Intelligent Investment Today - The Warren Buffett Way

In this episode of Intelligent Investment Today, we explore one of Warren Buffett’s most famous warnings: his description of derivatives as “financial weapons of mass destruction.”

But what exactly is a derivative — and why did Buffett view them with such caution?

We break down the subject in simple terms, using the example of a wheat farmer and a baker to explain how derivatives can be used sensibly to hedge against risk. The problem begins when these instruments move away from their original purpose and become vehicles for speculation, leverage and financial engineering.

We explore how leverage can magnify both gains and losses, why counterparty risk can create problems far beyond an individual investor, and how the interconnected nature of modern financial markets contributed to the dangers exposed during the 2008 financial crisis.

The episode also considers what this means for the everyday investor. You don't need to understand every financial instrument available to you — and you certainly don't need to use them simply because they exist.

Drawing on the principles of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, we argue that complexity isn't the same as sophistication. Sometimes, the smartest investment decision is knowing what to leave alone.

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Our brains were designed for survival—not for investing.
In this episode of Intelligent Investment Today, David Coombs explores the fascinating ways our evolutionary instincts can make us terrible investors. Fear of losses, herd behaviour, bias, impatience and overconfidence may have helped our ancestors survive the African savannah, but they can be financially dangerous when applied to the stock market.
Drawing on the timeless principles of Benjamin Graham and value investing, we look at why investors often panic when prices fall, chase shares that are already rising, extrapolate recent events into the future, and convince themselves they can predict an inherently uncertain world.
The solution isn't to eliminate emotion. That's impossible. Instead, it's to build an investment process that protects us from our own instincts.
Think independently. Focus on intrinsic value. Demand a margin of safety. And when your adrenal glands start screaming because the market has fallen 20%, perhaps give your frontal cortex five minutes to catch up.
A light-hearted look at a serious investment lesson: sometimes the biggest risk to your portfolio is the person managing it.
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What can a book about drug dealers, sumo wrestlers, schoolteachers and baby names possibly teach us about value investing?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

In this episode of Intelligent Investment Today, David Coombs explores the surprising investment lessons hidden inside Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's bestselling book Freakonomics.

At the heart of both Freakonomics and the philosophy of Benjamin Graham is a deceptively simple idea: don't simply accept the obvious explanation — look at the evidence.

We explore why investors should pay close attention to incentives, why management's rewards can tell us more than its promises, why correlation isn't necessarily causation, and why the crowd can be spectacularly wrong.

We also consider the difference between information and genuine knowledge, the incentives operating throughout the investment industry, and why asking uncomfortable questions may be one of the most valuable skills an investor can develop.

Because whether you're analysing a balance sheet or trying to understand human behaviour, the same principle applies:

Question everything. Follow the evidence. And ask what is really going on.

A rather unconventional book for an investment podcast — but perhaps a surprisingly useful one.
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What if you only had twenty investment decisions left for the rest of your life?

In this episode of Intelligent Investment Today, we explore Warren Buffett's famous Twenty Punch Card analogy and why one of the world's greatest investors believes that doing less can actually lead to better results.

Buffett's idea is wonderfully simple: imagine you were given a card with just twenty punches on it. Every time you bought an investment, you used one punch. Once all twenty were gone, you could never invest again.

How would you invest differently?

We'd probably become far more selective, spend more time researching businesses, worry less about short-term market movements and become much more comfortable doing absolutely nothing.

We explore how Buffett's punch card fits with Benjamin Graham's principles of value investing, including the importance of a margin of safety, patience, independent thinking and knowing when to wait for the right opportunity.

We also look at the dangers of excessive trading, the financial industry's incentives to keep investors active, the psychology of FOMO, diversification and why owning fewer businesses can sometimes lead to greater conviction and understanding.

Because the market will always give you another pitch.

You don't have to swing at every one.

Investing isn't about how many decisions you make. It's about the quality of the few decisions that really matter.
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What can a wonderfully cynical book from 1940 teach us about investing today?
In this episode of Intelligent Investment Today, we explore Fred Schwed Jr.'s classic Where Are the Customers' Yachts?—a witty and irreverent look at Wall Street, financial professionals and the remarkable confidence with which people try to predict the future.
Schwed's famous question—"Where are the customers' yachts?"—becomes a starting point for a broader discussion about investing. Why do we place so much faith in forecasts and experts? Why does confidence often sound like competence? And could we actually make better investment decisions by accepting that we don't know what happens next?
Drawing on the principles of Benjamin Graham and value investing, we look at the difference between owning good businesses and simply buying predictions, the dangers of information overload, the importance of understanding incentives, and why successful investing doesn't necessarily have to be exciting.
Because while Wall Street may want to entertain us, the value investor has a rather simpler objective: to allocate capital sensibly and let good businesses compound over time.
And the next time someone claims to have discovered the secret to making money in the markets, perhaps there's one question worth asking first:
Where's your yacht?
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