Casting for Value:Where do Professional Investors Get Their Ideas?
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Submitted by kenkid on Fri, 2007-10-12 21:51.
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Five ways to find ideas
I enjoyed that newsletter
I enjoyed that newsletter from West Coast Asset Management. I look forward to seeing their book when it comes out this winter.
Getting ideas
This is, in my view, an excellent perspective of where professional investors get their ideas. A friend who has managed a hedge fund for years subscribes to over 80 trade journals. He gets many of his ideas from these trade journals and many from his circle of friends and limited partners. The hedge fund dinner circuit generates a lot of ideas, a lot of cross-fertilization of thinking.
Ultimately, converting those ideas into executable ideas requires the ability to create mental models of businesses. The best ideas do not require a tailwind of fortuitous economics and circumstances to work.
The WCAM newsletter also mentions one of the most important aspects of success or failure in equity investing...the ability to think and behave like a business owner, rather than acting like a gambler.
Great ideas have longevity...you are not seeking an exit strategy.
Re: Getting ideas
I thought the same thing, Rick. If you are interested in getting ideas from journals, you might want to check out the stable of potentially free (if you qualify) trade journals available to Value Investing News readers. I've subscribed to a few of them myself and found some good articles.
Which trade journals have you enjoyed most?
George,
Which trade journals have you enjoyed most?
Trade Journals
I enjoyed reading Dental Economics, Government Executive, and CFO. I use to also get a restaurant and food industry journal but I can't think of the name of it right now.