Episode 10: Australian property, selling Class and buying Webjet

Do you like highly illiquid assets that involve significant trade frictions and costs? Do you like dealing with an army of mostly useless, self-serving middlemen? Do you like assets that require extreme leverage and offer pitiful yields? Welcome to Australian property. I’m currently in the process of trying to secure a house, and I need to get a few things off […]

According to Vanguard, here’s what the various asset class returns look like since 1991: Kind of what you’d probably expect; the further you move up the ‘risk spectrum’ the better the average returns. Sure, the differences don’t appear huge, but they add up over time. But you know this. It’s no doubt part of the reason you’re here. So this […]

Are shares a buy?

A picks & shovel play for the EV boom

45% growth in sales was not enough for Mr Market…

No matter what approach you take with investing — and here at Strawman we’re certainly a broad church — it’s impossible to avoid the narrative bias. That is, our tendency to interpret a set of facts or events in terms of a story. A story helps us connect things together, and gives them meaning. It sets out an arc that helps us make predictions […]

Are shares good value?

Many hard problems are best solved when they are addressed backwards. Munger called this inversion, and it’s a potent idea for both life and investing. It’s pretty obvious when you think about it: if you want to be happy avoid things that make you miserable. Similarly, if you want to improve your investment returns, don’t focus on finding the next […]