Shawn Burns is Solve the Riddle

  INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion Charlie Munger often refers to this book and there are many references in the Almanac. CM famously gifted a share of BRK to the author as a thank you, given the amount of money BRK had made or saved from the lessons in the book. The author is not a finance guy but the use cases made were certainly noticed by the BRK duo and applied in the world of business. I have built upon another blog piece as a base for this entry. since i read a library copy and didn't want to mark it up! There has been added another principle since this edition-unity, being made aware of common experiences and pasts. Principles to get your way . Cialdini has spent a lifetime researching the psychology of compliance. The book highlights six principles (he has since added a seventh—unity) of persuasion, which compliance practitioners commonly use. We all employ them and fall victim to them, to some degree, in our daily interactions with neighbours, friends, ...

  VISA THESIS and FH24---TOP 10 Holding Understandable business Do you understand the positioning of the business versus its competitors, customers and suppliers? What are the critical products, services and relationships? Is the size of the market(s) able to be estimated? Are there existential risks to the business, structural decline, or obsolescence? The V/MA duopoly is the historical result of the combination of banks (acquirer and issuer), retailers and customers, as well as the payment network (MA/V). the interactions of thousands of these participants make replicating this network very difficult. The network is very complex. The interactions are supported by the banks, the network operators, and the customers, with the retailers being the participants least happy with the system. The banks control the customers and cards that they can brand, the network operators get a small fee on increasing volumes with not much capex requirements, and customers get much of the e...

  CHECKLIST FOR INVESTMENTS Overall I want this to be short enough so that I will use it and long enough to be useful. not War and Peace. In deference to Charlie Munger who continually suggested using a checklist, well I am getting on! Can be built up and on over time. Understandable business Do you understand the positioning of the business versus its competitors, customers and suppliers? What are the critical products, services and relationships? Is the size of the market(s) able to be estimated? Are there existential risks to the business, structural decline, or obsolescence? Operating History EPS growth, consistency/volatility is it forecastable? ROE/GM stability and level. Ability to manage margins. Total asset growth can the business profitably deploy assets. What has the reinvestment rate been? NPM level and stability. Does the business generate FCF, does CF reconcile to earnings? Given the above has the company favourable LT prospects? Management Condu...

  Poor Charlie's Almanack These are a series of talks, except for the 2005 piece (immediately below), which was compiled by CM being a summation of a few talks plus new material. That means the subject matter is not delivered consistently, as may occur in a book. There are subjects repeatedly covered in various talks. CM also gets on his hobby horse on several occasions, railing against pet subjects, especially siloed academia. Personally, I found the text, at times, difficult to read and ascertain the meaning, given CM’s style. I often had to read sections a few times to get the point. Then they are the gems that scatter throughout the talks. The themes that stand out to me are the importance of understanding the core success of a business, not only the financials and what it does, and the importance of psychology, to yourself and when dealing with others, over a period, how, where and with whom you want to play, become an incredible determining factor of success. One suggestion...