After taking a short hiatus in January, I am back. Happy belated new year, everyone! So this month I start off with end-of-year update of my stock holdings. In my mid-year update post (Breaking out to a new high) in July last year, I pointed out that my portfolio had … [Read more...] about How my stocks did in 2020?
Complete List of Blog Posts
Leadership changes in founder led businesses
It’s no surprise to anyone who go through my posts that I admire founder led businesses. I also love investing in them. But perhaps not all of them. Only those that have proven to have durable business models and where founders have large stakes in their own businesses. I have … [Read more...] about Leadership changes in founder led businesses
Costco and its special dividends
Costco just announced a special dividend of $10 per share, payable in December. This is their fourth special dividend payment to the shareholders in last eight years. It’s called special dividend because it is in addition to the regular dividend that Costco pays every quarter. … [Read more...] about Costco and its special dividends
Dividends, six months later
It has been more than six months since the pandemic started affecting the global economy. Many dividend paying businesses were impacted too. In response, some stopped or cut dividends. But not many businesses that I own have gone that route. I wrote a blog post in May this year … [Read more...] about Dividends, six months later
A bear market in rear view
About a year ago, I wrote a blog post wishing that all long-term investors get at least one bear market in their investing journeys. In that post, I made the case that a bear market is a blessing in disguise, rather than a curse, for all patient investors. Here we are one year … [Read more...] about A bear market in rear view
More founder run businesses
Bessemer Venture Partners is a well-known venture capital firm—also one of the nation’s oldest in VC business. As the name implies, it invests in young startups, mostly technology related businesses. Over the years, it had invested in some promising businesses that grew to be … [Read more...] about More founder run businesses
The odds of making money in stocks
Whether we like it or not, we investors are always making bets. We invest our capital with the expectation that down the road we will be able to recover all of it plus some. But since the future is unknowable, we implicitly make a bet every time we invest. Specifically, … [Read more...] about The odds of making money in stocks
Three years of dry powder deployments
Last month, the S&P 500 Price index reached its previous high, making up for all the losses incurred in this bear market. That was my automatic trigger to sell some stocks and recoup dry powder cash. It turned out to be an unusually quick turn-around for a decline as steep as … [Read more...] about Three years of dry powder deployments
Buy businesses that are recession proof
In June this year, the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) announced that U.S. had entered an economic recession beginning in February. This recession came after the longest economic expansion in the US history—from June 2009 through February 2020—of about 128 months in … [Read more...] about Buy businesses that are recession proof
A look back at BREIT performance
Two years ago, I did a blog post on Blackstone’s real estate investment trust called BREIT. It had just opened its doors to retail individual investors like me. At the time, I was looking to increase my investments in commercial real estate (CRE) assets and thought that it was a … [Read more...] about A look back at BREIT performance