Practical analysis for investment professionals
29 March 2013

Weekend Reading for Financial Advisers: Jeremy Grantham, Steve Jobs, and Marshmallows

Posted In: Weekend Reads

If you follow my tweets (@laurenfosternyc), many of these links below will be familiar. But for those of you who missed them, here is a short selection of some of the most essential and/or enjoyable reading and viewing I’ve come across over the past few weeks. Enjoy.

Investing

  • Two legends at the table — one from the world of journalism, the other from the world of investing: Jeremy Grantham speaks with Charlie Rose. The show runs just shy of an hour, and it’s worth watching every minute. As Rose says, Grantham “is a man of interesting ideas.” The discussion ranges from his outlook for the global economy, including population growth and threats to the world’s natural resources, to his prescient market calls on such financial asset bubbles as Japan, the dot-com frenzy, and the subprime crisis. (Charlie Rose)
  • Due diligence has taken on added import in the post-Madoff era. One helpful resource is the Greenwich Roundtable‘s selection of (free) best practices papers, including “Best Practices in Alternative Investing: Avoiding Mistakes” (PDF) and “Best Practices in Alternative Investing: Due Diligence” (PDF). (The Greenwich Roundtable)

Economics


Social Media

Vision

  • In this two-minute video clip from 1995, Steve Jobs — who was at NeXT at the time — discusses the most important thing. “The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it,” he says. “That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.” Words to live by. (Farnam Street)

Retirement (Sort Of)

Behavioral Finance/Biases

Technology

  • We are all generally aware of the benefits and convenience of all our electronic devices. But new research, explained in “Your Phone vs. Your Heart,” suggests it comes with a high cost: our biological capacity to connect with other people. (New York Times)

Presentation Skills

And Now For Something Completely Different

It was a toss-up for this week’s bottom slot. So I included both:

  • Have you ever pondered the question: How much is it worth sacrificing to do what you love? I know I have. Plus I’ve also often wondered what separates endurance athletes from the rest of us mere mortals. “Becoming the All-Terrain Human” is not a philosophical treatise; it delves into the world of über athlete Kilian Jornet Burgada who “has won more than 80 races, claimed some 16 titles and set at least a dozen speed records, many of them in distances that would require the rest of us to purchase an airplane ticket. He has run across entire landmasses­ (Corsica) and mountain ranges (the Pyrenees), nearly without pause. He regularly runs all day eating only wild berries and drinking only from streams.” I’m exhausted just reading about these feats. If nothing else, the article will leave you stunned by Jornet’s physical prowess and his seemingly incomprehensible endurance. (New York Times Magazine)
  • My favorite read of the past few weeks comes from an unexpected source: Wired. And the topic perhaps even more unexpected: “The Power of Swarms Can Help Us Fight Cancer and Predict the Future.” It is a fascinating read and Ed Yong, the author, is a gifted writer. Invest some time in this one, it’s worth it.

Please note that the content of this site should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute.

Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/JLGutierrez

About the Author(s)
Lauren Foster

Lauren Foster was a content director on the professional learning team at CFA Institute and host of the Take 15 Podcast. She is the former managing editor of Enterprising Investor and co-lead of CFA Institute’s Women in Investment Management initiative. Lauren spent nearly a decade on staff at the Financial Times as a reporter and editor based in the New York bureau, followed by freelance writing for Barron’s and the FT. Lauren holds a BA in political science from the University of Cape Town, and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.

1 thought on “Weekend Reading for Financial Advisers: Jeremy Grantham, Steve Jobs, and Marshmallows”

  1. John Manuel says:

    Nice compilation! I like this series and think it is very useful. Keep up the good work.

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