Over the last few months, I have written multiple times about real assets. So I won’t belabor the benefits and opportunities in real-estate (and other hard assets) investing here. To wrap up the series of posts on this topic, I’d like to roll up all my related investments and … [Read more...] about A quick look at my real assets portfolio
MyPortfolio
My unfinished business with Kinder Morgan
In a blog post last month, I wrote about my investments in real assets (see An opportunity to invest in real assets). Real assets are physical assets like real estate (homes, office buildings), infrastructure (bridges, pipelines), and commodities (oil, gold). These are tangible … [Read more...] about My unfinished business with Kinder Morgan
Investing in startups through SoftBank
I prefer investing in established well-run businesses that have defensible business models. Even though some of them are technology companies, I invest in them not because they are considered tech but because they have dug some level of economic moat around their businesses. You … [Read more...] about Investing in startups through SoftBank
A gauge for my portfolio
A lot of investor underperformance comes from them trying their utmost to avoid seeing losses. Emotionally, losses hurt twice as much as gains feel good. But there is no way to avoid seeing short-term losses in long-term investing. It’s inevitable for a long-term investor to see … [Read more...] about A gauge for my portfolio
My gun is reloaded
In his 2010 shareholder letter, Warren Buffett wrote that his elephant gun had been reloaded, and his trigger finger was itchy. He was referring to Berkshire’s dry powder cash that was intended for major acquisitions. Extending the same metaphor, today I could say that my BB gun … [Read more...] about My gun is reloaded
Revisiting my Blackstone investment
I have written several times in last two years about my investment in Blackstone (BX). Blackstone is the largest alternative investment asset manager in the world. I have been gradually building up my stake in it for two years. Its shares have mostly stayed flat since -- … [Read more...] about Revisiting my Blackstone investment
Invest in high-quality businesses
High quality businesses keep on giving—year in and year out. This is one key lesson I learned in my early investing years. Take the case of Wal-Mart (WMT) for instance. Ten years after its IPO in 1970, Wal-Mart had presence in just about 15% of the country. The stock had already … [Read more...] about Invest in high-quality businesses
My two-year bet on Apple
A week ago, I heard Blackstone’s COO, Jon Gray, talk about his company’s recent growth tilt. He said that decline in the U.S. interest rates that has gone on for last 30 years has come to an end. And with that, expansion of valuation multiples too. He is now focused on acquiring … [Read more...] about My two-year bet on Apple
My uber dividend payers
CenturyLink (CTL), a large U.S. telecom operator, has just slashed its dividend by more than one-half. For the last two years, it had sported a mouth-watering double-digit dividend yield that reached as high as about 16% recently. It was no surprise that many dividend-seeking … [Read more...] about My uber dividend payers
Market neutral investing
Last week, John Rekenthaler of Morningstar wrote an article on worst alternative investments of the decade. Market-neutral funds were among his top-five worst investments. Average annual return from the funds in this category was 0%. He wrote this, tongue in cheek: … … [Read more...] about Market neutral investing