MALE SPEAKER: We have two very special speakers with us today, Whitney Tilson and John Heins. Whitney and John have collaborated together for over a decade, putting together one of the most well regarded value investing newsletters, Value Investor Insight. More recently, they collaborated and put their years of investing wisdom and experience in investing into a new book called "The Art of Value Investing: How The World's Best Investors Meet The Markets." In addition, Whitney is also the fund manager for the Case Fund, which as beaten the markets by a considerable margin since inception in '99. So we are very pleased to have both of them here, share their wisdom with us.
Please help me welcome John, and then Whitney will follow on from there. [APPLAUSE] JOHN HEINS: OK, well thank you all for coming. Just to talk a little bit about the plan for today, I am going to start out kind of give a cliff notes version of our book https://www.casinoslots.co.nz/online-roulette. And then Whitney is going to talk in a little more detail about one of the fundamental concepts that any Investor has to master, which is how to value a stock. And he's going to use an example. It's a case study that of a stock that I think might be a passing interest, which will be Google. So what we tried to do with "The Art of Value Investing" was pose all the questions that someone who wanted to be a serious equity investor, all of the questions that that person should ask and answer for themselves before they commit their own capital or someone else's capital to doing so. And those questions are related to a variety from soups to nuts. What is my philosophy? What types of situations am I going to look at? Why are those situations ripe for inefficiency, being inefficiently priced? How many stocks am I going to own? So we wanted to cover just about everything you should answer before you start investing, both from a kind of technical standpoint, but also from a psychological standpoint. What are the pitfalls that I might fall in that I should watch out for as an investor because investors are prone to doing so? So for the answers to the questions, we used the investors that we've spoken to over the last 10 years for Value Investor Insight. Every issue has two in-depth interviews with money managers who have successfully beaten the market, and we thought that was, rather than us pontificating about what we thought was the right thing to do, we listened to them. And what we also did is we didn't assume that there was just one right answer to any of these questions posed. Money managers have different styles. They have different philosophies. They have different focuses. And you can be successful with a lot of different focuses. So we wanted to provide kind of the diversity of opinion and we thought that diversity of opinion would help people who were trying to arrive at their own philosophy and strategy, come up with that. So I'm going to just go through a couple-- again, not at all comprehensive, but I just wanted to talk about a few things that we cover in the book, hopefully to convey some useful information, and prompt some thoughts on your part. So it is called "The Art of Value Investing," so while we have a diversity of opinion, the underlying philosophy of all the investors that we talked to is a value investing philosophy. And you guys, you're all here, so you probably have some sense of what value investing is. But there are core principles to value investing, which we lay out in the book. I think a lot of it's captured pretty well in this quote from Will Brown from Tweedy, Browne. "Our entire process is rooted in Ben Graham's simple philosophical framework for investing. He believed there were two values for every stock, the first being the current market price, and the second what the share would be worth if the entire company were acquired by a knowledgeable buyer, or if the assets were liquidated, the liabilities paid off, and the proceeds paid to stockholders. He called that the intrinsic value, and argued that the time to buy was when there was a large spread between the current price and that value, and the time to sell was when the spread was narrow." "Over time we've developed different ways of applying that, by valuing income streams rather than just assets, by calculating private market values, by investing internationally. But the essence of what we do has remained consistent. Our work every day is essentially directed valuing what businesses are worth." Now, that may seem kind of obvious, but the ability to value a company intelligently is not a trivial exercise, but it is kind of the fundamental thing you have to master and you have to do well to truly be a successful investor.
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None were bigger than Big Mouth Billy Bass. It all started out with Joe Pellettieri who began his career as a self-professed “numbers guy” but after nearly ten years of working in retail, he felt it was time to move onto the next big thing. One day Pellettieri’s wife turned to him with an unusual proposal, saying “How about a singing fish on a plaque? And though it may have sounded crazy to most, Pellettieri thought the idea of a fish on a plaque singing Al Green was hilarious. A Texas novelty toy company originally created the device in the late 1990s and for many years it was an uphill battle until Gemmy Industries took the toy on.
The summer of 2000 was the toys heyday, though Pellettieri and Gemmy are highly secretive when it comes to divulging the financial success of Billy. But it has been rumored that the toy made the company over $100m in revenue during its 9-month success high. A fishy story or the real sales numbers? We may never know. 3. The Hula Hoop – The hula hoop has been around for millennia and Native Americans used a Hoop Dance as a form of storytelling with anywhere from one to thirty hoops as props. But the modern Hula Hoop was patented by Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud" Melin of the Wham-O Company, who hold the trademark on the name “Hula Hoop." In 1958, Wham-O began manufacturing the toy out of plastic tubing and they sold a whopping 25 million hula hoops in the first four months at a price of $1.98 each. By the end of their second year they has reached 100 million sold and they continue to be one of the most successful manufacturers of modern hula hoops. The Hula Hoop was at its peak back in the 1950’s with more than 50,000 hoops being manufactured every day. Without a doubt one of the most simple inventions and successful money spinners and ever! 2. Fidget Spinners - Now to something a little more recent but still a spinner and the must-have toy of 2017, the Fidget Spinner. These little spinning toys started flying off the shelves in April of 2017 and several schools have even had to ban them, due to them being overly-distracting to students. According to a survey of the 200 largest American high schools, nearly a third have banned fidget spinners. The simple design consists of a ball bearing center with flat, spindly lobes attached, like a little propeller. All it takes is a flick to start stress relieving toy working it’s magic. The only catch in this success story is that the Catherine Hettinger, who invented the anxiety-reducing device more than two decades ago, stopped manufacturing them a long time ago and since her patent expired last year, she’s had to watch one large company after another produce and sell different versions of the toy, without needing to pay her anything. 1. The Slinky - This is arguably one of the most famous toys in the world. For those living in the Western world it is virtually impossible to have not come across this spring like toy at some point in your life. It’s a success story that started many years ago. The inventor was a man called Richard James and he stumbled across the idea by accident when a spring fell and wobbled it’s way along the floor. James and his wife Betty developed a plan to turn his invention into the next big novelty toy. Betty came up with the name Slinky, whilst James got to work on designing a machine to coil an 80 foot long piece of wire into a two-inch spiral spring. The couple borrowed $500 to manufacture the first Slinkys. Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia allowed demonstrations for Christmas 1945 and the first 400 Slinkys sold within minutes. They even had a TV jingle done, with the words: "What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinky sound? It's Slinky..." By the time Slinky turned 10 years old, more than 100 million had been sold and according to Adweek, as of 2015, 350 million were in the hands of customers. It goes down as one of the most popular toys ever, making a family very wealthy indeed! That’s our top 10 list, though of course there are many more. Know any other unlikely inventions that were huge successes? Let us know in the comments below!. Also be sure to check out our other video, Could You Pass the Google Interview? We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Infographics Show, and please remember to like, share and subscribe. Speaking to The Washington Post, his wife said the Pet Rock craze “was great fun when it happened.” In the telephone interview she also explained that “people would come to her husband with weird ideas, expecting him to do for them what he had done for himself. And a lot of times they were really, really stupid ideas.” 8. The Million-Dollar Homepage - Alex Tew was able to earn almost exactly $1 million through a truly unique idea he had. Late one night in August 2005, he lay down in bed with a pen and paper and brainstormed cheap ideas that he could sell a million of. Tew came up with pages full of potential creations, including a terrible product he called the Gum Slinger, which was a small pouch for used chewing gum.
But this entrepreneurial genius knew he would get there eventually and came up with the idea of selling space on his website as advertisements. Each pixel on the page would sell at $1 and so a page with 1 million pixels would make him a millionaire. When the site went viral, companies, businesses and organizations all around the world jumped at the chance to have their name plastered on the site. Tew made his money in just one year. And more than enough to fund the 21-year-old student’s university fees. So what happened to Tew? He actually dropped out of university and went on to launch a number of other tech ideas, eventually hitting the jackpot with the Calm app. Today, Calm has 600k paying subscribers, and according online media site The Hustle, the company is raising a $25m+ round led by Insight Ventures, which will value them at $250m. 7. iFart app – Yes, it’s true. An app that acted as a virtual whoopee cushion, with a variety of fart noises to select, the iFart app became immensely popular and despite its low price of $0.99 went on to make more than $1 million. Back in 2008, Wired Magazine reported that the app was making nearly $10,000 in a single day. Joel Comm, developer of iFart Mobile, published download statistics of his app at the time, and it stood at No. 1 overall with over 13,000 downloads. Comm made a fortune and even appealed to the stars. In 2015, he publicly reached out to George Clooney after the world famous actor had revealed in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, that he loved fart jokes and even kept the iFart app on his phone. Comm offered to feature one of Clooney’s farts as a special in-app purchase. 6. The Mood Ring – In 1975 the Mood Ring hit stores. It was invented by Joshua Reynolds and marketed them as “portable biofeedback aids”, these funky finger rings were a piece of jewelry that purportedly changed color to reflect the your mood at any given time. Reynolds was able to get the department store Bonwit Teller to stock the product as part of their accessories line. Some rings sold for as much as $250, which in the 1970’s was a hefty price tag. But the 70s’ was also the era of lava lamps, flared jeans and extravagant rock bands like Led Zeppelin, and within months Reynolds made his first million and turned them into a trendy fashion item among celebrities such as Barbra Streisand and Muhammad Ali. Of course the mood ring was a gimmick and though the thermotropic liquid crystals used in the rings changed color, it was in response to changes in body temperature – but Reynolds still picked a winner and made his millions. 5. Magic 8 Ball - If you were to grab the Magic 8 Ball off your desk and ask it “Will The Infographics Show channel answer all the questions I have and more?” the words “Without a Doubt” would hopefully emerge through the murky blue liquid. While Magic 8-Ball did not exist in its current form until 1950, the original idea, the Syco-Seer, was invented by Albert C. Carter, and inspired by a spirit writing device used by his mother, Mary, a Cincinnati clairvoyant. Unfortunately, Carter died before his clever creation found success. But in 1950, his brother-in-law Abe Bookman was commissioned to turn the Syco-Seer into a black-and-white 8 ball with a floating 20-sided die. When the ball is shaken, the die floats to the surface, revealing its answer to your question about the future. In 2011 Time Magazine listed it at number 18 of All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys and you can still buy the Magic 8-Ball today. 4. Big Mouth Billy Bass - At some point, just about everyone will have seen a talking, singing fish like Boogie Bass or Rocky Rainbow Trout hanging on the wall of a grocery store, the local bar or in someone’s home. Playing internet poker is a great way to learn the game as well as to understand exactly what is at risk when you play. It will teach you how to maximize your investment while building and improving your knowledge of the game. Improving your knowledge and expertise will keep you from losing all your money early on.
Technology Makes the Game Easy Thanks to widely available new technology and better knowledge, free online poker is not as difficult as it used to be. In addition the players, playing today are better educated in mathematics, applying this to the game in a beneficial way. By playing with patience and caution, it is possible to learn and grow your bankroll sensibly. Losing all monies before you really get started is not what you want to do. Learn the rules, observe the trends and play within your means and you won't become a washout or failure. Adversity is a Great Teacher Sometimes, great players are born from adversity. This happens because they are able to pull together all of their knowledge of the game to stem the tide of mounting losses. The sad rule of poker is that everyone loses, some more than others. The good ones are able to keep a small slide from becoming a big one, and going broke. Learning when to fold your hand is one way to minimize loss until you get your feet back on solid ground. The point is to keep playing because playing is what increases the skill to eventually become a big money winner. Many people begin to lose and end up tossing in their chips and quitting rather than patiently observing to see if there is a way out of the situation. Some put in more money that they can't afford to lose, rather than staying within their playing budget. Others become addicted and find themselves in a situation where they can't quit. It is more important than ever, especially when playing online, to control compulsive behavior, because there is no one watching you to make sure you abide by the rules or take care of yourself. If you do find yourself unable to walk away from the game, no matter how much money you've lost, then it may be time to seek help, because it may be that you have become addicted to gambling. You should never ever play more than you can afford to lose. Are you fond of playing arcade games? If you are, then you are not an exception from the other millions who are really enjoying playing these games. However these days, it is not very easy and convenient to find really good arcade games as it was in their good old days. Perhaps, one reason is that more and more people have turned to playing console games like PlayStation and Xbox or it may be due to the sudden surge of different online games that may be played for free. For whatever reason it is, there aren’t so many arcade games as there was before, simply because gamers are now finding other entertainment avenues these days. If you are an arcade game fanatic, fret not because here are some tips that will show you where to buy arcade games easily.
Arcade video Games Aside from the ideas mentioned here, there are also other ways and places to buy arcade games. This means that you have many open options and this allows you to continue playing original arcade games. If you have enough budget, then you can buy an extra for your home use or you may also give this as a present because for sure, there are many like you who still fancy playing arcade games. Why play for free when you can actually buy arcade games that you really can call yours. This is just a great option to consider when you can afford it. So what are you waiting for? Start searching so you can buy arcade games now! Play online games, have fun, and most of all enjoy playing! After all, you paid for them so make sure you make the most out of these arcade games! When I hovered over the crates in this game, it just says smash them and I had no clue how, haha I ended up picking the crates and throwing them around to see if they will smash when they land. It was fun to do, but it sadly did not smash them.
The fact that I did not even know how to actually get my character to hold and use tools did not help. After couple minutes of random frustrated clicking, I found out that I had to have my tools inside my inventory (which is accessed by hovering your mouse on the top screen), then I only needed to click on the tool I need and my blue man will hold it. I finally got to hulk smash those annoying crates with my hammer of fury (just have your character near whatever you want to smash and left click. The character will proceed to hit it). Same goes for mining with your axe pick or cutting trees with your saw. It is hard to see but he is mining. By the way, if you feel like being Tarzan, that rope right there can be used to swing Thoughts: Inventory problem while I was scavenging – Though I actually like how we store items in our character, sometimes it can be problematic. For you to store things, you have to click and drag the items onto the top screen (it will show your inventory window when you hover the items there) and you can stick them on there. The problem with this is that if you are in a confining spot, you can be blocked from putting your items on there. Like so: That piece of earth was stopping me from even reaching to my inventory window. There was one incident where the wood I was trying to store ended up embedded in it. |
AuthorMary Nicolld is from Canada, but she lives in New York now. Anna is an avid gamer and wild life lover. She wants to share with you her experience and impressions on this blog. Also, she is a skier, dreamer, music blogger, Mad Men fan. ArchivesCategories |