Knoch's journal

#1

I’m in my mid 30’s and completely new to stocks and ETFs. Well, since one month now I’ve been learning a lot about this topic. The motivation has been the frustration of seeing my savings rot at 0% at Postfinance. First thing I read on the topic was Gerd Kommer’s book about ETFs, which was kind of a revelation for me. Since then I’ve been actively listening to two podcasts on passive investments: https://zendepot.de/ and https://www.finanzwesir.com/blog/kategorien/podcast. They present the topic in quite a simple and understandable way.

My investment reading list:

Finished reading:

#2

I’m now finishing the book “Your Complete Guide to Factor-Based Investing: The Way Smart Money Invests Today” by Andrew L. Berkin and‎ Larry E. Swedroe. It’s a pretty tough read for me, but I can see the general point: factors work long term, but they come at a price.

This book made me less enthusiastic about the factors. As the authors note, their effect has been diminishing.

I wonder if emerging markets could be considered a “factor” and how much weight they should have in a balanced portfolio.

#3

If you read two books about investing then it’s already 2 more than me. If you’re a fan of reading, then I recommend this blog series:

http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

#4

Thanks for the tip, I’ll keep reading ;).

#5

As I’m climbing up my steep investing learning curve I am now collecting ideas how to build a good portfolio. Here is an interesting series of interviews with economics Nobel prize winners about the perfect portfolio (practical advice at the end of those interviews):

#6

Watching how the prices for ETFs develop I came across several metrics

https://www.gurufocus.com/

Market -> Marker valuation.

I’d appreciate if experienced members could comment whether this site and the metrics there can be of any use.

#7

I just finished reading this book

And it’s pretty good for beginners like myself. There’s lot of focus on US realities, but you can skip those chapters and read the main guiding principles.

#8

Cool! Never read the book,but read all his blog posts. I assume it’s all the same.

#9

Yes, that’s the one you suggested to me, thanks!

#10

I really liked this interview with Ray Dalio, where he explains the current economic situation and says that the expected returns for both stocks and bonds in the nearest are low: