Friday, March 11, 2022

Books #17: Value Investors by Ronald Chan

I read an interesting book in 2021 simply called, "The Value Investors" by Ronald Chan. Well the full title is apparently - The Value Investors: Lessons from the World's Top Fund Managers

This book is unique as it introduced the many value investors that we may know but had never been featured prominently. People like Irving Kahn, Walter Schloss and a few Asian value investors including Singapore's own Teng Ngiek Leng, founder of Target Asset Management. 

There were many snippets and many lessons. I find the Asian lessons particularly useful as I could relate better.

Teng shared the importance to be flexible and be contrarian. This was echoed by Howard Marks who famously coined Second Level Thinking, which needs to be different but better. But Teng was able to connect that with his Asian experience, which brings the point home in a unique perspective for me. Another Asian value shared about the importance of knowledge and focus. We can only capture opportunities with knowledge which we have gained with a lot of experience and focus which is required because the opportunity will pass quickly in the markets. Otherwise, opportunities are simply easily missed.

One of the best quotes was from another Asian investor:

I believe that every human being has an artistic gene and in his or her lifetime can create at least one masterpiece that is globally competitive. However, to become a professional, you need to replicate your talent again and again if you are to have more than one masterpiece. It is the same as investing. You can be passionate about it but if you want to become a professional investor, you need to develop a system and have the talent to find good investments repeatedly.

Overall, a great read, do pick it up in 2022!


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