My goal for these blog posts is to provide useful information so that you can make more accurate decisions.
- Noise is facts/data/news that cannot be processed into useful information (<— WHAT MOST STUFF IS)
- Useful information can be used to make more accurate decisions (<— WHAT I’M TRYING TO PROVIDE)
Since there is an endless and ever growing amount of things to learn, I hope that these posts are helpful in summarizing important topics related to investing.
Here’s my most recent three things that I’ve learned from books, podcasts, articles, newsletters and company call/presentation transcripts.
#1
Rasmussen, Daniel. The Humble Investor: How to Find a Winning Edge in a Surprising World. Harriman House, 2025.
Quote: “Hubris in fixed income is chasing high yields, expecting those high yields to translate into higher returns. But this is fool’s yield, and the humble investor should own a fixed income portfolio focused on Treasuries and BB corporates, prioritizing quality and conservatism over promises of yield that will never be realized.” — Dan Rasmussen
This book had lots of insightful analysis (including historical returns for holders of LendingClub loans, BDC equity shares, and junk bonds) which aligned well with the Birchwood investment philosophy. Put simply, we like to use equities for maximizing long-term returns while using short/medium-term Treasury bonds to provide stability and current income (i.e. bonds are the “war chest” we turn to during hard times). Rather than trying to increase potential returns (and risk/volatility) within the fixed income allocation, we think it makes more sense to simply increase the equity allocation.
#2
Mallaby, Sebastian. The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future. Penguin Press, 2022.
Quote: “After attracting $171 million in new funds in 1969, venture capitalists raised only $57 million in 1974 and a mere $10 million the year after. A New Yorker cartoon showed two men chortling, ‘Venture capital! Remember venture capital?’” — Sebastian Mallaby
I haven’t been able to find the cartoon referenced above, but the idea that someone thought venture capital was dead in 1974 is pretty hilarious. For context, global venture capital investment activity exceeded $360 billion in 2024. I think the lesson here is that we should be hesitant to make unnecessarily definitive statements about anything – especially when it comes to investing. I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the venture capital industry.
#3
Goldman Sachs Research. The Path to 2075 — The Positive Story of Global Aging. 20 May 2025. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/goldman-sachs-research/the-path-to-2075-the-positive-story-of-global-aging
Quote: “… on average, a person who was 70 in 2022 had the same cognitive ability as a 53-year-old in 2000…” — Goldman Sachs (citing a recent IMF study)
This research report was a pleasant surprise to me after all the “doom and gloom” headlines around the economic risks associated with an aging population. As the Goldman team summarized on the front page of the report: “In a world with a growing number of seemingly intractable problems – from climate change to economic populism – population aging is one less thing to worry about.”
