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William Douthat
2020 Annual Letter
An interesting year to say the least. Supposedly starting (in this country) with a man arriving at a Washington airport in late February after a visit to Wuhan China. Not days passed before he was admitted to a local hospital and diagnosed with what was at the time a seldom known virus called COVID-19.
Why GEICO's Competitive Advantage is in Danger
On the week of December 6th 1951, thousands of financial professionals received in their mail that week’s issue of The Commercial and Financial Chronicle. Within the issue, an article entitled The Security I Like Best, written by an Omaha born Columbia graduate by the name of Warren E. Buffett, appeared on page 24.
Has Inflation Already Arrived?
For almost the entirety of the 20th century, the most essential decision posed upon the U.S. investor was that between the purchase of common stock in publicly held corporations and of fixed income securities, namely corporate and government bonds.
How Adobe Became One of the Largest Companies to Come Out of Silicon Valley
In the 1990s corporations across America started to look for solutions that would allow them to transmit electronic documents among people within their organization as well as to their customers and suppliers.
6 Principles All Investors Follow
There are two requirements for a security to be considered an investment: 1) A safety of principle 2) An adequate rate of return. If a security is lacking one of these requirements it cannot be considered an investment and should instead be classified as a speculation. In order to be successful, an investor must restrict themselves to securities consisting of both requirements.
How Inflation Impacts Everyone
During a discussion I had with a friend about current economic conditions and excessive money printing, he asked in a satirical manner “has anything that bad ever really happened because of inflation?”
America's Next Innovation Hub.
The term Silicon Valley was born from a computer science journalist by the name of Don Hoefner in an article written for one of his local electronics publications. With the term he aimed to describe the multitude of companies whose products were made possible by their electronic transistors of which silicon was the main element.
Understanding Bond Provisions.
Since fiscal measures, started during the great recession, have pushed interest rates to almost non existent levels, and which sustained themselves at similar levels till the next crisis spawned in 2020, fixed income securities have seemed as if they are little more than things of the distant past
Lessons From Warren Buffett's Annual Letter
On February 22nd Warren Buffett released his 2019 Letter to Shareholders and as always it was filled with timeless information. The following is a summary of the three most important lessons we took away from this year's letter.
Understanding the Chinese Stock Market
The economic rise of China has been nothing short of amazing and equally incredible is the way its financial markets have adapted and improved over the past few decades.
The Retailer Not Being Battered By COVID-19
Despite nationwide lockdowns and increasing unemployment Home Depot was able to post $28,260 of revenues in their first quarter, 7.1% higher than a year earlier.