The Importance of Having Principles

2025-12-01

In 1979, I was so broke that I had to borrow $4,000 from my Dad to help take care of my family.

I had calculated that American banks had lent much more money to foreign countries than they would be able to pay back, and anticipated an imminent debt crisis.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I didn’t fully understand the impacts of quantitative easing, and so I lost money for myself and I lost money for my clients.

Looking back, it was the most painful experience I could imagine — but it was also the best thing that ever happened to me, because it taught me humility.

2025-11-07

My perspective on how #expectations impact #happiness.

2025-11-05

As an investor, you don’t want to concentrate your bets — you want diversification, so you’re protected in different economic environments. That’s why alternative assets like gold are so valuable in balancing your portfolio. @TheProfGPod

2025-10-30

I sat down with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin to discuss his latest book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History — and How It Shattered a Nation.

A lot of what Andrew learned researching this book is analogous to what happened during the 2008 financial crisis, and also to what is happening today. That’s because history moves in cycles — the same cause-effect relationships are at play, and there are important lessons to be learned.

While the details are different, the mechanics behind people’s behaviors and policy choices are largely the same.

Throughout history, people ignore these similarities because the mechanics are not well understood. My hope is that research and conversations like these can help us collectively make better choices in the future. Learn more about

2025-10-02

I can’t say exactly how effective Bitcoin is as a money, but it’s being perceived by many as an alternative money and so is worth paying attention to.

Money needs to be both a medium of exchange and a storehold of wealth — and the latter is more important.

I doubt that any central bank will take it on as a reserve currency. That’s because all of the transactions are public, so there’s no privacy to it, and there’s a risk that in the future the code could be broken to make it less effective through government controls.

My personal approach is that I do have some Bitcoin in my portfolio, but not much. @TheMasterInvestorPodcast

You can watch the full conversation here:

2025-09-08

When I look at the US and global debt burdens and how countries are likely to respond, I worry about the possibility of creating a stagflationary environment.

Our financial system is dependent on the idea that you can take a debt asset and convert it into money. But now there’s not enough money to go around.

That makes the idea of devaluing the dollar relative to other currencies appealing — but the other currencies won’t want much of an appreciation either. That’s one of the reasons I say that gold will be a better performing asset.

2025-09-03

THESE are the most important things for teenagers to consider.

2025-08-05

The U.S. dollar used to be backed by gold — and it’s not farfetched to think we may be headed there again in the future.

History shows us that the same cycles repeat time and time again. One such cycle is related to currency devaluation.

Once people start to lose trust in the fiat system, we see a specific cause and effect reaction occur.

1) Governments print a lot of money
2) They pay off the debt with the cheap money
3) Nobody wants to hold the devalued currency
4) Governments go back and link money to gold

Will this same pattern happen again? It’s hard to say, and it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. But it is conceivable.