The Golden Age of Financial Writing
by Barry Ritholtz -
February 8th, 2015, 9:30am
Over the
years, I have tried to explain the significance to investors of organizing your
thoughts into a written expression of understanding and belief. See,
e.g., Why I Write and What I learned after 30,000 posts.
It is one of the more important things you can do to better understand your own
beliefs and expectations, an important part of becoming a better investor.
So you
can imagine how thrilled and proud I am that three of our staff made
Morgan’s “must read” list of 22:
Michael Batnick (The Irrelevant
Investor)
·
Who he is: Director
of research, Ritholtz Wealth Management
·
What he writes: Pithy
investing observations, market history, sarcastic tweets
·
Why you should read
him: Came out of the middle of nowhere a year or two ago and is
already one of the sharpest writers in finance.
Josh Brown (Reformed Broker)
·
Who he is: CEO,
Ritholtz Wealth Management
·
What he writes: Dissects
the world of investing, economics, and financial advice in a way that is as
hilarious as it is brilliant.
·
Why you should read
him: Has bridged the gap between presenting high-quality information
in an entertaining way better than anyone in the business.
Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture)
·
Who he is: Chief
investment officer, Ritholtz Wealth Management
·
What he writes: Smart,
honest, no-holds-barred investment and economic articles.
·
Why you should read him: Incapable
of sugar-coating stories he’s passionate about, which makes for some of the
most informative and eye-opening columns.
Writing
is an important part of our process, and one that I highly recommend,
regardless of whether ever published or not.
The full
list (despite the inevitable omissions) is definitely worth your time. What I Read (And Why)
Succinct Summations week ending February 6th
Positives:
1. January Nonfarm Payrolls came in at 257k vs 228k expected.
2. Eurozone retail sales were up 2.8% in December, the strongest in almost 8 years.
3. Average hourly earnings grew at 2.2% vs 1.9% expected.
4. Eurozone growth came in at 52.6, a six-month high.
5. Big revisions to the previous six months added another 102k jobs.
6. Oil stopped crashing, it finished the week up 8.5%.
7. Stocks had a strong week, mid-caps hit new all-time highs.
Negatives:
1. January unemployment ticked up a bit to 5.7% from 5.6%.
2. Interest rate sensitive Utilities got roughed up on Friday, having their worst day since August 2011.
3. ISM came in at 53.5, down from 55.1 and below the 54.5 expected.
4. The PMI services index fell in China, Japan and Hong Kong.
5. Purchase applications fell for the third straight week.
6. Nonfarm productivity declined 1.8% on an SAAR versus a 0.2% expected
What I Read (And Why)
We are in the golden age of financial
information.
There is more high-quality financial writing
today than ever before, written by a more diverse group of writers than has
ever existed.
But there is far too much to read. The volume
of financial information could drop by 99% and you still couldn't read a fraction
of what's out there.
Everyone needs a filter, which requires having
a curated list of go-to writers.
Here's a list of people I go out of my way to
read (I know I'm forgetting many -- sorry).
Ben Carlson (A
Wealth of Common Sense)
·
Who he is: Portfolio manager at an endowment fund
·
What he writes: Investing observations that seem like common
sense until you realize you had never thought about investing that way before
reading his article.
·
Why you should read him: He bats pretty close to a thousand in terms of
quality. Every article is worth reading.
Sam Lee (Morningstar)
·
Who he is: Analyst at Morningstar
·
What he writes: Really smart takes on ETFs, with an occasional
killer piece about general investment wisdom.
·
Why you should read him: His article "Losing
My Religion" is one of the best investment articles I've ever
read.
Tadas Viskantas (AbnormalReturns.com)
·
Who he is: Private investor
·
What he writes: The best link aggregation of financial content
in the world.
·
Why you should read him: You could only visit Tadas's site and stay
informed. If anyone in the financial world writes a good article, Tadas will link
to it.
Michael Batnick (The Irrelevant Investor)
·
Who he is: Director of research, Ritholtz Wealth
Management
·
What he writes: Pithy investing observations, market history,
sarcastic tweets
·
Why you should read him: Came out of the middle of nowhere a year or
two ago and is already one of the sharpest writers in finance.
Jesse Livermore (pseudonym) (Philosophical Economics)
·
Who he is: No one knows (blogs anonymously to protect his
day job).
·
What he writes: Long-form takedowns of widely held investing
misconceptions.
·
Why you should read him: He'll make you feel stupid no matter who you
are. Everyone I've talked to says the same thing:
"Oh my gosh, he's the smartest guy I've ever read."
·
Who he is: Senior editor, The Atlantic
·
What he writes: The economics of everyday life.
·
Why you should read him: One of maybe seven people alive who can write
about economics in a way that doesn't put you to sleep.
Patrick O'Shaughnessy (Millennial
Invest)
·
Who he is: Portfolio manager, O'Shaughnessy Asset
Management
·
What he writes: Broad investment trends and philosophies
backed with some of the best historical data you'll ever see.
·
Why you should read him: Brilliant, succinct, and a great writer. Uses
complicated data and explains it in a way anyone can understand.
Tren Griffin (25iq)
·
Who he is: Works for Microsoft
·
What he writes: Lists of a dozen things he's learned from
other smart people.
·
Why you should read him: Understands better than anyone that the way
you get smarter is to learn vicariously through other people, rather than
trying to learn everything on your own.
Bill McBride (Calculated
Risk)
·
Who he is: Blogger, former senior executive at a
technology company
·
What he writes: The best economics blog ever written, filled
with charts and data, utterly free of bias and opinion.
·
Why you should read him: Has a great track record of calling economic
trends, yet remains one of the humblest writers out there.
·
Who he is: Investor, blogger, hilarious guy.
·
What he writes: Smart takes about individual companies, market
history, and investing trends.
·
Why you should read him: Finds the most obscure-but-fascinating
historical market data points you'll ever see.
Shane Parrish (Farnam
Street)
·
Who he is: "Entrepreneur, author, and wisdom
seeker."
·
What he writes: Some of the most brilliant observations about
life, work, and investing, curated from some of the smartest minds in history.
·
Why you should read him: He reads more than anyone else you know and
shares everything he learns.
·
Who she is: One of the best economic journalists in the
business.
·
What she writes: The economics of everything from Bitcoin, to
fast-food wages, to applying for college.
·
Why you should read her: Writes about complicated and important topics
in a way anyone can understand without watering it down.
Josh Brown (Reformed
Broker)
·
Who he is: CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management
·
What he writes: Dissects the world of investing, economics,
and financial advice in a way that is as hilarious as it is brilliant.
·
Why you should read him: Has bridged the gap between presenting
high-quality information in an entertaining way better than anyone in the
business.
·
Who he is: Long-time economic columnist
·
What he writes: In-depth, incredibly informative pieces about
everything from wealth inequality to healthcare costs to soda taxes.
·
Why you should read him: Won the Pulitzer Prize
·
Who he is: Legendary financial journalist
·
What he writes: Some of the wisest investing columns ever
written.
·
Why you should read him: One of the leading experts on Warren Buffett
and Benjamin Graham.
James Osborne (Bason
Asset Management)
·
Who he is: Fee-only financial adviser
·
What he writes: Smart pieces about what's wrong with the
asset-management business.
·
Why you should read him: Has the writing skills of any good journalist,
but speaks from first-hand experience, rather than research.
·
Who his is: Long-time business columnist
·
What he writes: Enlightening, fact-based takes on the most
important business stories of the day.
·
Why you should read him: Fits more information into 800 words than most
people can in 10,000.
Cullen Roche (Pragmatic
Capitalism)
·
Who he is: Blogger, financial consultant
·
What he writes: In-depth economic and investing pieces about
topics you probably never thought about but should.
·
Why you should read him: Has demolished more economic myths than anyone
I know.
Barry Ritholtz (The
Big Picture)
·
Who he is: Chief investment officer, Ritholtz Wealth
Management
·
What he writes: Smart, honest, no-holds-barred investment and
economic articles.
·
Why you should read him: Incapable of sugar-coating stories he's
passionate about, which makes for some of the most informative and eye-opening
columns.
·
Who he is: Economist, Peterson Institute, professor,
University of Michigan
·
What he writes: Thoughtful columns about the most important
economic issues of the day, with heavy amounts of data.
·
Why you should read him: Ask 10 investors who their favorite
economist is these days, and at least seven will say "Justin
Wolfers."
·
Who he is: Author, financial planner
·
What he writes: How bad investing behavior leads to terrible
results, often showed through napkin sketches.
·
Why you should read him: Few people have conveyed such important
investing information in a format that is as accessible and understandable as
Carl.
Planet Money (NPR)
·
What they are: One of the best podcasts about money and
economics.
·
What they record: Short (20-ish minutes) episodes that explain
how something you never thought of (t-shirt manufacturing, produce shipping) is
affecting your life.
·
Why you should listen to them: I'm astounded at how they keep coming up with
great ideas week after week. There are almost no bad episodes.
For more:
An hour talk about drugs, money, war, and psychology
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