Michael Batnick

Learning The Wrong Lessons

Every time there is an article about buy and hold investing, somebody inevitably is in the comment section with “now show Japan.” This is often used as the knee-jerk response to people like myself, who believe that buying and holding should be the default setting for most people with most of their money. Japan experienced one…

I Remember When

I was eating a bagel this weekend when my wife said to me, “I can’t believe you like their tuna, it’s really fishy.” I hadn’t noticed, but she was right, it was fishy. I hate fish. I’ll have tuna on a bagel, but would never order tuna in a restaurant. The reason why I suffer…

Animal Spirits: Spirit Animal

On this week’s Animal Spirits, we discuss: How close are we to the next bear market? Midterm election years Tech CEOs lost money Bonds for the long run 3 in 10 Americans consider themselves financially healthy (survey) Headline mismatch How much money should you charge? Berkshire’s getting into FinTech More student loan talk… …This guy…

Gratitude

Larry Page and Sergey Brin are are largely responsible for the fact that most noobwhale investors stumble across value investing early on in their journey. If you Google “best investing books,” The Intelligent Investor is right at the top of the list. What jumps right off the cover is a quote from Warren Buffett- “By far the best…

These Are the Goods

Articles How can we determine what is skill and what is luck when there are so many close calls? By Corey Hoffstein When you consistently hold a large majority of your entire portfolio in cash all it does is add pressure to the timing of your buy and sell decisions By Ben Carlson A lot…

Animal Spirits: Panic A Little

On this week’s Animal Spirits, we discuss: Do the poor stay poor? The U.S. economy When stocks fall 10% The psychology of sitting in cash Automate your buying Panic a little Higher returns, run! Everyone thinks they’re going to win the lottery Uber is worth more than some industries Don’t make your long-term investment decisions…

A Top or The Top?

Since the S&P 500 bottomed in March 2009, there are 337 stocks that were part of the index then that still remain in it today. Of those 337, Amazon is one of 38 that has gained 1,000%. The stock has compounded at nearly 40% a year for the better part of the last decade, for…

These Are the Goods

Articles Do you remember what your portfolio’s return in 2002? By Blair duQuesnay During very tough times, many want simple explanations By Cliff Asness Economic cycles don’t care who the president is and they certainly don’t care what the calendar says By Ben Carlson The bloodless verdict of the market is beginning to call bullsh*t…

All You Need to Do to Finish Rich

One of the most important items on L.B.J.’s political agenda when he was foisted into the oval office was social reform. But Johnson knew this would be an uphill battle, so he decided to focus on something that would receive bipartisan support. He thought that if he could pass a tax cut, which was previously…

Seven Minute Charts

I’ve got seven charts to quickly go over tonight. Unless the selling stops tomorrow, the S&P 500 is about to experience something it has only done once since 1960- two separate 10% drawdowns in one calendar year. This last happened in 1990, when stocks fell 10% right out of the gate, made a new intra-year…