Travis Wiedower

How are we supposed to ask questions when we don't know who you are or what your background is? Nate's post shed a little light but nothing to really inquire about.

Not surprisingly, that is some serious overlap between him and Mohnish.

Honestly, just go read through the OUTR thread on this forum (listed under its old ticker CSTR). It covers a lot of what you want to know. There are several write-ups on VIC as well that give a good background.

I like Google Docs--accessible from anywhere and numbers are updated automatically with the GoogleFinance formulas.

+1. I have no doubt there are some terrible public schools out there, probably concentrated in low income areas which just compounds the problem, but I went to a standard midwest school and have zero complaints. Were there crappy teachers and kids I didn't like? Well duh, but that's a good thing in moderation, not bad. In a similar vein, I think a lot of the benefits of college have nothing to do with the classes but I guess that's a different thread.

Very cool. Haven't seen anything like it anywhere else.

Do you know what he charges? I couldn't find any expense ratio on the site. Management fee is a scale based on AUM: 2% <$100k, 1.5% >$100k and <$1M, 1% >$1M. Qualified clients pay 10% of net profits.

What's your investment firm's name if you don't mind me asking?

I don't know if it's a repost but I haven't seen it so thanks.

Various companies produce primers (i.e. overviews) of industries that I've found helpful in the past. I was recently working through a 500 page guide on the oil and gas industry from Deutsche Bank that was very informative. I did a quick Google search for the automotive industry but the only one I saw was from 2006. I'm sure newer ones exist but even older stuff can give you good industry background. Besides that, researching specific companies will certainly help you understand the industry. I guarantee reading through the GM thread on this forum will get you to see what makes the auto industry tick.

Do any money managers incorporate a long-term performance-based fee into their structure? I've put thought into it but have never come up with a good way to do it.

Billionaire by Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars

Seems like you genuinely want the small firm while you're liking the big firm for the wrong reasons. Not that thinking of your resume is a bad idea, but it's just one item on the pro/con list and when you say you love the other role that should trump just about anything.

I'm still in my 20s but this has always been my outlook. Sure I've made plenty of mistakes but at the time I thought I was making the best decision and that's all I can do. Look back objectively, learn, do better the next time.

I played poker full-time for a couple years (and part-time for a few more) and there are a lot of things that carry over into investing. I think the #1 thing was coming to terms with variance. For a long time the ups and downs of poker affected my emotions and playing ability a lot, but eventually I got over it and stopped caring. All you can do is attempt to make the most +EV decision with the information you have and over time variance will even out. And thanks to the crazy amount of variance in poker, now I'm hardly bothered when my stocks drop due to Mr. Market being grumpy. I've really come to embrace variance actually. A guaranteed 10% a year would be boring, the ups and downs are what makes the ride fun.

I believe Buffett said 3 years is the minimum to start judging performance. More than that is definitely preferred. And if you're talking about all-time great investment records you really need multi-decade time frames IMO.

Also fully invested. I don't really understand people always keeping x% in cash (I mean, I understand why they do it, just doesn't make much sense to me). If I have enough viable opportunities I'll be fully invested. If something rises past fair value I may sell and sit on some cash until another opportunity arises. Just kind of ebbs and flows over time.

If you own stock A and you think your expected value (EV) is higher in stock B, sell A and buy B. If A's EV is higher than your alternative investments, stay with A. That's how simple it is in my mind.

Looks intriguing. Just signed up.