I strive to be smart, wise, analytical, creative, intuitive, and informative. I hope to help make you a better active investment management pro.
I recommend you start with the Best of the Blog.
The Top Five Accounting Mistakes Analysts Make
Prior to entering graduate school almost 20 years ago, I had a very important phone conversation with an analyst at the Dreyfus Founders Funds, Chuck Reed. That brief phone conversation changed my focus in graduate school — and hence my life. One of the questions I asked Chuck was, “What skills should I acquire that most analysts overlook?” He answered unequivocally, saying, “Most analysts do not understand accounting.” Shocking as it may seem, I still believe Reed’s two-decade old admonishment to me remains true, even despite the...
read moreMargin of Safety: The Lost Art
In another era, Benjamin Graham, one of history’s greatest investors, opined in The Intelligent Investor about the importance of including a margin of safety in assessing the quality of any investment: “to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, MARGIN OF SAFETY.” Graham’s many adherents, including the fabulously successful Warren Buffett, Bruce Berkowitz, and Seth Klarman (who even wrote a book entitled Margin of Safety), all also emphasize the importance of the concept of margin of safety....
read moreSkills That Separate You as an Investment Manager: Curiosity
Over the last year I shared many of the skills that separate you as an investment manager that are not covered in formal contexts, such as business school, firm-level training, or even as a part of the CFA Program. In this installment I discuss the benefits of curiosity for investment management success. Tangent to this discussion are my articles on the importance of discernment and context creation. Curiosity Helps You Expand Past Your Boundaries To me the most important investment skill is understanding information. All other things equal,...
read more9 January 2015: The Role of the Right Brain in Investing speech at India Investment Conference 2015
Jason Apollo Voss delivers The Role of the Right Brain in Investing at the India Investment Conference 2015.
read moreSkills That Separate You as an Investment Manager: Context Creation
For nearly a year now I have been discussing skills that separate you as an investment manager. Wide territory is covered in other articles in the series, ranging from introspection to scaling. Context creation, this month’s subject, takes advantage of intuition, creativity, and a person’s knowledge. Like other topics discussed so far, I address context creation at length in my book The Intuitive Investor. Defining Context Context is defined roughly as the circumstance in which an event occurs; a setting. Let’s break this down, starting with...
read moreThe Intuitive Investor: How to Translate Intuitive Sensations
In last month’s piece on intuition I shared tips on how to tune into intuitive sensations. Specifically I focused on the importance of distinguishing between specific consciousness and its emphasis on naming and quantifying sensations, and holistic consciousness and its emphasis on experiencing sensations directly. Yet, for intuitive sensations experienced to be useful to investors, it is critically important to translate them into quantities (rarely) or words (most common). But how to translate intuitive sensations into information?...
read moreSkills That Separate You as an Investment Manager: Scaling
Previous editions of this series on Skills That Separate You as an Investment Manager have focused on introspection, creativity, intuition, decisiveness, absolute vs. relative decision making, forthrightness, and discernment. This month’s edition is about a powerful skill I initially discussed at length in my book The Intuitive Investor that literally changes how you see the entire information landscape: scaling. The use of proper scale is a tremendously overlooked secret to investing success. Let me illustrate the importance of scale with a...
read moreThe Intuitive Investor: How to Tune into Intuitive Sensations
So far in this series I have discussed the importance of intuition, a model that helps frame the intuitive process, and intuition’s most important skill: non-attachment. Recall I said our experience of intuition is just like that of our other senses. First there is a sensation, then that sensation must be translated into recognition. Yet, how do you tune into intuitive sensations? What the heck do intuitive sensations feel like? For argument’s sake assume that your consciousness can take two forms: holistic and specific. Awareness of these...
read moreSkills That Separate You as an Investment Manager: Discernment
Previous posts in this series have included important, fairly high-level skills that separate you as an investment manager — such as introspection, creativity, intuition, and decisiveness. But what about a skill that lets you roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty? Discernment is such a skill. Many investment managers and research analysts think that one of their responsibilities is to discover the very best mental model for their work. For instance, much academic research, even in CFA Institute’s archives, is focused on...
read more29 September 2014: Management Today – The disappearing plc
Jason Apollo Voss, CFA’s research into the decline in equity listings is featured in Management Today.
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