What have David Rosenberg and Seth Klarman got in common? Diddly squat as far as I know, except they wrote the best two things I’ve read in the last few days.

This excellent article exemplifies a style of fusion investing, the fusion of business momentum and value.

One of the good aspects of blogging and discussion boards is they help overcome revisionist history. Here’s what I was thinking a year ago.
Despite not knowing the answer I clicked four, At/near bottom and things will start gradually improving soon. [77% of respondents had a considerably more pessimistic view...no surprise there!]
When my kids are tired and hungry (in recession) I have a few options besides ignoring them.

I can give them sugar (consumer stimulus package) and the results are almost immediate. Full of energy off they go at full speed. Only to crash again …

Too often I embrace introspection and self-doubt. I wish I could embrace the good things.

Since the success of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I have wondered how many readers have actually seen a Black Swan. For those who haven’t seen one, here I took this photo today as I played with my kids at Newport Lakes. I wonder if anyone had ever used a Black Swan in a turducken.

As these beautiful water fowl are relatively common in my neck of the woods I have always been bemused by the title of The Black Swan. I do know the underlying story of the phrase, unfortunately stupid arrogant white guys are quite as rare as these fowl. Anyway, I thought a better title would be The Honest Banker.

Lessons and Ideas from Benjamin Graham, The Origin of Wealth. The Last Hurrah and Seven Lean Years. Reinvesting when Terrified

Changes in perceptions of a company and industry fundamentals are the catalyst for a stock’s movement. Those changes need to be anticipated before others do. In this article, hard wired to deceive, Aswath Damodaran discusses how people are hard wired to be deceptive and the implications to your finances. Another blog I read recently discusses how the finacial media is attrociously bad at making accurate predictions. Put the two together and hopefully you conclude that you should never take media at face value.

Fund managers are generally happy to share their views. Their letters are often a great source of investment wisdom. While Buffett’s Berkshire Letters get the lion’s share of focus, many other fund managers provide valuable insights for investors.
I wrote about Howard Marks of Oaktree yestersay. That is his first letter that I have read and I look forward to reading more.
My ten favourite fund manager letters ex Buffett

You can subscribe the thoughts of Bill Nygren and other managers at Oakmark.

West Coast Asset Management provides an excellent archive of their Exclusive …

Where does Warren Buffett get his investment ideas?
Start with the As: The story goes that when a reporter asked Buffett where he gets his investment ideas, he replied that he reads annual reports and learns about every publicly traded company in the United States. “But there are 27,000 public companies,” the reporter responded. “Well,” replied Buffett, “start with the As.”
I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb to suggest that Buffett’s advice is not particularly helpful to the average investor.
Newsletters
My primary source of ideas