Chris Kohler of channel 9, instagram, and son of Alan fame has a new book out. He's given an entertaining overview in a recent Equitymates podcast linked here: https://youtu.be/hVuSh6UImnA?si=48kBjsrTPwk-phPw

The book covers the modern financial pitfalls we're all subject to. Bad debt, online gambling, car loans, house prices, hidden fees, loyality programs and the general dodgyness we all run into during out day to day interactions with the big end of town.

I haven't read it but I'm a big fan of his instagram shorts, might try to knock it over during christmas.

I was listening to the Hidden Forces podcast (which is usually a great listen) with Sony Kapoor. And there was this part at the start that really struck a chord with me, where Sony talks a bit about the hubris of his youth and how as an older man he sees the world in a more less certain and nuanced way.

Anyway, I think it's a message worth internalising for us as investors. Here's the relevant section:

I started out, as many do, as a rather cocksure and overconfident young man — very quantitatively focused, convinced I understood how the world worked. I didn’t yet appreciate the subtleties, the complexities, and the nuances of life. At 20, if I’m honest, I probably sounded dismissive, even arrogant, about things like art, music, history, anthropology, and cultural studies — the so-called “softer” subjects.

But the older I’ve gotten, and perhaps a little wiser too, the more the world has humbled me. The more I’ve seen, the more I’ve realised how much I don’t know. Meeting truly smart people has only deepened that sense. I’ve grown less certain about things and more appreciative of shades of grey. Life, I’ve learned, rarely fits neatly into black and white categories, and pretending otherwise often leads us astray.

In some ways, I’ve swung to the opposite extreme. While I still have the skills to dive into equations and quantitative analysis, I don’t particularly enjoy doing so anymore. Even in my work on climate, I’ve come to recognise the limits of purely data-driven approaches. The world is not, and never will be, governed entirely by neat, deterministic formulas.

In fact, I think one of the biggest risks we face today is becoming too reliant on data, algorithms, and AI — losing touch with the messiness of reality, our humanity, and the uncertainty that defines real life. Numbers can illuminate, but they can’t capture everything that matters.

That, in a sense, sums me up.

You can listen to the episode here

Happy boxing day everyone!

Just listened to a good podcast on shares verses property as an investment. This is first time I have heard it laid down in such an objective manner with a worked example. There is a lot more to consider than I realised. Worth a listen to maintain a balanced bigger picture on these two investing classes.

The podcast is called Investopoly and episode is 336:How much growth do you need for property to outperform shares?

Listen here for apple podcasts or here on youtube.

I have recently been listening to Total Money Management.

Highly recommend a holiday listen for anyone with some time off and a beer in hand. Particularly episodes since the US election.

its all a bit samesy as they talk about US stock valuation relative to history, CAPE ratio and a general vibe of “get out get out get out” but very engaging and informative. All the narrative in markets atm is “ AI, trump, the US in 75% of global market cap and relative value” however as that narrative changes so will the podcast.

They also do a week in review document with some very illustrative graphs which the podcast then speaks to as you go.

For @Strawman, and probably everyone else they have two deep dives into stocks vs property and another on the Australian property problem which I have now listened to twice each.

Would love to see some reflections and takeaways/ counterarguments to the themes in the podcast to generate some chat.

Happy holidays everyone.