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10 Things We Can Learn from Charles Darwin

  
Education, Life
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1. Bear in mind at the outset that when Darwin was asked by Galton to fill out a questionnaire concerning his main talents in the 1850s, Darwin said his main talent was speculating in the consols.

2. Darwin established a routine. Every day was mapped out the same way for 40 years. Walk before breakfast, work until 11 am. Walk the dog. Listen to wife Emma read the family letters. Lunch. Read the newspapers (to check on his holdings and plan future speculative undertakings and to see what important flexions he could get on his side. Take a nap. Work from 4:30 to 6:30. Small dinner. Play backgammon or billiards. Listen to wife play piano. Such a routine enables you to speculate when you are prepared and not to let emotions interfere.

3. He listened to music every day. The wife played very well. An interlude to take the mind off the fray of the day, and to enjoy another language, gives one insight into the battle for investment survival.

4. Play some backgammon with the kids. Important to stay young at heart or else you’ll be unable to adjust to the new things and ever changing cycles.

5. He had a secret mirror to warn of the approach of uninvited guests so he could absent hide and pretend not to be home. (Gino Paoloochi had a similar trick, although he often supplemented it by always wearing a hat so he could say “of glad to see you. Sorry I am just going out.”) (more…)

The Three Kinds Of People That Hate Warren Buffett

  
  Education
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1. Conspiracy theorists who can’t let go of the fact that one of the world’s richest men probably has some advantages and influence that others don’t have. To which I say grow the f— up, this is how the world works, read a book about the Roman Empire or the Renaissance or even the elitist philosophy of Confucianism circa 500 BC. Did not Nathan Mayer Rothschild have runners and messengers in boats speeding word to him of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo? And did he not engineer a panic on the London bond market, first dumping consols and then scooping up everyone else’s before the official news arrived at the marketplace? Did Buffett’s viewpoint on rescuing the banks weigh on the TARP vote? Probably. Maybe. But it’s not like Warren made it a secret that he was expecting this outcome. The New York Times op-eds about betting on America might have been your first clue, Sherlock.

2. Hardcore right-wingers and libertarians who are incensed at Buffett’s ideas about making the tax system more progressive and eliminating absurd loopholes like carried interest. They also despise Buffett’s general views on the government’s role in capitalism, his support for President Obama and his photo ops with Jay-Z. They’ll impugn the man’s business and investing record when they can find no rational arguments against the Buffett advocacy for smarter and more equitable tax laws. They’ll call him a hypocrite and slime him for his investments in banks and derivatives. But it’s about politics, they can’t see past it. And they’ll never bring up his charitable contribution of just about the entire fortune he’s amassed. (more…)

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