Investing Mastermind Podcast

Charlotte Janis, a granddaughter of legendary investor Benjamin Graham, is the Creator/Writer at BeyondBenGraham.com/blog/. Her grandfather Ben Graham is renowned as “the father of value investing” and the mentor of Warren Buffett. Last April (2023), Warren Buffett invited Charlotte to Omaha to go through his files and select documents to donate to an archive of ⁠⁠⁠Benjamin Graham papers at Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library⁠⁠⁠. On that visit, Mr. Buffett’s moving words about Ben Graham’s kindness and generosity inspired her to write her most popular blog post: ⁠⁠⁠Ben Graham & Warren Buffett’s Bond (By Ben’s Granddaughter)⁠⁠⁠. Charlotte was fortunate to have known her grandfather well. She had just turned sixteen when he asked her to join him on a three-week cruise from Italy to the Black Sea. The ⁠⁠⁠Memoirs⁠⁠⁠ he wrote on that cruise have become her cherished resource for fathoming his inner life. Charlotte also has unique access to a gift from her mother, Ben Graham’s eldest daughter—a trove of Ben Graham’s unpublished writings and letters. Charlotte wrote ⁠a blog post about a postcard Ben Graham wrote to Warren Buffett⁠ from the port of Odessa, on that cruise. Charlotte is passionate about unearthing ⁠⁠⁠the Story behind the Legend⁠⁠⁠, starting from the boyhood experiences that wounded and shaped him. In ⁠⁠⁠her blog⁠⁠⁠, she shares the inspiring story of how Ben Graham moved through setbacks and losses, left Wall Street behind, healed his wounds, and found fulfillment—not from accumulating wealth and possessions, but from creativity, connection, and love.

Visit Charlotte's blog: https://beyondbengraham.com/blog/

Benjamin Graham papers at Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library: https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_17325026/dsc#view_all

Blog post about the postcard: https://beyondbengraham.com/ben-graham-to-warren-buffett-the-postcard

Ben Graham's "Memoirs" link: https://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Graham-Memoirs-Dean-Street/dp/0070242690

A preview of the Story behind the Legend in “About Ben Graham": https://beyondbengraham.com/about-ben-graham/

Charlotte’s most popular blog post: Ben Graham & Warren Buffett’s Bond (By Ben’s Granddaughter): https://beyondbengraham.com/ben-graham-warren-buffett/

We discovered an amazing blog about Benjamin Graham, the legendary investor whose protégé was Warren Buffett. This blog is written by Ben Graham's granddaughter! Signe and Michelle explain more about who Ben Graham was and our takeaways from reading the granddaughter's blog, which you can check out here: https://beyondbengraham.com/

Signe and I are working hard on preparing an amazing set of future episodes for you so we just wanted to give you this quick update. Please feel free to share your questions and feedback via our social media channels such as at https://www.instagram.com/investingmastermindpodcast. Thanks and see you next Tuesday!

Signe and Michelle share their brokerage account experiences to help educate listeners about how these brokerages facilitate stock investments and/or trading. We relate some of the benefits and pitfalls of certain brokerage providers. Michelle mentioned some of her YouTube videos on related subjects which may provide further educational value: "Best S&P 500 Index Funds And Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)": https://youtu.be/v0t6q3LuGIQ and "Stock Market Order Types: Market Order, Limit Order, Stop-Loss, Stop Limit, Trailing Stop": https://youtu.be/8wkbuIwXisA

Building on what we ended the previous episode, Signe and Michelle discuss exit strategies for when we may sell stocks or assets. Signe explained an exit strategy from an angel investor. Michelle recounts how she made a gut decision to sell a certain stock, and in the short term it may have been the wrong decision, but maybe in the long term her reallocated funds may support a different investment. We reflected on how we should know what our personality types are so it can inform our investing temperament. We made reference to Ep 17: “When to sell stocks”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/when-to-sell-stocks-017/id1654230975?i=1000606261449. You can check out a few Myers Briggs/16 personality type resources such as:

Many investors are wondering if it's better to invest during a bull market and/or a bear market. Signe and Michelle weigh in on this question with our thoughts and experiences. We refer to our investing checklist series that starts at episodes 8 through 12 and the checklist can be downloaded at https://investionista.com/checklist/. Please forgive any audio issues you may hear. Enjoy!

Ever wondered if you are saving enough for your financial nest egg? Michelle and Signe share tips in how you can save up for retirement and optimize your tax savings. While these tips are for education purposes and are not financial advice, we believe in getting the most of retirement planning as early in life as possible. Michelle really likes Roth IRAs, HSAs, and Roth 401ks. Be sure to take advantage of any tax-advantaged investing accounts in your country!

There is so much free information online to help beginners find great companies to potentially invest in. Signe and Michelle share our favorite websites in the below show notes. We hope you'll join Signe’s webinar that is happening this Wednesday, September 20th 2023 at 2 pm ET / 8 pm Central Europe: https://investionista.com/webinar/.

Would you believe that investing success has more to do with one's mindset rather than IQ or mathematical aptitude? One's investing temperament is key to how investing decisions get made. In this episode, Signe and Michelle discuss limiting beliefs, gratitude, and vision board. By practicing certain techniques, we can improve our investing approach and generate better results overall.

Is the American stock market overvalued or fairly priced? Signe and Michelle discuss two indicators to give investors a high level idea of where the market stands right now. One is the Buffett Indicator which is the Wilshire 5000 (total United States stock market) over US GDP ratio. Another is the Shiller PE which is the Price to Earnings ratio based on the average inflation-adjusted earnings of the previous 10 years, AKA Cyclically Adjusted PE Ratio (CAPE). Please note at the time we recorded this podcast episode, the stock of Zoom was trading at a 3000+ PE ratio and most recently posted a PE of around 156.