The Weekend Bulletin (Vol. 1 | Iss. 10)

Jan 25, 2020

Volume 1 | Issue 10 | January 25, 2019

This article makes an important research-backed assertion in the active vs. passive argument. As per the authors of this article, it is not that active managers cannot generate alpha. On the contrary, active managers are good stock pickers. How then do they underperform? Read on to find out.
Want a great investment advice? Try SOYA - not the bean but the art of 'sitting on your ass'. Great investments are hard to come by. Therefore, when you find one, sit tight. That is the secret sauce of most great investors, as per this article.

If awareness is the first step, then implementation is the second step. There is an increasing awareness about behavioural biases in the financial world. However, not a lot is written about incorporating them into decision making. This white paper looks at some of the behavioural biases impacting financial performance and also attempts to provide a framework to overcome them.

One of the many mental shortcuts that we use is compartmentalisation - bunching things together based on a common attribute. Thus, companies add the word 'tech' to their name during a technology boom to attract better valuations, even if the underlying business has very little technology involved. Sometimes such compartmentalisation can also lead to missing out great opportunities, as the author of this article narrates.

History can be a great teacher on one hand and misleading on the other. For instance, a deacde of strong returns may make you believe that future returns will be lower, since history has taught us that returns mean revert. However, history also teaches us that you would be wrong to anticipate such mean reversion soon. Read on to find out how mean reversion has happened in the past.

Most people dream of retiring early. However, retiring early sounds sexy, until you realize it’s merely a plan to avoid something you don’t like - not a strategy (on its own) to create a life you’ll love. This (series of) article(s) offers some valuable insights in to not just early retirement but also building a meaningful career.

The number of people aged 100 or older in Japan exceeds 70,000 - There will be 56.34 centenarians per 100,000 people nationwide.
- This marks an increase for the 49th consecutive year in the aging society whose birth rate remains low
- Women centenarians vastly outnumber the men, accounting for 88.1 percent of the total 71,238.
- The government had in the past gifted centenarians with silver cups in the prime minister’s name, but since 2016 began distributing silver-plated cups instead to reduce costs :).

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Have a wonderful weekend!!

- Tejas Gutka.