Top Reads, Listens, Follows & Takeaways of the week
Investing during stagflation, cults, and winning
Takeaways from my top three:
-Greg Jensen and Rebecca Patterson of Bridgewater believe that markets aren’t appropriately pricing how constrained policymakers are in achieving their goals of low inflation and reasonable earnings growth. Looking at what’s priced in, it appears that markets expect a return to pre-COVID pricing without overly crushing earnings. If it's possible that Bridgewater is correct in anticipating a stagflationary environment, it’s worth asking what assets have historically performed well in that environment. The answer - TIPS, gold, and commodities - are the exact assets that investors hated the last decade. This should be no surprise. As Mike Philbrick says, true diversification means holding some assets in your portfolio that are killing it while also holding some assets that are killing you. Having the stomach to ride it out is what makes the difference.
-Sins of our Mother on Netflix was very dark but a great watch. What makes something a cult? It’s a fine line when you think about it. What ‘cults’ might be in plain sight? Thinking back over the last few years during challenging times it seems that vulnerable and misinformed people on all sides expressed cult-like behavior in different forms - some through violent means and others through fear and paranoia.
-Bill Gross on winning, “Winning at any time along the way though is like chocolate frosting on a devil’s food cake. It tastes good but ultimately doesn’t last”. I think he means that we should enjoy the journey. I like the message.
Reads:
Rebecca Patterson of Bridgewater on Stagflation, China, and career development (here)
Crisis Alpha, what is it and how can it benefit portfolios? (here)
Opinion: Immigration hypocrisy on both sides in Martha’s Vineyard (here)
Paul Tudor Jones’ move to bring analytics to the NFL (here)
The relationship between wages & inflation (here)
Clifford Asness on the 60/40 portfolio and prospective returns (here)
James Madison’s critique of the Senate (here)
Winning by Bill Gross (here)
Listens:
Chelsea FC Chairman Todd Boehly on Sports & Business (here)
How I Built This: SOURCE Global, the company creating drinking water from thin air (here)
Greg Jensen on markets (here)
Eric Crittenden on creating a truly diversified investment product that can be stomached (here)
Alex Mears on drivers of business value and entrepreneurship through acquisition (here)
The 2022 Joe Biden 60 Minutes Interview (here)
Follow, Watch & Other great content:
The best performing stocks in the S&P 500 over the last 5, 10, 15, and 20 years