Home | 2022 | 2021-20 | 2019-18 | 2017-16
HOUSING HURT
Given we are good patriots, we have to periodically comment on every Canadian’s favourite topic, housing. The rapid and continuing rise in interest rates has driven affordability to near record lows. The current metric’s similarity to the early 1990’s period may cause some concern for those with good memories. We are already seeing a material decline in transaction volumes and prices, with more likely to come as we work through the impending rate hikes this fall.
The strong demand cushion from Canadians striving to enter the housing market should soften the blow (how many people do you know who have been waiting for the “crash”?), but we are certainly watching the data closely given housings implications for the overall Canadian economy.
Warren Buffet's First Interview
During times like this it is helpful to go back to first principles. It may be cliché to use an example from Buffet to highlight this point, but he just delivers messages like no other. Over the long term, a belief in human progress, patience, and temperament are the keys to compounding capital.
The real test of whether you are investing is whether you care if the stock market is open tomorrow. If you are making an investment…it shouldn’t bother you if they closed the market for five years.
Read more
Productivity Advice
The first of a double header on hard work and its relationship to success. We begin with a takedown of the culture of “hacking” productivity:
Do the work.
That's all the productivity advice you need, and the only useful productivity advice you're ever going to get.
Read more
How To Work Hard
Up next, a longer and more nuanced take linking work to results from one of our favourites, Paul Graham:
You have to understand the shape of real work, see clearly what kind you're best suited for, aim as close to the true core of it as you can, accurately judge at each moment both what you're capable of and how you're doing, and put in as many hours each day as you can without harming the quality of the result.
Read more
Bloomberg Wealth: Sam Zell
Sam Zell is full of incredible advice and has earned his nickname of “Grave Dancer” through years of incredible market timing, most famously selling a massive real estate portfolio in advance of the financial crisis. There is some particularly interesting commentary on obsolescence in the office market, as Sam delinks work from home from the fact that a lot of inventory is just simply no longer high enough quality to attract workers.
I was very very successful of listening to my own song…ignoring the noise…but I had the level of self-confidence to make the right decisions at the right time.
Read more
Home | 2022 | 2021-20 | 2019-18 | 2017-16