How headphones are changing the sound of music
David Byrne’s book “How Music Works” talks about how music composition has a context to it. “For example, he explains that medieval European music was often harmonically simple because playing lots of notes at once sounded terrible in cathedrals, and that trumpets were common in early jazz because the instrument’s high frequency could be heard over a talkative […]
Why is Taking Action Hard?
As we approach the New Year, many of us are getting ready with our list of resolutions. Some of us will successfully follow through. Some of us will valiantly fight until we give up and likely push it into another New Year or any other such milestone event. It is normal to procrastinate as we […]
Expect the Roaring ’10s for Stocks to Repeat in the ’20s
This piece uses a very useful framework created by John Bogle for his classic book published 30-years ago (titled “Bogle on Mutual Funds”). In that book, Bogle shows that you can decompose the investment returns generated by the stockmarket into 3 segments): dividends, earnings growth and growth in P/E. Nir Kaissar uses this framework to […]
The importance of accounting quality
45% of the stocks which were in the BSE500 ten years ago have exited the index since. The primary driver of these exits is shoddy corporate governance and poor capital allocation (the two are linked). In contrast, the number of companies which have significantly enriched their shareholders are a handful. Inspired by Howard Schilit’s legendary […]
Parallels between investing and software development
At first glance, software development and investing seem to be poles apart. But we find a common and interesting thread in the process that investment managers and software developers follow. The first public release of the Android operating system (OS) for mobile phones was in 2008. The most recent version is its sixteenth, meaning an […]
How to Give People Advice They’ll Be Delighted to Take
Irrespective of our credentials, all of us tend to get approached for advice every now and then, from friends, family and co-workers. As advice seekers, we often find ourselves having a go-to person for advice. Why do we pick certain people over others? What do these people do better when it comes to giving advice? […]
Beware Footnote Mischief
At Marcellus, a big part of our job is forensic analysis of Indian annual reports. Hence we are always interested to hear about advances in this field elsewhere in the world. In this article, Julie Segal begins by saying that “Harvard Business School and MIT’s Sloan School of Management claim to have found the first empirical […]
Ray Dalio Is More Famous Than Ever and Delivering Subpar Returns
As a fund manager, Ray Dalio – the founder of Bridgewater Associates – has attained celebrity status and is arguably next only to Warren Buffett in the celebrity stakes. His book, “Principles”, “his 600-page manifesto for success that has sold 2.2 million copies since its publication in September 2017. The tome, an unlikely crossover hit that’s […]
The extraordinary story of the only B Corp in Afghanistan
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it” says Simon Sinek in his hugely popular TedTalk – “Start with Why?” Companies across the world are increasingly attaching a purpose to their business. Indeed, there is an official certification for companies that go beyond profit motive – B Corp is a private certification issued by B […]
How the Loss of the Landline Is Changing Family Life
The mobile phone will likely go down in history as the technology which had the biggest impact on people’s lives and progressively so. Whilst its ability to connect people far away is often seen as the gamechanger for human civilisation, this article highlights one aspect where the smartphone has actually disconnected people. The piece in […]
The gospel of wealth according to Marc Benioff
In the run upto the next US presidential elections, it is inevitable that the topic of taxing the rich will be front and centre of the debate with candidates such as Elizabeth Warren actually putting out a clear plan – The Ultra-millionnaire tax. The topic touches upon the role of the wealthy and big corporates in […]
Celebrating Marcellus with Two Creative Giants
As we complete a year of managing money in India, we celebrate two towering legends of the Indian music industry. Not only did RD Burman and AR Rahman change the way movie music is made in India, there are striking parallels in their careers. Both men were professional musicians by their mid-teens. Both turned away […]
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