No. 216 Feb 9, 2024
Hi All!
Below is your weekly dose of a list of things I’m reading, watching, listening to, or thinking about. If this message was forwarded to you, sign up for this newsletter using this link.
Quote I’m Re-Reading
“You don’t need more time; you need more focus.
Fewer projects. Fewer commitments. Fewer obligations. Fewer responsibilities.
Carefully choose your commitments, then go all in.”
—
@ShaneAParrish
Post I Read
Jeremy Giffon was interviewed on Invest Like the Best podcast. This podcast may have been one of the best ones I listened to last year. As a follow-up to this podcast, Giffon posted the following on LinkedIn:
Woke up to a ton of texts.
Here’s six ideas that seem to have surprised my investor friends…
- There is no such thing as general advice. Asking someone for it os simply asking them to make up a general rule based on their own specific experience. Instead, ask people what they did and why and decide whether and how it applies to your life, yourself.
- The more advanced the investor is the simpler his questions are. Anyone can do spreadsheets but only great investors can do napkin math. It’s the ones that get you excited by their obvious simplicity rather than hidden complexity that are the real gems.
- Posting online is the last vestige of the American Dream. Anyone can post their way onto yachts, jets, and the dinner tables of the rich & famous through the sheer strength of their takes, insights and analysis. Be right, be original and share widely.
- If you have to spend countless hours debating an investment idea you’ve already lost. The best investments should be easy. Where everything lines up and it all makes sense. Leave the coin flips to the speculators who are forced to deploy capital on a specific timeline.
- The more you understand who you are, the less you’ll envy those who you aren’t. If you don’t know whether you want to be a quarterback, a chef or an artist you’ll find yourself envious of all of them. A great sign that you’ve found your calling is when you stop envying others.
- When you buy a mansion or jet you’re not just buying luxury, you’re buying the ability to shock and awe. Even if they share the same words, the proposal made on the deck of a yacht has a very different impact than the one made over the phone.
Book I Read
The Collector is book 23 of 23 in Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allons series. The story starts with the backdrop of the 2022 war in Ukraine in tandem with climate change concerns. Allon, currently retired, is asked by Italian authorities to find the most valuable stolen object in the world, The Concert by Johannes Vermeer. To no one’s surprise, Allon finds the thief and the Dutch energy executive who put the theft in motion. In the process of finding The Concert’s thief, Allon uncovers a Russian plot to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Allon recruits both The Concer’s thief and the Dutch energy executive to steal Russia’s secret plans to use the nuclear weapon.
Music I’m Listening To
The 2024 Grammy’s awarded the Best Regional Roots Music Album to The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (YouTube, Spotify), an orchestra based in New Orleans. Fun fact, it’s the only full-time professional orchestra in the Gulf South. The orchestra performs at the Orpheum Theater.
King Cake of the Week
Cara and Evan Benson opened bakery Tartine in 2010 followed soon thereafter with Toast. Benson grew up in New Orleans, attended the pastry program at the French Culinary Institute, and worked in New York City restaurants. The Bensons moved back to New Orleans making their mark with delicious pastries, and more importantly, king cakes.
