Happy Sunday!
Today we'll cover the following:
3 Things I learned this week
What to expect from Mastering Your Money in 2023
Why I'm going back to school
(Reading Time: 5 minutes)
Let's dive in!
3 Things I learned this week
◾Think Like an Owner
After listening to the Founders Podcast on Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, I was inspired to pick up the book. Clearly, I'm reading with hindsight bias, but I am impressed with the way Bezos communicates with shareholders and how clear his vision is.
The book is helping me better identify the traits I want to see in management, and it's also highly entertaining. Below is one of my favorite stories in the book about thinking like an owner.
◾The Greatest Secret of All
This week I revisited the "Why" behind my goal to create a framework. It all points back to an article I read a couple of years ago from Motley Fool Cofounder David Gardner. The article is from 2008, and he recorded a podcast covering the same material in 2015.
To sum the article up, the secret to good returns is to buy good companies and hold them for a long time. While it seems simple, most fail to do it. The article was a good reminder of the importance of buying quality companies as we head into the new year. And how do we find quality companies? We build a framework!
◾Can a disruptive business hide inside a traditional one?
I recently studied several interviews with investing legend Bill Nygren, so I was excited to see him appear on The Investors Podcast. Bill and Alex Fitch break down multiple businesses in their portfolio on the podcast.
One thing that stuck out to me was the possibility of the market undervaluing disruption when it hides inside a traditional company. Nygren highlighted Fiserv in his interview with John Rotonti, suggesting the market isn't adequately valuing Toast. It's an excellent question to ask and one that might have a place in my future framework.
What to expect from Mastering Your Money in 2023
We have some new readers this week, so I want to share what you can expect from Mastering Your Money in 2023.
A couple of weeks ago, I shared the 1st edition of The Investors' Library featuring my favorite resources from John Rotonti. The more I learn about investing, the more I realize the value of trusted resources. There is a learning curve, and it can be challenging to navigate when you begin your journey. My goal is to create a library of resources that can be easily found and to point others in the right direction when they are interested in a particular topic.
I will continue to play around with the format, but I plan on sorting it by both investor and topic. I'll release a couple of editions each month and welcome any feedback on ways to improve.
What about the Framework?
I'm still charging ahead on my framework and will update readers weekly with my progress.
I am writing this newsletter to document my journey to create a unique investing framework. I hope we learn from each other and invite you to share your thoughts and feedback as we go. I also want to leave some breadcrumbs for future investors as they begin their journey.
That leads me to my next announcement.
I'm going back to school.
I have gone as far as I can with my minimal knowledge of accounting. If I want to build a solid framework, I need to pair my love for qualitative analysis with my lukewarm feelings about accounting. I'll spend the 1st half of 2023 learning to understand the numbers behind the businesses I love.
Here's my plan:
In September, I took a course (Financial Statements Explained Simply) from a trio of Motley Fool Analysts. It was a great course and one I highly recommend. At the time, I was going through a cross-country move and couldn't devote my full attention to the class. But I have printed out the course materials and downloaded the discussions, so I will double down and review the materials myself.
Before I revisit the Financial Statements course, I want to understand general accounting terms better, so I'll take Accounting 101 from NYU professor Aswath Damodaran.
Aswath is an excellent teacher who has generously shared his courses on YouTube. If you are interested in taking the course, here is the link. It's free, and while it doesn't come with a fancy NYU certificate, it's pretty cool to say you learned accounting from Aswath Damodaran.
After I complete these two courses, I will use the rest of the year to use my new knowledge to break down company financials. Practice makes perfect!
And I'll show up each weekend to share what I've learned.
That's all for this week! Have a good one!
Jason, once again you nailed it. Your work on an investing framework is so valuable. You save new investors a lot of time bc you have done so much research and put it in a formats that easy to snack on. Love the connections to RBI, both David’s and J Rotonti. I am looking forward to your discoveries from Aswath Damodaran. John R swears by him.