08, 2024

Hi Michael,

Thought I explained Housel in the article?

As per Buffett, yes there are times where he strays into talking and acting differently. I've seen it primarily with trades like Apple, where he talks it up, all the while he's a seller rather than a buyer.

He's not perfect, nor is anyone else.

James

Kim Jordan
October 06, 2024

Rudi Filapek-Vandyck of FNAarena is someone who I always read, and listen to - his insights on companies is worth listening to IMO.

Susan
October 04, 2024

I am always skeptical of anyone who is trying to sell you something, like a course. They sometimes appear to be very genuine... only to follow up with the hard sell, promising amazing financial outcomes.

Matt
October 04, 2024

Looking for simple, easy to read investment advice. These were my top authors and I read a lot of investing books.
Australian Authors, Top 3 - Noel Whittaker, Noel Whittaker & Noel Whittaker, Also Peter Thornhill & Michael Holmes
Overseas Ben Carlson & JL Collins. There is a lot more but these are easy to understand, make sense and all have the runs on the board.

Jerry S
October 05, 2024

Michael Holmes?

James Gruber
October 05, 2024

Hi Matt,

On Noel Whittaker, totally agree.

Kumar
October 04, 2024

Could you please suggest a few more Australian authors and publications that give better than generic advice? Thanks

Dotinthecrowd
October 04, 2024

New to Firstlinks and loving your articles. Thank you.

Jack
October 04, 2024

Other good writers to add to the list: Peter Lynch, William Bernstein, Joel Greenblatt, Ben Carlson, John Bogle, Edward Chancellor, Burton Malkiel.

Ian Lange
October 05, 2024

That’s a great list. William Bernstein has written some excellent books on portfolio allocation. A simple enough topic, but he really makes it interesting and gives it the attention it deserves.

B Maynard
October 04, 2024

I agree with James on Hosuel - I've read all his stuff and there is little I remember of it except a bunch of basic principles told through lots of stories about rich people.

michael
October 03, 2024

Just reading Housel's 'The Psychology of Money' now. Which is all I have read of his.
It seems simple enough in the points it makes, & examples used. He hasn't given investment advice though, just commenting on human behaviour.
Perhaps you are thinking of a different publication?

I agree with your article.
I would advise that reading everything, including the bad stuff, is important. So you can learn what bad advice looks like, & to understand the investing industry better.

I will look up Katsenelson.
Thanks.

Lee
October 03, 2024

100% agree with your take, Michael, on Housel. I've been reading his content for years including 'The Psychology of Money' and I've always taken it to have been more about human behaviors. This can, if the reader so desires, be applied to investing.

Charlie
October 03, 2024

I would strongly recommend one of John "Jack" Bogle books on life and investment: Enough. If you're subscribed on Spotify, you can listen to the audiobook version.

Jill
October 07, 2024

I agree, Charlie. As an old investor, this book had such a profound effect on me that I'm gradually reducing my investments and taking pleasure in helping my family and others. I've always been mindful of the saying "Best to give while your hand's still warm", but Bogle's book gave me the impetus to take action.
(I realise this is more a case of "dis-investing" so maybe not pertinent to the discussion.)

Paul
October 03, 2024

I would suggest the investor with no shoes is very similar to your Morgan Housel example.

 

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