Soler

One story a day: the professors and traders whose math still runs markets. MIT, Yale,Taleb no tickers.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@investorwaves_ ironically that's kind of the point, no screens meant no noise, just the numbers and the discipline to sit still with them.

[Soler @Solerfin]

At 108 years old, a man was still riding the train to his Wall Street office three times a week. He had started there in 1928 and learned to invest sitting beside the man who invented the entire method. In 2005 he sat with a room of students and taught it.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Irving Kahn. He was Benjamin Graham's teaching assistant at Columbia, riding the subway uptown with Graham after the market closed to sit in on his class. In 1929, as a young clerk, he put $300 into a bet against a copper stock. Four months later the market fell apart, and his money tripled while Wall Street was ruined around him.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is a man who saw everything, from 1929 to the year he gave this talk, explaining that the method never changed. Buy a business for less than it is worth, demand a margin of safety, and let time do the work. He never needed a computer or a forecast. He needed the patience most people do not have.

The uncomfortable part is how boring the answer is. No system, no leverage, no edge to sell. He founded his own firm in his seventies and ran it for decades on the same simple rules. The industry that charges you for complexity has no use for a 108 year old saying the whole thing fits on one page.

He worked until the year he turned 108 and lived to 109, which tells you something on its own. The men who chase the market burn out. The man who bought value and waited outlived almost everyone who ever doubted him.

He learned the method from the man who wrote the book, used it for 70 years, and handed it to a room of students on camera. The recording has been public since 2005. The people charging you to manage your money have known these rules for a century. They just never sent you the tape.

[Soler @Solerfin]

At 108 years old, a man was still riding the train to his Wall Street office three times a week. He had started there in 1928 and learned to invest sitting beside the man who invented the entire method. In 2005 he sat with a room of students and taught it.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Irving Kahn. He was Benjamin Graham's teaching assistant at Columbia, riding the subway uptown with Graham after the market closed to sit in on his class. In 1929, as a young clerk, he put $300 into a bet against a copper stock. Four months later the market fell apart, and his money tripled while Wall Street was ruined around him.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is a man who saw everything, from 1929 to the year he gave this talk, explaining that the method never changed. Buy a business for less than it is worth, demand a margin of safety, and let time do the work. He never needed a computer or a forecast. He needed the patience most people do not have.

The uncomfortable part is how boring the answer is. No system, no leverage, no edge to sell. He founded his own firm in his seventies and ran it for decades on the same simple rules. The industry that charges you for complexity has no use for a 108 year old saying the whole thing fits on one page.

He worked until the year he turned 108 and lived to 109, which tells you something on its own. The men who chase the market burn out. The man who bought value and waited outlived almost everyone who ever doubted him.

He learned the method from the man who wrote the book, used it for 70 years, and handed it to a room of students on camera. The recording has been public since 2005. The people charging you to manage your money have known these rules for a century. They just never sent you the tape.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@batagonx fair, but that was the focused credit fund, a separate junk debt fund launched in 2009 and run by other managers after whitman had stepped back. his own safe and cheap equity record is a different book entirely.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@coocka_ the wild part is the professionals were forced to sell to him at any price. their own rules made him rich.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@oramindd Invert, avoid stupidity, beat genius.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@kejca Price is just the asking price today, while price action and volume are just noise. True advantage comes from valuing the underlying business instead of predicting lines on a chart

[Soler @Solerfin]

A kid from the Bronx came home from the Navy after World War Two, used the GI Bill at Syracuse, and spent the next six decades in the part of the market most professionals are paid to avoid.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name was Martin Whitman. Born in 1924, dead in 2018 at 93. He did not get rich chasing next quarter. He got rich buying what looked ugly: the bonds of companies in trouble, the wreckage of restructurings, and the stocks of businesses the industry already wanted off its books.

When a name fell far enough, mandates and career risk forced big funds to sell. He stood on the other side and paid cents for what he judged was still a dollar of value. One of the early hits was $100,000 in mortgage bonds of bankrupt Penn Central. It came back about five times.

The method was simpler than the stories around it. He called it safe and cheap, in that order. First: is the company financed so it cannot be forced under. Second: is the price far below what the business is worth, often a 30 to 50 percent discount to what a private buyer would pay.

If both were true, the noise did not matter. He cared whether the enterprise could survive and what it was truly worth. Everything else was somebody else’s fear.

That is the part people flatten. He did hunt in failing companies and distressed paper. That is how he first made serious money. But the mature rule was not “buy corpses.” It was buy only what could stand on its own, then buy it cheap. A fortress balance sheet at a discount counted. A cheap stock in a company that still needed the capital markets did not.

He founded his broker-dealer in 1974, built Third Avenue in 1986, and ran the flagship Value Fund from 1990 to 2012. Over that stretch it compounded at about 11 to 12 percent a year against roughly 9 percent for the S&P 500. At its peak the firm was managing more than $20 billion.

In 2003 he gave Syracuse $23 million. The school of management now carries his name. In his eighties he was still sitting with students and walking them through the method for free.

The lectures have been public for years. Almost nobody sits through an hour of an old man explaining that the money is often in the places you were taught to leave alone.

Most people who manage money already know the method. They just rarely make you look at it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

A kid from the Bronx came home from the Navy after World War Two, used the GI Bill at Syracuse, and spent the next six decades in the part of the market most professionals are paid to avoid.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name was Martin Whitman. Born in 1924, dead in 2018 at 93. He did not get rich chasing next quarter. He got rich buying what looked ugly: the bonds of companies in trouble, the wreckage of restructurings, and the stocks of businesses the industry already wanted off its books.

When a name fell far enough, mandates and career risk forced big funds to sell. He stood on the other side and paid cents for what he judged was still a dollar of value. One of the early hits was $100,000 in mortgage bonds of bankrupt Penn Central. It came back about five times.

The method was simpler than the stories around it. He called it safe and cheap, in that order. First: is the company financed so it cannot be forced under. Second: is the price far below what the business is worth, often a 30 to 50 percent discount to what a private buyer would pay.

If both were true, the noise did not matter. He cared whether the enterprise could survive and what it was truly worth. Everything else was somebody else’s fear.

That is the part people flatten. He did hunt in failing companies and distressed paper. That is how he first made serious money. But the mature rule was not “buy corpses.” It was buy only what could stand on its own, then buy it cheap. A fortress balance sheet at a discount counted. A cheap stock in a company that still needed the capital markets did not.

He founded his broker-dealer in 1974, built Third Avenue in 1986, and ran the flagship Value Fund from 1990 to 2012. Over that stretch it compounded at about 11 to 12 percent a year against roughly 9 percent for the S&P 500. At its peak the firm was managing more than $20 billion.

In 2003 he gave Syracuse $23 million. The school of management now carries his name. In his eighties he was still sitting with students and walking them through the method for free.

The lectures have been public for years. Almost nobody sits through an hour of an old man explaining that the money is often in the places you were taught to leave alone.

Most people who manage money already know the method. They just rarely make you look at it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

In the early 1970s the most famous investor on Wall Street walked into a small California brokerage to buy a stock, and the young broker who served him turned that one conversation into a firm managing tens of billions. Years later he sat with a room of students and taught the entire method.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Charles Brandes. The man who walked in was Benjamin Graham, the teacher of Warren Buffett and the father of value investing, who by then had left Wall Street for a quiet life in La Jolla. Graham mentored the young broker, and in the middle of an ugly market in 1974 the two agreed it was the perfect time to start a firm built on one idea.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about buying a business for far less than it is worth, then waiting, sometimes for years, while everyone else calls you wrong. He learned it straight from the source, from the man who wrote the book the whole industry still quotes and almost nobody follows.

The uncomfortable part is what he says about the crowd. The market is built to make you act, trade, and chase. Graham's method is mostly about sitting still and ignoring it. The industry that charges you fees to look busy has no use for a lecture that tells you to do almost nothing.

Graham's own line, passed straight to him, was simple. In the short run the market is a voting machine. In the long run it is a weighing machine. Price and value are not the same thing, and the gap between them is where the money is.

He built a giant firm on a chance meeting and a single idea. The recording has been public for years. Almost nobody sits through an hour of a man explaining that the secret was never a secret.

The people charging you to manage your money have had Graham's method for 90 years. They just never made you watch it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

In the early 1970s the most famous investor on Wall Street walked into a small California brokerage to buy a stock, and the young broker who served him turned that one conversation into a firm managing tens of billions. Years later he sat with a room of students and taught the entire method.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Charles Brandes. The man who walked in was Benjamin Graham, the teacher of Warren Buffett and the father of value investing, who by then had left Wall Street for a quiet life in La Jolla. Graham mentored the young broker, and in the middle of an ugly market in 1974 the two agreed it was the perfect time to start a firm built on one idea.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about buying a business for far less than it is worth, then waiting, sometimes for years, while everyone else calls you wrong. He learned it straight from the source, from the man who wrote the book the whole industry still quotes and almost nobody follows.

The uncomfortable part is what he says about the crowd. The market is built to make you act, trade, and chase. Graham's method is mostly about sitting still and ignoring it. The industry that charges you fees to look busy has no use for a lecture that tells you to do almost nothing.

Graham's own line, passed straight to him, was simple. In the short run the market is a voting machine. In the long run it is a weighing machine. Price and value are not the same thing, and the gap between them is where the money is.

He built a giant firm on a chance meeting and a single idea. The recording has been public for years. Almost nobody sits through an hour of a man explaining that the secret was never a secret.

The people charging you to manage your money have had Graham's method for 90 years. They just never made you watch it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

A telephone repairman who landed in Canada with $200 to his name and no degree taught himself to invest from library books, then ran the best performing mutual fund in the country for 30 years. In 2006 he sat down with a room of students and explained exactly how.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Francis Chou. He came to Canada in 1976 with a high school education and $200, and took a job fixing lines at the phone company. In the evenings he read Benjamin Graham and taught himself one idea: buy a dollar of value for 40 cents. In 1981 he and six coworkers pooled $51,000 and started an investing club at the office.

That club became Chou Associates. The $51,000 grew to $1.5 million in five years, and the fund went on to post the highest return of any mutual fund in Canada over the decades that followed. He never had a finance degree. He never worked on Wall Street. He just did the reading nobody else bothered to do.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about why a man fixing telephones could beat every professional in the country. The edge was never information or a pedigree. It was patience, and the discipline to buy what everyone else was afraid to touch.

The uncomfortable part is how simple it is. The industry sells you complexity, fees, and teams of analysts. He built a fortune with a library card and the willingness to wait years for the right price. Business schools charge a fortune to teach the opposite of what a phone repairman proved.

His whole method comes down to one idea. Buy a dollar for 40 cents, and do not flinch when it falls to 30. The recording has been public since 2006. Almost nobody sits through an hour of a self taught immigrant explaining that the professionals were never the point.

He started with $200 and beat every fund manager in the country, then told a room of students they could do it too. The people charging you to manage your money have known his method for years. They just never made you watch it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

A telephone repairman who landed in Canada with $200 to his name and no degree taught himself to invest from library books, then ran the best performing mutual fund in the country for 30 years. In 2006 he sat down with a room of students and explained exactly how.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Francis Chou. He came to Canada in 1976 with a high school education and $200, and took a job fixing lines at the phone company. In the evenings he read Benjamin Graham and taught himself one idea: buy a dollar of value for 40 cents. In 1981 he and six coworkers pooled $51,000 and started an investing club at the office.

That club became Chou Associates. The $51,000 grew to $1.5 million in five years, and the fund went on to post the highest return of any mutual fund in Canada over the decades that followed. He never had a finance degree. He never worked on Wall Street. He just did the reading nobody else bothered to do.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about why a man fixing telephones could beat every professional in the country. The edge was never information or a pedigree. It was patience, and the discipline to buy what everyone else was afraid to touch.

The uncomfortable part is how simple it is. The industry sells you complexity, fees, and teams of analysts. He built a fortune with a library card and the willingness to wait years for the right price. Business schools charge a fortune to teach the opposite of what a phone repairman proved.

His whole method comes down to one idea. Buy a dollar for 40 cents, and do not flinch when it falls to 30. The recording has been public since 2006. Almost nobody sits through an hour of a self taught immigrant explaining that the professionals were never the point.

He started with $200 and beat every fund manager in the country, then told a room of students they could do it too. The people charging you to manage your money have known his method for years. They just never made you watch it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@expertdr the SEC filings on the donation are public record, not a claim to take on faith.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@JabaDawit7 not from his own pocket, li lu ran a fund, the $88m went to charity from the fund's own gains, all filed in public tax records.

[Soler @Solerfin]

@batagonx exactly why he closed it in 1990, Lynch said scale itself was killing the edge that got him there.

[Soler @Solerfin]

For 13 years one man ran the top performing stock fund in America, compounding about 29 percent a year, then walked away at 46 at the very top. In 1994 he stood at a podium and laid the whole method out for a room of reporters.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Peter Lynch. His father died when he was 10 and the family had almost nothing, so he caddied at a golf club where he listened to executives talk about stocks. That is where a boy with no money learned the market was not a closed door. He ran Fidelity Magellan from 1977 to 1990 and turned a small fund into the largest in the country.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about why an ordinary person has an edge the professionals do not. You see products and companies at work, in the store and in your own house, months before Wall Street writes them up. He argues that the amateur who does a little homework will beat most of the experts.

The uncomfortable part is what he says about brains. The industry sells you forecasts, economists, and complicated models. He says none of it works, that nobody can predict the market, and that the whole apparatus exists to make you trade.

His line is blunt. The key organ in this whole game is the stomach, not the brain. The people who lose are not the ones who pick wrong. They are the ones who sell in fear at the bottom.

He walked away at the very top, wrote it all down, and gave the method to anyone who would listen. The recording has been public since 1994. Almost nobody sits through an hour of one of the greatest fund managers of his era explaining that you do not need him.

He beat the market and most of the professionals paid to beat it, then told a room full of people they could do it without one. The people charging you to manage your money have had this lecture for 30 years. They just never made you watch it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

For 13 years one man ran the top performing stock fund in America, compounding about 29 percent a year, then walked away at 46 at the very top. In 1994 he stood at a podium and laid the whole method out for a room of reporters.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever made you watch this recording.

His name is Peter Lynch. His father died when he was 10 and the family had almost nothing, so he caddied at a golf club where he listened to executives talk about stocks. That is where a boy with no money learned the market was not a closed door. He ran Fidelity Magellan from 1977 to 1990 and turned a small fund into the largest in the country.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about why an ordinary person has an edge the professionals do not. You see products and companies at work, in the store and in your own house, months before Wall Street writes them up. He argues that the amateur who does a little homework will beat most of the experts.

The uncomfortable part is what he says about brains. The industry sells you forecasts, economists, and complicated models. He says none of it works, that nobody can predict the market, and that the whole apparatus exists to make you trade.

His line is blunt. The key organ in this whole game is the stomach, not the brain. The people who lose are not the ones who pick wrong. They are the ones who sell in fear at the bottom.

He walked away at the very top, wrote it all down, and gave the method to anyone who would listen. The recording has been public since 1994. Almost nobody sits through an hour of one of the greatest fund managers of his era explaining that you do not need him.

He beat the market and most of the professionals paid to beat it, then told a room full of people they could do it without one. The people charging you to manage your money have had this lecture for 30 years. They just never made you watch it.

[Soler @Solerfin]

A man paid $650,100 for one lunch with Warren Buffett and called it the best money he ever spent, because he built his investing fortune by copying Buffett in public, openly and on purpose. Then he sat down with a room of students and taught the whole method.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever put this recording in front of you.

His name is Mohnish Pabrai. He came to America from India with almost nothing and built a small technology company on borrowed money. In 1999, while still running it, he started an investment fund on a simple decision. He would not try to be clever. He would just do what Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger did.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about why almost nobody copies the greatest investors alive, even though their entire record is public. He calls himself a shameless cloner, a man with no original ideas, and argues that originality is where most investors quietly lose their money.

The uncomfortable part is what he says about effort. The industry sells you research, models, and teams of analysts. He built a market beating fund by reading annual reports alone and waiting years between bets. Business schools charge tens of thousands to teach the opposite. He gave the method away for nothing.

His rule is almost insulting in its simplicity. Heads I win, tails I do not lose much. Find a bet where the downside is small and known and the upside is large, then have the patience to do nothing until one appears.

He learned it by studying one man for years and refusing to add anything of his own. The talk has been public for a long time. Almost nobody sits through an hour of an investor explaining that the winning move is to copy someone else.

He paid a fortune to sit with Buffett once, and turned it into a method anyone can run. That method is sitting in this recording for nothing. The people charging you to manage your money have known it for years. They just never sent you the tape.

[Soler @Solerfin]

A man paid $650,100 for one lunch with Warren Buffett and called it the best money he ever spent, because he built his investing fortune by copying Buffett in public, openly and on purpose. Then he sat down with a room of students and taught the whole method.

For free.

No bank and no fund has ever put this recording in front of you.

His name is Mohnish Pabrai. He came to America from India with almost nothing and built a small technology company on borrowed money. In 1999, while still running it, he started an investment fund on a simple decision. He would not try to be clever. He would just do what Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger did.

The lecture is not a stock tip or a screener. It is about why almost nobody copies the greatest investors alive, even though their entire record is public. He calls himself a shameless cloner, a man with no original ideas, and argues that originality is where most investors quietly lose their money.

The uncomfortable part is what he says about effort. The industry sells you research, models, and teams of analysts. He built a market beating fund by reading annual reports alone and waiting years between bets. Business schools charge tens of thousands to teach the opposite. He gave the method away for nothing.

His rule is almost insulting in its simplicity. Heads I win, tails I do not lose much. Find a bet where the downside is small and known and the upside is large, then have the patience to do nothing until one appears.

He learned it by studying one man for years and refusing to add anything of his own. The talk has been public for a long time. Almost nobody sits through an hour of an investor explaining that the winning move is to copy someone else.

He paid a fortune to sit with Buffett once, and turned it into a method anyone can run. That method is sitting in this recording for nothing. The people charging you to manage your money have known it for years. They just never sent you the tape.