Author Archives: Edward Brownlee

10 Powerful Lessons from The Little Book That Still Beats the Market

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Here are 10 powerful lessons you might glean from Joel Greenblatt’s The Little Book That Still Beats the Market:

Value Investing Strategies

1. Focus on Quality and Bargains: The book champions value investing, where you buy stocks of high-quality companies at a discount to their intrinsic worth.

2. The Magic Formula: Greenblatt introduces his “Magic Formula,” a ranking system that identifies stocks with good earnings yield (earnings per share divided by share price) and high return on capital (a measure of profitability).

3. Simple Yet Effective: The Magic Formula is a straightforward approach that can be applied by investors of all levels of experience.

4. Long-Term Investment Horizon: The book emphasizes a long-term investment approach, focusing on holding stocks for several years to benefit from company growth.

Disciplined Investing Practices

5. Diversification: While the Magic Formula helps identify undervalued stocks, The Little Book That Still Beats the Market also emphasizes diversification to spread risk across different companies and sectors.

6. Patience and Emotional Control: Value investing requires patience and discipline. The book discourages reacting to market fluctuations and encourages sticking to your investment plan.

7. Low-Cost Investing: Greenblatt advocates for minimizing investment fees and expenses to maximize your returns.

Value Investing Philosophy

8. Margin of Safety: The book emphasizes the importance of buying stocks with a “margin of safety,” meaning the price you pay is significantly lower than the company’s intrinsic value.

9. Thinking Like a Business Owner: Value investors approach the stock market as buying ownership in businesses, not just trading pieces of paper.

10. Beating the Market, Not Timing It: The book focuses on building wealth through a long-term value investing strategy, not attempting to time the market.

Additionally

• Greenblatt’s approach has been successful for him and some investors, but past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

• The book offers a clear and concise introduction to value investing principles.

By reading The Little Book That Still Beats the Market, you can gain valuable insights into value investing strategies, understand the Magic Formula, and develop a disciplined approach to building wealth through the stock market. Remember, investing involves inherent risks, so it’s crucial to do your own research and understand your risk tolerance before making any investment decisions.

BOOK:https://amzn.to/4d8bD0Q

You can also get the audio book for FREE using the same link. Use the link to register for the audio book on Audible and start enjoying.

Your Mind is Powerful

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Your mind is powerful. What you spend your time thinking about manifests itself into reality. So focus your mind on what you really want in life, and make it happen.

You spend so much mental energy on your fears, worries, disappointments, and regrets.

To reach any goal, you must decide that it’s yours.

Once you make a commitment and focus on it every day, you will find the forces of the universe bringing that goal to you. With your thoughts tuned in to your goal, you form a keener awareness and opportunities you never noticed before.

Define your goal, focus on it, and prepare to succeed.

John D. Rockfeller and The Rockfeller Foundation

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John D. Rockefeller was the richest person in American history, with an estimated net worth of $340 billion in today’s dollars.

John D. Rockfeller (July 8, 1839–May 23, 1937), the founder of Standard Oil, was once the richest man in the world. He was the world’s first billionaire.

“He amassed a net worth of at least $1 billion in 1916. When Rockefeller died in 1937, his net worth was estimated to be approximately $340 billion in today’s dollars.”

By the age of 25, he had one of the largest oil refineries in the United States. He was 31 when he became the world’s largest oil refiner. At 38, he controlled 90% of the oil refined in the United States. At fifty, John was America’s richest man. As a young man, every action, attitude, and connection was crafted to establish his wealth.

But at the age of 53, he fell unwell. His entire body became wracked with pain, and he lost all his hair. In total anguish, the world’s lone millionaire could buy anything he wanted but could only eat soup and crackers.

According to an associate, “He couldn’t sleep, wouldn’t smile, and nothing in life meant anything to him”. His personal, highly trained physicians indicated that he would die within the year. That year passed painfully slowly. As he approached death, he awoke one morning with the faint understanding that he would not be able to bring any of his fortune with him to the next world.

The man who could dominate the commercial world suddenly realised he had no control over his personal life. He informed his solicitors, accountants, and management that he intended to devote his assets to hospitals, research, and charity work. John D. Rockefeller started his foundation.

The Rockefeller Foundation financed Howard Florey and his colleague Norman Heatley’s penicillin research in 1941. But arguably the most astounding aspect of Rockefeller’s narrative is that when he began to give back a fraction of all he had gained, his body’s chemistry changed dramatically, and he recovered.

He was expected to die at the age of 53, but he survived to reach 98 years old. Rockefeller learnt gratitude and returned the great bulk of his money. This made him whole. It’s one thing to be healed. It is another to become fit. He was a devout Baptist who attended the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

Before he died, he wrote in his diary: “God taught me that everything belongs to Him, and I am merely a conduit to carry out His will. My life has been one long, happy holiday since then; full of work and play, I let go of my worries along the road, and God was wonderful to me every day.

“Who is the poorest man in the world? I tell you, the poorest man I know of is the man who has nothing but money.” ~ John D Rockefeller

10 tips to increase your fluid intake

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July 10, 2024
Kathryn Szklany
Registered Dietitian, Syracuse VA

Summer has arrived, and that means hot days and more time outside. As we spend more time outside, it’s easy to forget about keeping your body hydrated. Hydration is important for controlling body temperature, supporting brain health and can even help with reducing joint pain.

Adults 60 years and older are at increased risk for dehydrationrelated to a drop in thirst levels and lower muscle mass. Fluid needs vary from person to person based on many different factors. Generally, healthy women need about 9 cups of water per day and healthy men need about 13 cups per day.

An easy way to tell if you are getting enough water is by checking the color of your urine. If you are drinking enough water, your urine will be a pale-yellow color (like lemonade). Anything darker means you should increase your fluid intake. Dehydration is the lack of water in the body and even mild dehydration can decrease your energy levels and make you feel tired.

If you don’t enjoy drinking water, then milk, juice, sports drinks, herbal teas and coffee can all contribute to your total water intake. It’s important to remember that some of these beverages do contain added sugars.

10 tips to increase your fluid intake:

  1. Carry a refillable water bottle.
  2. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, drink water throughout the day.
  3. Drink water when you first wake up.
  4. Drink water at all your meals.
  5. Eat foods that are high in water content, such as juicy fruits and vegetables (Grapes, melon, cucumbers, lettuce, celery, pineapples).
  6. If you struggle to drink water, alternate your drinks. If you drink juice or soda, challenge yourself to have a cup of water as your next beverage.
  7. Add fruit to your water to jazz it up. Slices of lemon or oranges can be a fun way to add a little flavor to your water.
  8. Dilute juice with water or use club soda.
  9. Set a timer on your phone or watch to remind yourself to hydrate throughout the day.
  10. Set a goal on how much fluid you’re going to drink in the day.

To learn more about hydration or another nutrition-related topic, contact your local VA to speak with a registered dietitian.

References:

  1. https://news.va.gov/132742/summer-is-here-stay-hydrated/

Good Habits to Embrace

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The biggest improvement in your life will come when you realize that happiness and contentment are just a byproduct of good habits.

Say No by Default

Your time’s precious: don’t give it to people who don’t deserve it. Especially to Energy Vampires who drain your energy.

Conquer FOMO and put yourself first – make it your rule of thumb that  if it’s not a “no brainer” yes, then it’s a no.

Choose Writing Over Complaining

Complaining isn’t attractive – it repels ambitious people and fosters a negative mindset.

Write down your thoughts instead: you’re forced to think slowly and deeply so your irrationality loses its edge.

It’s the therapy your therapist uses.

Prioritize Nature

A study of 20,000 people in the UK found that 120 minutes/week in nature improved health and well-being.

It’s the planet’s greatest healer.

Whenever you’re in a rut, time in nature will always spark the return of color to the gray.

Pay it Forward

Random acts of kindness boost well-being:

• Holding the door for someone
• Picking up trash outside
• Giving a compliment

The world’s a closed system: if you send waves of positivity out, they’ll find their way back to you.

Maintain Relationships

Human connections are the fabric of life – but you need to be intentional with them amidst life’s chaos.

So schedule time weekly for thoughtful texts and calls to those you’ve neglected.

It’s a couple of minutes with an ROI you’ll measure in years.

Focus on Your Health

I’m convinced most mental health problems are actually physical health problems. Everyone I know who:

• Eats well
• Exercises daily
• Drinks enough water

Has a Teflon mind that repels all negativity.

https://x.com/masculinepath04/status/1810924943191806061

Lessons Learned from Retirees

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Lessons from retirees on their biggest retirement regrets

Thousands of Americans retire every day short on cash, friendships and plans. Investing for retirement means more than just stashing money in a 401(k). It’s equally important to cultivate the interests, relationships and activities that will fill our days with purpose and satisfaction when we retire.

Many retirees say they realized too late:

  • Retirees could have prepared for a more financially secure and rewarding postwork life.
  • Retirees would have focused on saving more money to cover the higher cost of living.
  • Retirees would have put more time into building relationships, taking better care of their health or cultivating new pursuits.
  • Retirees frequently don’t realize how much their career provided a sense of identity and self-worth.

The best predictor of longevity, health and happiness in later life is the quality of your relationships. That is the finding of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which has followed families for decades.

The life expectancy for a 65-year-old is 84 for men and nearly 87 for women, according to projections by the Society of Actuaries based on 2019 data.

Surveys suggest many Americans vastly underestimate those numbers. Of 1,500 adults ages 45 to 80 polled by the Society of Actuaries in 2015, 41% of preretirees and 37% of retirees underestimated their life expectancy by five or more years, while 14% of preretirees and 18% of retirees underestimated it by two to four years.

A person who postpones benefits until age 70 instead of 62 would have to live to at least 80 to come out ahead.

Last year, Social Security paid out $1.38 trillion in overall benefits and got most of its funding from payroll taxes that generated $1.23 trillion. Believing that Social Security will vanish is akin to believing that these taxes will vanish too, policy analysts say.

Still, if Congress doesn’t shore up the program’s finances, projections show that it could be able to pay out only 83% of scheduled benefits in 2035, when the combined contents of its two trust funds would be depleted.

Learning is another key strategy.

Strategies to ward off dementia include getting more sleep, exercising and eating a healthy diet to maintain brain health, said Rudolph Tanzi, a Harvard Medical School professor of neurology and co-author of “The Healing Self.”

Even people who don’t have Alzheimer’s show cognitive changes with aging, so it is important to keep learning to keep your brain healthy, said Yaakov Stern, professor of neuropsychology at Columbia

References:

  1. https://www.brownleeglobal.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
  2. https://www.wsj.com/articles/your-401-k-isnt-enough-to-invest-for-retirement-build-friendships-and-hobbies-11672269861

Parable: “200 Year Old Watch”

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A dying father called his son to his bedside and presented him with an old pocket watch. The father said,

“Your grandfather gave this watch to me. It is more than 200 years old. But, before I give it to you, I want you to go to the watch shop and tell the owner you want to sell it. Ask him what price he would pay for it.”

The son went to the watch shop and then returned to his father’s bedside. He reported, “The watchmaker said he would pay $5 for the watch because it is old and scratched.”

The father then said to the son, “Go to the coffee shop and ask the owner if he would be interested in buying the pocket watch and what he would be willing to pay.”

The son ran to the coffee shop and quickly returned. He told his father, “The coffee shop owner said he didn’t have much use for an old pocket watch but offered $3 for it.”

Finally, the father told the son, “Go to the museum and show them the watch.”

The son left for the museum and returned with a look of astonishment on his face. He whispered, “Father, the curator at the museum offered me $10 million for this pocket watch!”

The father laid his head back, closed his eyes and said: “I wanted you to experience for yourself that the right place, and the right people, will value your value in the right way.

Never put yourself in the wrong place, with the wrong people, and then get angry when you don’t feel valued. Don’t stay in a place, or with people, that don’t value your value. Know your worth and while being confident in your own value look for the value and the potential worth of others.”

The lesson of this parable is that you must value your own value. Along with recognizing your value you must also avoid putting yourself in the wrong place, with the wrong people, who don’t or who are unable to value your value.

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2019/12/11/21012123/what-an-old-pocket-watch-says-about-your-unique-worth-and-leadership/

Be Strong

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.“Strong people make as many mistakes as weak people. Difference is that strong people admit their mistakes, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong.”

“Great things never come from comfort zones. Embrace change and challenge yourself to grow.”

Your habits dictates your behavior and your BEHAVIOR DETERMINES your DESTINY

Chipotle Stock Split

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Chipotle Mexican Grill’s first-ever 50-to-1 stock split will be one of the largest in New York Stock Exchange history. The split will cut Chipotle’s share price to about $64 each from nearly $3,200 each now.

Splits don’t change the market value of a company, but the smaller share price may be more attractive to retail investors, making them popular vehicles for companies.

Chipotle shares are up nearly 40% this year. CFO Jack Hartung has said the move can help it reward employees.

Chipotle’s split comes after some other high profile ones this year, including Nvidia’s and Walmart’s. Chip maker Broadcom is set to split its stock in July.

Overall there are nine stock splits this year through July, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, up from two in the same time period last year.

History shows that companies tend to outperform after splitting their stock, even though nothing fundamentally changes about their business.

BofA Global Research found that average returns are about 25% during the 12 months after a split is announced, versus 12% gains for the S&P 500