• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Safal Niveshak

Wit. Wisdom. Value Investing.

  • Articles
  • Newsletter
  • Courses
  • Stock Analysis Excel
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Login
    • Mastermind (Value Investing Course)
    • Value Investing Almanack (Premium Newsletter)
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / 2018 / Archives for January 2018

Archives for January 2018

Latticework of Mental Models: Impact Bias

January 8, 2018 | 11 Comments

Nobel laureate Albert Einstein formulated his theory of relativity mainly with the help of Gedankenexperiment. It’s a German term for thought experiments. In a thought experiment, one doesn’t conduct an actual test in the lab but uses imagination and logic to explore problems and generate insights.

Imagination is more important than knowledge, said Einstein. So let’s start today’s discussion with a thought experiment.

Imagine there was a sophisticated device which could measure happiness. Taking inspiration from the thermometer, we’ll call our device Happymeter. Once we attach this instrument to someone’s skull, it would show the amount of happiness and content that person is feeling at that time.

We’ll select two volunteers for our Gedankenexperiment. Our Happymeter tells that the present mental state of these individuals is 1000 units each. Now, these volunteers go through (in our imagination) two wildly different events.

1. The first person wins 10 million dollar lottery.
2. The second person gets into a terrible accident and both his legs are amputated.

Can you guess each person’s mental state one year down the line after the above two events have happened? In the first case, would his mental state be less than or more than 1000?

Of course, it would be more than 1000. Isn’t it? After all, he’s a wealthy man now.

[Read more…] about Latticework of Mental Models: Impact Bias

Spotlight: Seamless Web of Deserved Trust

January 5, 2018 | Leave a Comment

If you can find a business which is investing in building relationships that are based on seamless web of deserved with its customers, suppliers, vendors, shareholders, and employees, you’ve found a business with a strong moat. A moat which is hard to identify with numbers and hence not visible to Mr. Market.

On January 3, 1972, Warren Buffett acquired See’s Candy business for $25 million. This acquisition has an interesting backstory. The first time when an investment advisor approached Buffett for See’s Candy, he showed no interest. Buffett was in Nebraska. See’s Candy was in California.

“The candy business?”, Buffett squirmed, “I don’t think we want to be in the candy business.”

Fortunately, Buffett’s partner Charlie Munger lived in California and he was familiar with See’s Candy brand. On Munger’s advice, Buffett agreed to negotiate. Coming from the Benjamin Graham school of thought, Buffett was reluctant to buy See’s at the asking price. But Munger nudged him in the direction of paying up for quality.

[Read more…] about Spotlight: Seamless Web of Deserved Trust

The Books That Made Me – Part 1

January 3, 2018 | 15 Comments

Hope you had a great start to 2018, and hope you have been able to maintain your new year resolution thus far. 🙂

A new year is not just about looking forward to what may transpire over the next 360+ days, of where you may go, but also to take stock of where you have come from. Like, for me, when it comes to reading books, a new year is not just a time to prepare a rough list of the books I wish to finish during the coming months, but also to look back at the books I have read in the past and would like to re-read.

2017 was one such year when most of the books I read were the ones I had read multiple times over the years. I don’t see 2018 turning out to be any different.

One of the few filters I use to choose the books I read is Taleb’s Lindy Effect. This, in simple words, means that a non-perishable thing (like technology, or books) that has survived the most, will survive the most. So, a book that has survived 50 or 100 or 500 years, and is still widely read because it contains timeless wisdom, will survive another 50 or 100 or 500 years because, well, it’s wisdom is timeless.

In this series of posts, I aim to profile such books that have stood the test of time (almost, as some will be just 10+ years old) and have inspired me the most over years. In the first part today, I am profiling books on life and living that have inspired me the most. The subsequent parts will include my favourite books on thinking, learning, decision making, and investing.

The Books That Made Me - Part 1 - Safal Niveshak

Let me start right away with the books that have inspired me the most in the way I live my life and conduct my daily affairs. This is not an exhaustive list but is made up of the books on life and living I go back to time and again, and return wiser.

[Read more…] about The Books That Made Me – Part 1

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2

Join 85,000+ Subscribers and Get Our Stock Market Investing Insights Right Into Your Email

About   |   Newsletter   |   Courses   |   Books   |   Connect

Uncopyrighted & Handcrafted with in India

  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram