Expert Calls

  • Expert views are increasingly important to make good investment decisions.
  • This is especially so for niche complex topics – like open access or CROs.
  • In comes Stream – they get expert interviewers to interview experts.
  • It hosts 20,000+ transcripts which one can search via the best investment search engine – AlphaSense. 
  • This month of Snippet is sponsored by Stream by AlphaSense, a service we have admired and used for a while.
  • Stream also provide summaries of key points of each call which are brilliant. 
  • If you are an institutional investor you can get a 2 week free trial here (just a business email and name required). 

Stream by AlphaSense

  • Making investment decisions increasingly requires primary differentiated information. 
  • These insights often live in the experience of experts.
  • One of the problems with expert networks – what to ask is itself interesting.
  • In comes Stream – they get expert interviewers to interview experts.
  • It hosts 20,000+ transcripts which one can search via the best investment search engine – AlphaSense. 
  • The next month of Snippet will be sponsored by Stream by AlphaSense, a service we have admired and used for a while.
  • Stream also provide summaries of key points of each call which are brilliant. 
  • If you are an institutional investor you can get a 2 week free trial here (just a business email and name required). 

Google Trends Supercharged

  • Last week we mentioned the Glimpse newsletter.
  • They have also recently released an amazing Chrome Extension for Google Trends.
  • For those who haven’t used it before, Google Trends tracks search volume for various terms over time and place. It is hugely useful for company and other types of analysis.
  • The Glimpse extension fixes many of the issues that have plagued Google Trends for years (like lack of actual search volume data) and makes it 100x more powerful.
  • For example, this screenshot shows the search for the keyword “NFT” in the last five years (no comment). Glimpse adds the actual search volume, highlights the major channels (TikTok) and related trends.
  • The basic extension has 10 searches free per month but you can upgrade to get unlimited searches. Just as with the newsletter, if you use the code SnippetFinance10 by 13th of June you can get 10% off for six months (disclaimer).

Glimpse

  • Did you know that interest in limb lengthening surgery is up 65%.
  • This is something picked up from Glimpse – one of the best resources around (and in my top 12 list)
  • Why? Dating apps allow filtering by height, and though 5’9″ and 5’10” are very hard to differentiate in real life, it is easier in a filter. Bumble even charges for height filtering.
  • This type of cosmetic surgery is one of the few that has a documented financial benefit – every inch of height is equal to $800 more in annual earnings for men.
  • The monthly Glimpse newsletter not only identifies these under the radar trends but is full of this type of insightful analysis.
  • For investors, both in venture and public markets, it is totally worth paying up for the full thing (the free version doesn’t have any analysis and only two trends).
  • Use the code SnippetFinance10 by 13th of June and get a 10% discount on any subscription for six months. (see disclaimer).

Composer

  • One of the coolest tools I have come across is Composer
  • Composer is an automated trading platform that allows savvy investors, like readers of Snippet Finance, to easily build a portfolio of hedge fund-like strategies.
  • Instead of struggling to implement strategies yourself, Composer breaks the strategy creation process into building blocks that can be infinitely combined using a no-code visual editor
  • Once you create a strategy and invest in it, Composer will automatically execute trades on your behalf based on the strategy’s logic.
  • If you’re not ready to create a strategy from scratch, you can choose from a collection of vetted ready-made strategies. 
  • Composer makes the kinds of strategies that are used by top hedge funds as easy to access as individual stocks.
  • Investing in securities involves risks, including the risk of loss. Borrowing on margin can add to these risks. Composer Technologies Inc., SEC Registered RIA. Snippet Disclaimer.

The 12 Best Financial Blogs

Below is a list of the twelve best financial blogs.

  1. Abnormal Returns – going since 2005 this daily email contains a delightful smorgasbord of links to articles, podcasts and posts across the financial web. Always a gem to be found for those who like to dig.
  2. The Browser – arguably the only non-finance resource you will ever need. A daily curation of the best five articles from the man who reads 1,000 per day. The resource is paid but worth every penny for those looking to broaden their horizons (something all investors should do).
  3. 361 Capital Weekly Research Briefings – a weekly tour of the US financial markets with charts, articles and more. Always something to ponder.
  4. FT Alphaville – the godfather of financial blogs and what got me interested in finance in the first place. The writers always deliver the most interesting and contrarian morsels of analysis on the major financial topics of the day. The further reading posts are also a rich seam of fascinating articles.
  5. Daily Shot – They say a picture paints a thousand words, so can you imagine what 80-120 charts a day can do*. This is a paid daily email that consist of charts covering global markets and economic trends. The broad coverage is a great way to survey everything, as certain markets (e.g. credit) or geographies (e.g. Asia) tend to see trends unfold faster than others. [*for the geeks out there a weeks worth of Daily Shot will get you just about a War and Peace worth of words].
  6. The Bear Cave – written by fintwit powerhouse Edwin Dorsey this letter is full of useful analyst resources and short ideas. The free version has a great list of management resignations and short reports.
  7. TheMarketEar – As market structures have changed, paying attention to technicals is becoming even more important. This site provides a supercharged twitter-like feed of charts, indicators and snippets from sell-side that does a pretty good job of surveying the short term market direction (and calling it at that). Although the service is now paid you can still get a free daily email.
  8. SITAL Week – written weekly by Brad Slingerlend of NZS Capital this site has been my favourite recent discovery. Like Snippet, Brad finds interesting topics/articles, especially from non run-of-the-mill sources (like academia) and adds a lot of fascinating insights when discussing them.
  9. Marginal Revolution – another old kid on the block this site, written by professor Tyler Cowen, is regarded as the best economics blog out there. Yet it is so much more than that. Like Snippet, I feel the interests are very broad and there is always something insightful to be found. Their assorted links posts are also some of the best out there.
  10. The Diff – reading Byrne Hobart just makes you automatically smarter. His real magic is akin to mathematics – he observes businesses, generalises their features as concepts, and then works with these concepts to build useful theories. It is a paid newsletter but the return on investment is outstanding.
  11. Glimpse – I look forward to this monthly most of all. Glimpse gives you exploding trends before everyone else discovers them (not boring ones; think alcohol gummies, limb extension surgery and veneers). The way they are described is my favourite part – I always learn something new and surprising. If you sign up you get a few glimpses for free but their value, especially for investors, makes it worth paying.
  12. Snippet Finance – That is this blog. What I do is read all the above and a lot more. I then curate the best bits (a decade of investing really sharpens one’s information processing skills) into short easy to digest Snippets. So save yourself time and subscribe – two emails per week, 3-4 snippets. There will always be something to inform and inspire.

The Analyst Academy

  • Learning how to invest is a life long journey but as a start one needs to acquire technical knowledge.
  • Exams like the CFA cover a lot of material but tend to be broad and not deep.
  • We have recently come across an outstanding course – The Analyst Academy – on how to be a professional investment analyst.
  • The course is the closest to the real thing we have seen and is run by Stephen Clapham, who has a wealth of experience and even written a book on stock picking.
  • There are other specialist courses – primarily on forensic accounting, balance sheet analysis and valuation.
  • If you enter the code YURI10 you will get a 10% discount exclusive to Snippet Finance readers (Affiliate link, please read our disclaimer).

The Browser

  • As an investor one needs to read broadly.
  • One of the best resources out there is The Browser.
  • They curate all the interesting articles on the internet on a huge range of topics and send it in a daily email.
  • They would know – their editor reads 1,000 per day!
  • It isn’t free but the best money you will spend.
  • Use Pocket to save them to read later.
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