Human Evolution Led to an Extreme Thirst for Water
Experts have now long been predicting that the next wars will be fought on water. Dramatic as it may sound, access to potable water is a real challenge in many parts of the world – the 3L&3S has featured several pieces on the subject. This research article in the Scientific American by human biologist Asher Rosinger […]
What It’s Really Like to Be a Wall Street Whistleblower
This is a riveting long read from the Institutional Investor on a subject that is of considerable interest to some of us in Mumbai’s financial markets: whistleblowing. The article traces the travails of successful wealth manager, Eugene Ross, who used to work at Bear Stearns and who blew the whistle on a hedge fund which […]
Quality Investing and Inflation and why Emerging Market equities are at a ‘historical low ratio’
We feature two different articles here from GMO. The first piece is a GMO newsletter which explains why investing in high quality stocks is a good idea at a time when inflation is high and likely to go even higher. Some of you might remember we have been highlighting in our TV interviews since December […]
CCP = 25% Free Cashflow CAGR = 25% Share Price Compounding
Capital reinvestments, including tech investments, drive incremental deepening of the Consistent Compounders’ (CCPs’) competitive advantages. This increases the importance of free cashflows in understanding the fundamentals and hence the valuations of our portfolio companies. Over the last 5 / 10 / 20 years, the free cashflows of our portfolio companies have grown consistently at around […]
You Can Only Maintain So Many Close Friendships
The lockdowns have curtailed our social lives and limited the number of people we engage with socially, nudging us to think about the quantity and quality of our relationships. Whilst it might sound unromantic to take away the spontaneity and the natural course in which we develop relationships, apparently there is science behind the number […]
For Inflation Protection, Commodities Belong in the ‘Too Hard’ Pile
Ben Carlson wrote a piece recently on 200 years of returns by asset class, which showed that commodities had indeed delivered a negative real return over the long run, failing to beat inflation. But surely, over short runs, commodities can be a hedge against inflation? Turns out that isn’t the case either. In this piece, Christine Benz […]
Baillie Gifford: can a new generation keep riding the tech boom?
Plenty has been written about Baillie Gifford, the Scottish investment firm’s success with technology stocks, much of it has been featured in the 3L&3S as well. But this piece is more about the softer aspects of the organisation that Baillie Gifford is, an understanding of which can give us at Marcellus a sense of what […]
To choose a career, I needed to do more than ‘follow my dream’
India has the youngest demographic not just in the contemporary world but also in the history of this planet: no country has ever had more people under the age of 30 than India has today. It is but inevitable that in such an environment, many parents and their progeny spend a lot of time plotting […]
The Feynman Learning Technique
All of us are being told that we will have to work until 70 years of age and hence will have to reinvent ourselves 2-3x during a five decade long career. What nobody is willing to tell us is how on earth we are supposed to rebuild our skillsets 2-3x during our career. How will […]
Three Distinct Layers of Polarization in the Indian Stock Market…
Three Distinct Layers of Polarization in the Indian Stock Market… …is resulting in wealth creation being concentrated into the hands of 15-20 companies and this dynamic has nothing to do with the global monetary easing. A handful of companies – no more than 10 – are taking home more than 90% of the profits generated […]
I Was Taught From a Young Age to Protect My Dynastic Wealth
The recent ProPublica report showed how the wealthy contributed so little in taxes compared to the increase in their wealth – including the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffet. In this piece, Abigail Disney, the grand niece of Walt Disney and someone who inherited a stupendous amount of wealth at a young age tries […]
Milkha Singh: An unmatchable romance with a near miss
Before the systematic path to the Indian team’s success in recent years, few athletes have managed to savour international glory, sans any support from the system. The most memorable of them is Milkha Singh, the Indian running champion who passed away earlier this week. Here’s an obituary of the great man beginning with his struggles […]
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