The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done
Cal Newport is revered in Marcellus as a demigod whose books showed us a life beyond networking, endless travel, crowded schedules and other low-productivity activities which used to characterise much of our lives until we read his books “Deep Work” in 2016 and “Digital Minimalism” in 2019. So when Cal Newport writes for the New […]
Do Brands Really Matter?
“For an incumbent to enjoy competitive advantages on the demand side of the market, it must have access to customers that rivals cannot match. Branding, in the traditional sense of a quality image and reputation, by itself is not sufficient to establish this superior access. If an entrant has an equal opportunity to create […]
Why value investing still works in markets
Reams are being written about the death of value investing or in defence of it. Michael Mauboussin, one of the best investment strategists around, in this piece for the FT, helps bring clarity around this debate. He says “Value investing, defined as buying or selling securities at prices different than their true value, is alive and […]
Hold in the head: Saying “I don’t know” is easy. Not caring about now knowing is way harder
More often than not, our client meetings begin with the question – “Market kya lagta hain? (What is your view of the markets?)”, off late more on whether the market rally will sustain given continued concerns on the patchy economic recovery, risk of a second wave, uncertain US policies post elections, uncertainty around vaccine availability, India-China border […]
How two companies sprinted ahead in extraordinary race for a COVID vaccine
Following last week’s announcement by Pfizer that its vaccine under trials had shown over 90% effectiveness, significantly ahead of expectations, Moderna, another American biotech firm, reported this week that its vaccine candidate too had reported similar effectiveness. In last week’s edition of 3L&3S, we featured a piece about why despite what is clearly significant progress, […]
In jail, humanity is bubbling: Stan Swamy
As many Marcellus clients might know, the last three years have seen the National Investigation Agency (NIA) make a series of arrests in different parts of India of people with alleged links to Maoists. These people are, it is alleged, fronts for organisations (NGOs, not-for-profits) which are channelling funds to Communist and Maoist organisations in […]
Yale may have turned institutional investing on its head with its new diversity edict
Thirty years ago Yale changed the ways university endowments across the Western world invest by highlighting the merits of investing a higher proportion in risk assets whilst seeking to ensure that the risk assets were diversified across public and private equity, developed and emerging markets. This shift catalysed the explosive growth of US private equity […]
Soumitra Chatterjee lived a full life beyond the screen
Soumitra Chatterjee, a giant of Bengali, Indian and World cinema lost his fight with Covid-19 on 15th November 2020. Some of us celebrated the life of this great actor by watching our favourite Soumitra movies that day. Others participated in processions in Bengal where his favourite poems were read. Still others, we presume, must have played […]
Indian Financials: A compounding miracle hiding in plain sight
In this newsletter we illustrate why investing in Indian Financial Services stocks is highly rewarding for long term investors not only in terms of absolute returns but also in terms of risk adjusted returns. The data over the past two decades suggests that: (i) the Bank Nifty has delivered far higher absolute returns than the […]
Pfizer COVID vaccine: promising results – here’s what needs to happen next
News of the positive trial data from Pfizer’s vaccine development added to the euphoria post the US elections bringing cheer to people and markets across the world. Whilst there is no taking away the promising nature of the data, here’s a practical guide to what to expect from here on, according to Anne Moore, a […]
Why Warren Buffett Sees Investing as a Loser’s Game
At Marcellus, we believe in risk minimisation as a means to help our clients fulfil their financial goals as opposed to return maximisation. See our blog here for more details. Of course, we aren’t the first to believe in the merits of reducing the odds of losing money. The great Charley Ellis wrote the fabulous book “Winning […]
Lost school time might lower lifetime earnings for lockdown-hit children
Earlier this month, the UK announced a four week lockdown shutting down all including pubs, restaurants, non-essential shops but with schools, colleges and universities allowed to stay open. However, in India, with the festive season in full swing, most markets are swarming with people shopping and pubs and restaurants in some parts of the country […]
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