Spies often use businesses as cover
The fascinating world of espionage has inspired many authors and film makers alike over the years and continue to enthral us with works of fiction. But the real world stories of spies have an added layer of thrill to it. This piece in the Economist talks about the instances where spies have infiltrated regular business […]
Fund managers are not like sports stars (but don’t tell them)
Fund managers often attain star status after a period of strong outperformance. Indeed, it helps the asset management company’s cause to support that status as it helps its fund-raising campaigns. Given much of the asset management business is now mostly an asset gathering exercise, this is understandable. However, this article focuses on the sustainability of […]
Dollar Cost Averaging vs. Lump Sum: The Definitive Guide
We often get asked by clients if we can take their lumpsum and deploy into x equal tranches over the next x weeks/months i.e, what is termed as ‘Dollar Cost Averaging’. Nick Maguilli of Ritholtz Wealth Management, in this blog supported by ample amounts of data driven analysis shows why you are better off deploying […]
Cathie Wood, the Best Investor You’ve Never Heard Of
Given our idiosyncratic style of investing, we have become accustomed to people giving us a bit of stick for how we think, write and invest. Life simply wouldn’t be as interesting without such criticism. Hence we always perk up when we come across investors elsewhere who also think and invest using methods which are off […]
How To Help Your Kids Find Their Calling In Life: 4 Secrets From Research
This blog is based on a book called “The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life” by William Damon, one of America’s leading writers on the lives of young people. Judging by the blurb on the book on Amazon.com, the book itself is the result of an extensive study of young Americans’ lives. […]
The Stock Price of a Company Tells You Nothing Useful
The P/E multiple of a stock has ZERO ability when it comes to explaining future share price movements in India. The same is applicable for P/B and EV/EBITDA multiples. In contrast, Free Cash Flow (FCF) growth explains nearly 60% of the movement in the share prices of BSE100 companies. Coming to terms with this counterintuitive […]
The everyday device in your home killing hundreds around the globe
Steve Jobs is believed to have famously said how he wouldn’t let his kids use the iPad or smartphones in general. Coming from the man who created it, he very well knew how destructively addictive these gadgets could get. This article talks about the many ways that the smartphone addiction of today is becoming fatal […]
New Firms for a New Era
An oft touched upon subject in 3L-3S is that of an inclusive capitalism, which goes beyond just serving the owners of capital, the lack of which has been one of the key drivers of income and wealth inequalities that the world is witnessing today. This piece by Dani Rodrik delves on the why’s and how’s […]
How to put out a bright spark
At Marcellus, we have written about the formalisation of the economy driven by GST among other factors and the resulting consolidation of industry into a few large players at the expense of the small and medium enterprise sector. This piece in the Outlook Business takes a look at the fate of the Foundry industry in Coimbatore known […]
Never Has a Venial Sin Been Punished This Quickly and Violently!
There have been proclamations about how value investing, at least value investing as we know it, is dead – such as this one which tries to argue that value of companies with innovative capabilities (say Tesla) that can have far reaching impact over a long period of time is simply hard to assess. Well this is not […]
Indian tequila: one man’s quest to perfect a national spirit
This is the remarkable story of how tequila began to be manufactured in India’s Deccan Plateau. The stuff is so authentic that it is indistinguishable from the real thing. “In a quiet part of Goa on the west coast of India, three identical enamelled cups were perched on a bar. Each contained a clear alcohol. In […]
Yuval Noah Harari’s History of Everyone, Ever
For a historian to be profiled in a 10,000 word article in the New Yorker, which is arguably the world’s best magazine, he/she has to be pretty special. Most people who have read Yuval Noah Harari’s books will argue that he is pretty special. This profile tells you more about this unique man. The piece […]
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