Investing by the Books

In today’s episode we are joined by JC de Swaan. De Swaan is a lecturer in the economics department at Princeton University, where he teaches courses on ethics in finance and Asian capital markets. He is also a Partner at Cornwall Capital, an investment fund based in New York City. In this episode, we learn about the ethical considerations that finance professionals encounter.

In today’s episode, Christian Billinger, a London-based investor who has joined the podcast before, is speaking with none other than Edward Chancellor. Edward is an author, finance journalist, and former hedge fund investment strategist. The discussion is centered around Chancellor’s book Capital Returns. It covers capital cycle investing and how investors can benefit from focusing on forecasting supply rather than demand.

Tobias Carlisle is a former lawyer and the author of several books, including The Acquirer’s Multiple. Tobias is the manager of two funds based on the book’s ideas, which are trading as ETFs under the tickers ZIG and DEEP. In the episode, we discuss how strictly he follows the deep value methodology, reflect on patience among investors, and investigate if there is a difference between managing your own or other people’s money.

Todd Wenning is a professional investor with experience from Ensemble Capital, The Motley Fool, and Morningstar. Todd is the man behind Keeping Your Dividend Edge and a contributing author to the book Why Moats Matter. In this episode, we speak about Lessons from the Titans, a book about what today’s businesses can learn from America’s industrial giants.

Stephen Penman is a professor of accounting and security analysis at Columbia Business School and Bocconi. He has also written the book Accounting for Value, which illustrates how accounting numbers relate to value creation. In our conversation with Penman, we discuss the necessary separation between speculation and valuation, the ideal structure of an equity research report, and how aspiring investors can improve their processes.

Shu Hattori has more than fifteen years of experience in management consulting, turnarounds & venture-backed start-ups, with employers including McKinsey, Groupon, and Alix Partners. Shu is now building Japan’s first serial acquirer - Pinecone, together with Andrew Chou. Our conversation builds upon Shu’s book, The McKinsey Edge. We talk about what investors can learn from consultants, thoughts on decentralization, and the vision for Pinecone.

Ronald Fagerfjäll is a legend within Swedish business journalism. Having written more than 30 books centered around Swedish companies and the people behind them, his knowledge of the topic is truly unique. We speak about the book “They Made Sweden Rich” (De gjorde Sverige rikt), which covers important entrepreneurs, businessmen, and investors during Sweden’s 20th-century industrial history.

Paddy Hogan is the head of investor relations at ORIX, a Japanese company with 35,000 employees active within finance, investments, life insurance, and banking. The episode is centered around the book “What It Takes”, by Stephen A. Schwarzman. It tells the story of how Stephen co-founded Blackstone and made it the world’s largest alternative asset manager, with more than one trillion dollars under management.

Cole Smead is a portfolio manager at Smead Capital Management, an investment advisor applying a differentiated value approach to its capital allocation processes. Cole is an avid reader and hosts the podcast “A Book With Legs.” In this episode, we discuss the classic title “Money Masters” by John Train. We talk about whether there is such a thing as a money mind, if good investors tend to be born poor, and explore the insight that businesses are always dying.

Ian Cassel is the founder of MicroCapClub, co-author of the books about Intelligent Fanatics, and the CIO of Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management. In this episode, we talk about “Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect” by Bob Rotella. The book covers the mental habits used by professional golfers, an area that turns out to be a ripe hunting ground for valuable investing advice.

Vitaliy Katsenelson is the CEO of Investment Management Associates (IMA), a value investing firm providing individual portfolio management. He is also the author of several books, including “Active Value Investing” and “The Little Book About Sideways Markets.” In this episode, we mostly discuss his latest addition, “Soul in the Game”.

In our 45th episode, we are honored to speak to Paul Johnson and Paul D. Sonkin about their latest book “The Enduring Value of Roger Murray.” As the successor to Benjamin Graham at Columbia Business School, Murray (1911–1998) was a crucial figure in the history of value investing. Johnson and Sonkin are investment professionals and have been involved with the legendary investing program at Columbia Business School since the 1990s. The pair has also written “Pitch the Perfect Investment” and contributed to classics such as “The Most Important Thing” and “Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond.”

In this episode, we speak with the knowledgeable Todd Finkle. Todd is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Gonzaga University and the author of several books, including his latest addition: Warren Buffett - Investor and Entrepreneur. In our conversation, we explore Buffett as an entrepreneur, psychological biases, and whether academia and investing are compatible.

Catherine S. Neal is a former attorney and an associate professor of business ethics and business law at Northern Kentucky University. She is also the author of Taking Down the Lion, which is the center of attention for this episode. The book explores the fall of Tyco International's CEO and Chairman, Dennis Kozlowski, who was convicted of stealing more than 100 million dollars from the company.

In our second interview with Avner Mandelman, a former rocket scientist and hedge fund manager, we talk about his new book: The Advanced Sleuth Investor. By applying multidisciplinary thinking, he explores the benefits of sleuthing from the viewpoint of ten different professions. In essence, our talk is about how you can create your own exclusive data to outperform the market.

Jake Taylor is a professional investor, fellow podcast host, author, and founder of the software Journalytic. For his second appearance on our podcast, we talk about the book Deep Survival and how his platform Journalytic can be used to think clearly, suppress irrational instincts, and become a better investor.

In this special episode, we speak with Mark Gandy about our favorite investing books. Mark is the host of The CFO Bookshelf podcast and a consultant helping CEOs and CFOs with business development and financial modeling. We discuss books that can help you understand financial statements, evaluate management, and judge the quality of a business.

Gregory Zuckerman is an investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal and the author of several books. Since he joined The Journal in 1996, he has received the Gerald Loeb award three times. The focal point for our discussion is his book The Man Who Solved the Market, which tells the story of how Jim Simons launched the quant revolution and created the greatest money-making machine in financial history.

In this episode, we speak with none other than Adam Seessel. Adam started as a journalist before venturing into finance through a job at Wall Street. He is the author of ‘Where the Money Is’ and the founder of Gravity Capital Management. Our conversation focuses on his approach to value investing, which draws upon classical concepts and updates them to fit the digital businesses of today.

Carter Johnson is the manager of MCJ Capital Partners, an investment management firm concentrated primarily on small caps. This episode is focused on Distant Force, a book about Teledyne written by Henry Singleton’s right-hand man, George A. Roberts. As usual, our conversation reaches far and wide, covering topics such as dividend policies, working with incentives, and understanding serial acquirers.

Matt Joass is the Founder and CIO at Maven Funds Management. Matt previously worked as a financial analyst at a large international shipping firm and has co-founded the Copenhagen Investment Club. The focal point for our conversation is the book Superforecasting, and we cover everything from thinking in probabilities to good fiction books.

Derek Lidow holds a PhD in applied physics, has been the CEO of a large public semiconductor company, and has started a business that he sold for $100 million. He is a professor of entrepreneurship at Princeton University and has written three books on the topic. In this episode, we discuss his latest title, The Entrepreneurs. We also ponder big questions, such as whether or not you should drop out of school to start a company.

Vishal Khandelwal is an author, former equity analyst, and fellow podcast host. He is an insightful writer on investing and how to live a good life, and has amassed a large following. In this episode, we discuss his inspiring book 'The Sketchbook of Wisdom', and the lessons he brings from writing it. We also cover habits for closing out the noise, thoughts on re-reading books, and the philosophy of Ikigai.

Adam Mead is the CEO and CIO at Mead Capital Management and author of 'The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway'. The book sits at 700+ pages, making it one of the most comprehensive accounts of Warren Buffett’s creation to date. In the episode, we discuss successful capital allocation, accounting as the language of business, and why Berkshire should not be split up.

Christian Billinger is the chairman of Billinger Förvaltning, a privately held investment company focused on owning high-quality businesses. For this episode, Christian has selected Terry Smith’s great book Investing for Growth. Our conversation covers a wide array of fascinating topics including market timing, traits of a successful investor, and how to go about selling a stock.

Gautam Baid is the Managing Partner and Fund Manager at Stellar Wealth Partners and author of The Joys of Compounding. He has previously worked as a portfolio manager at Summit Global Investments and as a senior analyst at Citigroup and Deutsche Bank. During our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Gautam’s investment philosophy, common misconceptions among investors, and typical traits of a high-quality business.

Will Thorndike is the co-founder of Housatonic Partners and host of the 50X podcast. In this episode, we discuss Will’s masterpiece “The Outsiders” and the lessons he brings from writing it. The book covers eight CEOs who excelled at capital allocation and describes the strategies underlying their success. "The Outsiders" was published ten years ago, and recommended by Warren Buffett in his 2012 annual shareholder letter.

Mark Mahaney calls himself “Wall Street’s oldest and longest-lasting technology analyst”. We learn about Mark's lessons for successful tech investing, his passion for the analyst job, and the quality of the big tech companies of today, including Meta and Spotify.

Magnus Angenfelt is a seasoned hedge fund manager and author of 'The World's 99 Greatest Investors'. Among many things, we discuss what we can learn from the best, the ideal conditions for an active investor, and how Magnus operates as a portfolio manager.

Andrew Wagner is the CIO of Wagner Road Capital Management and the author of "The Economics of Online Gaming". In our conversation, Andrew tells the fascinating story behind the book and we discuss the surprisingly many ways that gaming can make us advance in economics, business, and investing.

In this special episode, we reflect on our lessons from the first year of the podcast. We discuss investment style, how to filter information, and the most dangerous behavioral aspects for investors. Clips from some of our previous guests are included.

Richard Lawrence is the founder of Overlook Investments and one of the best investors in Asian equities over the last three decades. We discuss Richard's book "The Model", with his best lessons from bear markets, Overlook's successful investment philosophy, his thoughts on investing in China, and the art of selling. A must-listen for every fund manager and private investor aiming to outperform the market over the longer term.

Gillian Zoe Segal is the author of 'Getting There: A Book of Mentors'. In the book, Gillian has interviewed and photographed 30 superstars, including Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg. We talk about her special relation to Berkshire Hathaway, seven common traits among successful people, qualities to look for in a mentor, and much more.

Rajeev Agrawal is the Fund Manager & Managing Partner at DoorDashi India Fund. For this episode, Rajeev has picked one of our favorite books - Poor Charlie’s Almanack - with wisdom from Charlie Munger, compiled by Peter Kaufman. Our conversation is an educational and inspiring discussion of how the ideas can be applied practically in our strive to become first-class investors.

Avner Mandelman is a former rocket scientist and hedge fund manager ​that has written several books and served in the Israeli Air Force. In a rare interview, we discuss his unconventional and intriguing strategy of stock sleuthing - collecting physical evidence to become a superior investor.

In this special episode, we discuss our adventure to Omaha and insights from watching Buffett and Munger on stage at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting 2022. With thousands of like-minded investors attending, we took the opportunity to interview four seasoned money managers: Shree Viswanathan, Christian Billinger, Rajeev Agrawal, and Adam J. Mead.

Shree Viswanathan is the founder, president, and portfolio manager of SVN Capital. In a deep and thoughtful conversation, we revisit the book with the biggest impact on Shree's life - "A Search in Secret India" by Paul Brunton. As we discuss ego reduction, intuition, anchoring, and how to evaluate people; it is evident that spiritualism helps, and perhaps even is necessary, to become a successful investor.

Oddbjørn Dybvad is the co-founder of REQ Capital and a seasoned investor in global compounders. The focus of this episode is Oddbjørn's book “Investing in Value Creators" and our conversation covers management/investor mistakes, capital allocation, hyperbolic discounting, serial acquirers, and much more.

Eric Jorgenson is a fellow podcast host, investor, and author based in Kansas. In this rich episode, Eric joins us to discuss his excellent compilation of wisdom from the Silicon Valley icon Naval Ravikant. Our cheerful yet deep conversation spans from wealth creation to new perspectives on innovation, leverage, happiness, health, and... flying cars.

Björn Fahlén is the refounder, principal shareholder, Chief Investment Officer, and CEO of Redeye. Our conversation focuses on his book "Quality First Investing: A checklist approach to finding and sitting tight in multibaggers". We talk about his investor journey, company quality, portfolio management, behavior, and much more.

Robert Hagstrom is a distinguished author and investor with 35+ years of experience in the equity market. Our conversation centers around his gem "The Last Liberal Art", explaining how disciplines such as biology, philosophy, and psychology can help us improve as investors. We also gain new reading inspiration as well as advice for younger listeners.

Dennis Jean-Jacques is a savvy investor and the author of "The 5 Keys to Value Investing". We discuss core concepts from the book, investment principles, and his lessons from decades of managing money. Jean-Jacques is President and Chief Investment Officer of Ocean Park Investments, an asset management firm based on the US east coast.

Patrik Wahlén is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Swedish industrial group Volati. We have the pleasure to discuss one of his favorite books, featuring several timeless Wall Street stories. Besides the lessons from John Brooks and the stock market, we talk about how to build a lasting serial acquirer and what you can learn from English soccer clubs.

Chris Mayer is an expert on stocks that return 100 times or more. In a thoughtful conversation with many company examples, we talk about how to identify 100-baggers and their common characteristics. Chris also shares his portfolio strategy and the mindset needed to reach superior investment results.

Bethany McLean is one of the world’s most prominent financial and investigative journalists. In this episode, we revisit her masterpiece on Enron, the Wall Street darling that suddenly imploded in 2001. We focus on timeless insights and discuss charismatic leaders, breakpoints, math, narratives, lessons from a day with Buffett, and much more.

We believe that a multidisciplinary approach is essential for every long-term investor. One of the most practical books we have found on the topic is “An Investment Thinking Toolbox”, by Daniel Sun Zhang, published in 2021. In this episode, we have the author on the show to discuss some of the 11 most important mental models for investors, the compounding machines called serial acquirers, and Zhang’s role as Director of Acquisitions at Teqnion.

Michael Mauboussin is a thought-leader on decision-making, the role of complexity in markets, and most topics related to investing. His latest contribution to the investor community is the updated version of "Expectations Investing", published in 2021. To us, the book is a must-read and our conversation with Michael is both an introduction to the big concepts as well as an in-depth exploration into the art of valuing stocks.

Erik Sprinchorn is one of Sweden's most successful investment managers. Our conversation centers around a book on self-justification and cognitive biases, vital concepts for every investor. Erik Sprinchorn is a portfolio manager at TIN Fonder, focusing on profitable growth companies within technology and innovation.

This episode features the eminent Professor Lawrence Cunningham and his book Quality Investing from 2016. What is his view on the topic today, how do you identify quality companies, and what enables them to outperform? Leading the conversation is Christian Billinger, investment manager of Billinger Förvaltning and part of Investing by the Books website.

In this episode, we invite a money manager to share insights from one of his favorite investing-related books. Our guest is the brilliant Henrik Andersson, manager of the Global Equity Fund at Didner & Gerge and a founding member of Investing by the Books. Henrik's choice is "The Essays of Warren Buffett" by Lawrence Cunningham, a classic piece with timeless wisdom for both junior and senior investors.

Jeff Gramm is a hedge fund manager and the author of "Dear Chairman". In a fun and multifaceted conversation, we discuss the crucial but sometimes overlooked topic of corporate governance. Jeff Gramm is a hedge fund manager and the author of "Dear Chairman". In a fun and multifaceted conversation, we discuss the crucial but sometimes overlooked topic of corporate governance. We also talk about small cap growth investing, biases, and Jeff's investment strategy.

Heather Brilliant co-authored the book Why Moats Matter during her tenure at Morningstar. She is now CEO & President of Diamond Hill, an Ohio-based investment firm, where Krishna Mohanraj is an International Portfolio Manager. In the episode, these domain experts help us widen our intelligence of economic moats - a concept that truly matters when investing.

In his book from 2021, William Green explores what we can learn from the world's most successful investors. The knowledge is timeless and not only about how to invest but also how to improve our thinking. Green has written for many leading publications in the US and Europe, including The New Yorker, Time, Fortune, Forbes, and The Economist. Leading the conversation is Henrik Andersson, fund manager at Didner & Gerge, and one of the founders of Investing by the Books' website.

Pete Davis is a commitment superfan and an American civic advocate. In a world of infinite browsing, Pete's book "Dedicated" (2021) provides an alternative - making voluntary commitments. In the episode, we talk about the fears and joys of commitment, lessons from long-haul heroes, and how the concept relates to business and investing.

Allocating capital is one of management’s most important jobs. Still, many decisions are suboptimal for shareholders. Why is that? In this episode, Jake Taylor - author of The Rebel Allocator - shares valuable insights on capital allocation and investment strategy. We also talk about biases, pricing power, and how to use a multidisciplinary approach in life and investing.

Sean Iddings has built a strong pattern recognition from studying many of the world’s most successful companies and leaders. In our premiere episode, Sean shares his experience of investing’s holy grail - buying and holding a 100 bagger stock. We also talk about how to be an intelligent fanatic, dealing with biases, and why insider ownership might be overvalued.

Get to know our hosts Eddie Palmgren and Niklas Sävås, what you can learn from the show, and who the first podcast guests are.