Phenomenal article/compilation on "The Biggest Mistakes Investors Make". h/t @manualofideas @JMihaljevic 👏

cc: @dmuthuk @Gautam__Baid @saxena_puru

My fav pts in the thread below

Sharing the latest holdings and some random thoughts.

@FromValue @dhaval_kotecha @SeifelCapital @saxena_puru @BahamaBen9 @richard_chu97 @TMFJMo @7Innovator @investing_city @SagaPartners @adventuresinfi

Individual Investing is a very personal journey where we need to match our strengths and strategies to our goals, while ignoring all the noise but also constantly learning and improving our process.

W/O understanding the other person's situation, interests, competency etc we shouldn't quickly offer unsolicited advice that they should be doing this or that with their portfolio.

Like "Why don't you just own ARK funds instead of holding so many SaaS stocks"? Maybe that's because I like searching for and studying solid companies from different sectors in my own free time, and buy each one after personally understanding them...

...and buy them at my own timeframe slowly over the years. As long as the med-long term Portfolio results are better than the indexes and comparable ETFs, that's a worth-wile endeavor.

Excellent list of "Investing Don'ts" by @NovelInvestor👏 Some solid advice for long-term investors in individual

The List

1⃣ Do not make hasty, emotional decisions about buying and selling stocks.

2⃣ If you are convinced that a company has dynamic growth prospects, do not sell it because it looks temporarily too high.

3⃣ Do not fall in love with stocks to the point where you can no longer be objective in your appraisal of them…

4⃣ Do not concern yourself as much with the market in general as with the outlook for individual stocks…

5⃣ Forget about stock market “tips.”

6⃣ Remember that stocks always look worst at the bottom of a bear mkt (when an air of gloom prevails) and always look best at the top of a Bull mkt (when everybody is optimistic).

7⃣Remember that you’ll seldom if ever buy stocks right at the bottom or sell them right at the top.

8⃣ Do not buy stocks as you might store merchandise on sale (Don't buy stuff you don't like or meet your objectives)…

9⃣ Remember that the public is generally wrong (during periods of over-enthusiasm or over-pessimism)…

I guess there's a reason for why I❤️E-commerce so much. These lessons are as important as the returns.

Sharing with few Fintwit friends. @saxena_puru @FromValue @dhaval_kotecha @richard_chu97 @adventuresinfi @BahamaBen9 @TMFJMo @7Innovator @borrowed_ideas @investing_city

Thank god I didn't wait for consistent GAAP profitability before investing in them (like I do for most other sectors). 😂

Positions : $MELI $AMZN $BABA $SHOP $ETSY $W $SE $CHWY

Watchlist : $JD $PDD $FTCH $MWK

Haven't analyzed much : $JMIA $OZON

E-Commerce is one of those sectors where you have to understand the Business model and lot of non-GAAP (but Business driving) metrics & KPIs.

I'm not an expert by any means, but these are some of the things I broadly think about.

✔️Is the Company a Marketplace (1st party, 3rd party, both?) or a Platform, a combination?

✔️Does it handle inventory?

✔️Does it handle payments in house?

✔️What other services is it offering to Merchants (Logistics, Shipping, Credit, Marketing ...)

✔️What other services is it offering to Buyers (Digital Wallet, fast shipping, loyalty rewards....)

✔️How is the Company leveraging the Marketplace or Data Network effects?

One of the best Investing blogs I recently came across. h/t @StableBread 👏

Five of my fav articles⬇️

@dmuthuk @saxena_puru @Gautam__Baid

1⃣On Moats
Network Effect
Intangible Assets
Switching Cost
Economies of Scale
Low Cost Provider
Toll
Cultural

2⃣Crucial Investment Principles You Need to Have
Capital Appreciation
Buy Low, Hold, Sell High
Recognize/Avoid Spec Bubbles
Ignore Noise
Stock Market=Pendulum
Diversify Your investments. Don't overdo it.
DCA
Understand Share Price Value
LT Tax

3⃣How to Read and Analyze Any 10-K Annual Report

Business Summary
Risk Factors
Selected Financial Data
Management's Discussion and Analysis
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Notes to Consolidated Financial

4⃣The Beginner's Guide to Dividend Investing

Dividend Yield
Dividend Growth Rate
Dividend Payout Ratio
Ability to Pay Back Debt
Net Debt to EBITDA Ratio
Return on Equity
Credit

5⃣How to Calculate the Intrinsic Value of a Company Like Warren Buffett

Owners Earnings
Growth Rate
Discount Rate
Calculate Intrinsic Value
Scenario Analysis
Margin of

1/ The SPAC I’ve been tracking is $SAII, merging with Otonomo.

It’s a marketplace that enables auto manufacturers to monetize their connected car data that it aggregates and standardizes using its data platform. It projects revenue to grow from $3M in 2021 to $574M by 2025.

2/ Platform:

Otonomo is standardizing data using its patent-pending technology from its 16 OEM partners including Ford, GM, and BMW who provide data on 40M connected cars (4.3B data points daily), to make it easily usable by consumers and developers who can access it via API.

3/ Similar to other aggregators like $ROKU or $TTD, one of their biggest advantages is their neutrality. Many mobility services can’t operate well without data from multiple OEMs but individual OEMs lack the incentive to share their data with competitors.

4/ Otonomo is collecting over 150 data parameters per vehicle such as engine status, temperature, speed, location, fuel or battery levels, or seatbelt status. This is then normalized across OEMs and car models, anonymized, cleansed, and enriched through AI/ML.

5/ There are hundreds of use cases that range from helping drivers to find parking to helping rental companies monitor their fleets in real-time or insurance companies offer usage-based insurance and better claims processing. Otonomo charges usage-based fees based on use-case.

The Concept Of Economic Moat While Analysing a Company

Economic Moat 101

A Thread 👇

Inspiration -- @FI_InvestIndia

What is a Moat ?

The dictionary defines the word ‘moat’ as a “deep, wide ditch surrounding a castle, fort, or town, typically filled with water and intended as a defense against attack “.

In stock market investing, an economic moat is an important concept with none other than Warren Buffet as one of its strongest proponents.

In fact, he has stated this multiple times that he loves companies with huge and long term competitive advantage over others, which he refers to as buying an economic castle with a ‘moat’.

A company with a moat has an edge over others as :

- It will have little or no competition

- it will be in an industry which would be difficult to penetrate into

-It will have a distinct cost advantage

In 2009, an unknown investor from Russia came out of nowhere to make one of the greatest late stage venture bets in the history of Silicon Valley. Why did FB choose an outsider to lead our Series D round? Here’s the inside story:

2 years earlier we famously raised from Microsoft at $15B valuation. That turned out to be a mistake because it set us up for a painful down round. By 2009 growth had slowed and the financial crisis crushed advertising. “Smart money” bids for our Series D were coming in at $3-6B.

We had a high bid at $8B from a respected valley firm, and we had a wildcard bid from Yuri Milner/DST who offered to top any other bid by 20%. We initially chose the reputable firm at a lower price, but they refused to drop a ratchet provision so we decided to give DST a chance.

Yuri understood 2 things that nobody else could see at the time: 1/ He had seen virtual currencies in Eastern Europe and China, believed FB could make money this way. 2/ We were offering secondary shares at 40% discount to preferred, DST was the only firm who valued this.

Yuri not only offered to clear the highest bid by 20%, he also offered to let Zuck vote all of his shares including any secondary shares purchased from early employees. This allowed Zuck to consolidate his voting power.

RIPPLE’S DUE PROCESS CLAIM:
In @Ripple’s Answer it asserted a defense that the SEC should be barred from claiming #XRP is a security today because it violates Due Process and principles of Fair Notice. Previously, I discussed a similar concept called the doctrine of equitable

estoppel. I explained the law protects a party from being harmed by another party's voluntary conduct. That conduct may be ACTIONS, INACTION, SILENCE, or ACQUIESCENCE. Although the SEC never declared XRP a non-security, for EIGHT YEARS it openly traded in unison with #ETH and

#BTC. During this time, some from the SEC, including Clayton, commented that #BTC and/or #ETH were not securities. For 8 years the SEC’s actions, inaction, silence and acquiescence implied that XRP was also NOT a security. Let’s review a few of the SEC’s actions, inaction,

silence and/or acquiescence related to #XRP. (1) During the period of time the SEC claims XRP was a security, the SEC granted Ripple permission to take a minority stake in MoneyGram (MGI). Ripple invested $50 million purchasing approximately 9% of MGI. The SEC approved this

purchase of MGI with the full knowledge that Ripple would encourage MGI to use XRP as a cross-border utility token related to remittances. The SEC allowed the use of this so-called illegal security to be utilized not just by Ripple, but by MGI. The SEC admitted to this knowledge

Worried about the recent market drop?

Here are 24 top investing quotes from Buffett, Bogle, Graham, and more that can help🧵

"If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn’t be in stocks."

-- John Bogle

"Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble."

-- Warren Buffett

“Individuals who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process”

-- Benjamin Graham

"A calm sea does not produce a skilled sailor."

-- Tom Culve