The Appeal of a Value Investor
Recap of My Week
I have been making progress on my internship project. I am putting in a decent eight hours of work each day and nothing more. My rationale is that if I work too hard to just get a return offer, I will have to work harder to do well in a full-time role there. I was in Dallas over the weekend for a surprise birthday party at my cousin’s place. I had a good time there and also noticed something curious. In the community I was surrounded by, I noticed a lot of ‘fitting in.’ Most of my cousin’s friends drive a luxury car, own a huge house and have a couple of kids. This includes my cousin too. The surprise parties also occur across the community whenever someone hits a milestone (like turning 40). This is the social norm they are surrounded by. Most people find nothing wrong with it. However, I have a tinge of stoic within me that did not like it. Making such expensive parties and lifestyle part of one’s life means to create a dependency on something that can be taken away easily - money. I have an urge to fit in as well. So do most humans. Sometimes we just have to redirect that urge with rationality. Having friends that understand, helps.
Another Observation
Over the weekend, I enjoyed spending time with two cute little kids. The best part was just looking at those kids be themselves. Whenever you give non-judgemental attention to somebody, you automatically have pleasant feelings for that person (try it if you never have!). Being non-judgemental is hard (just by the nature of human mind). Due to cultural and social norms, giving unwavering attention to people is harder. I noticed that I can get away with staring at a kid for a long time because nobody thinks its weird. However, that is not the case with paying attention to adults. When I try giving continuous attention to a grown-up, I freak out soon just by thinking the other person may think I am being weird. However, this continuous attention allows for genuine relationships to form based on caring. It feels very good too which adds to my quality of life. I observed that this is why I like being around kids. I am sure this can be extended to adults as well. To do that, I have to deal with my fear of intimacy.
The Appeal of a Value Investor
Being a value investor appeals to me in two ways. The first reason applies to just being an investor. From the way capitalism works, a business’s goal is to generate value to its shareholders, not to its workers. In a business, the worker is meant to create a surplus. In other words, I am only employed by my employer because my employer assumes that I create more value than the amount I am compensated. So in the long term, it is better to be a shareholder rather than a worker. An investor is a shareholder. This is exactly the reason why I like companies that are willing to offer a lot of equity to its workers. This company wants you to act like its owner. The second reason is that being a value investor is easy and fun (at least for me). From my limited experience so far, a certain temperament and curiosity are more important than intelligence and hard work (I may be wrong in my judgement here. I have no success yet to add weight to my perspective). The daily routine of successful value investors like Mohnish Pabrai, Warren Buffett is very simple. They have very few meetings on their calendar. They just read a lot and spend time thinking deeply. This sounds like an ideal vacation to me.
Tip of the Week
Want to listen to an audiobook without having to pay the premium to get one? This is what I started doing recently. I download a pdf of the book I want to read (either pay for it or get it for free sometimes). When I am on my phone, I use a pdf audio reader app (@Voice on my android phone) and play it when I am driving. When I am on my laptop, I convert the pdf to text using an online tool and then use Text2Speech on my Mac to listen to it. I listen to annual reports this way too!
