Weekend Listening: Listen Widely and Be Curious

We are living in the “golden age of podcasting.” Although the form has been around for a long time, it is now really hitting its stride. Today podcasts are being turned into television shows, while the rise of smartphones and connected cars gives us the ability to listen to what we want, when we want, and wherever we want.

This is great news for investment professionals who likely have overburdened schedules. Podcasts allow us to hear content that we might not have previously found time for. This isn’t to say that listening to a podcast should feel like a chore. At their best, podcasts are an engaging way to approach new and interesting material. There is something to be said for hearing one of your favorite writers speak on a topic, enhancing what you have read on the screen or printed page.

Another way in which podcasts are a vital medium for absorbing content is that they give us access to material that we would not have consumed in another format. This helps us to be multi-disciplinary in our approach. As Charlie Munger advocates, as paraphrased by Tren Griffin on 25iq, “read widely and be curious.” For example, you may not sit through an hour-long stand-up comedy special, but you may find an hour-long interview with the same person fascinating.

One potential threat we do need to confront when listening to podcasts is that of multi-tasking. There is ample evidence on the downsides of the practice. As Tim Harford observes in the Financial Times, however, there can be benefits to letting more streams in. He writes, “It’s easier to think outside the box if the box is full of holes.”

In that spirit, below are some recent podcasts on finance and investments that are well worth your time. As we move forward with this series, we will start to open things up, highlighting podcasts outside of the usual financial milieu. But for now, let’s stick to some that hit close to home.

• Barry Ritholtz of Ritholtz Wealth Management has a weekly series of interviews on Bloomberg Radio, and in this edition he talks with Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal and author of the forthcoming book, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary. (Big Picture)
• Campbell Harvey of Duke University interviews Russ Roberts about his recent research into the effectiveness of various investment factors and whether we have already data-mined all the good stuff. (EconTalk)
• Len Costa queries Michael J. Mauboussin, a managing director at Credit Suisse and author of The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports and Investing, about the importance of having diverse investment teams and making sound decisions in the face of stress. (Enterprising Investor)
• Sean McLaughlin of StockTwits talks to Brett Steenbarger, author of Trading Psychology 2.0 and consultant to some of the world’s biggest hedge funds. They discuss how some in the field can evolve from good to great. (StockTwits)
• Michael Copeland chats with 25iq‘s Tren Griffin, author of Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor, about insights he learned from Munger related to decision making and the psychology of human judgment. (Andreessen Horowitz)
• Shane Parrish and Sanjay Bakshi, a professor of finance, discuss how to incorporate multi-disciplinary thinking into investing and how mental models can be applied to investing and real life. (Farnam Street)
• Michael Covel talks with professional poker player Annie Duke about how to think probabilistically. She recounts how poker players and traders can both “go on tilt.” (Trend Following Radio)
• James Osborne of Bason Asset Management and I talk about financial media, our evolution as investors, and why I don’t blindly recommend “three books on investing.” (Fireside Markets)
• Presented without irony: Here is Tim Harford talking about the “myths, science, and history of multi-tasking — and how to do it well” as well as his accompanying long-form piece on the subject from the Financial Times. (Financial Times)

As you can see, many of these podcast episodes feature book authors. This is another way to use podcasts: either as a substitute for reading an author’s whole book or as an adjunct to the book itself. Happy listening. We will catch up on some more podcasts in a few weeks.

You can read more from Tadas Viskanta on his blog, Abnormal Returns.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to subscribe to the Enterprising Investor.

All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Big_Ryan