Investment Philosophy
You've thought carefully about your finances, and now you're ready to put your savings to work. That's where I come in. But before we talk about specific investments, I want to share how I think—because if my approach makes sense to you, we'll probably work well together.
What Investing Means to Me Investing, at its core, is exchanging money today for more money in the future. Simple enough. But how you go about it makes all the difference. A lot of people try to guess what others will pay tomorrow for something they bought today. That's speculation. What I do is different—I try to understand what something is actually worth based on what it can produce over time. When I look at a stock, I don't see a ticker symbol or a price chart. I see partial ownership in a real business. If I buy shares, it's because I believe the company will generate cash over time, and what I'm paying now is less than what that cash is worth. It's not about timing the market or reacting to headlines—it's about value and long-term results. Because I'm usually investing with a long time horizon, I'd actually rather see prices stay reasonable—or even fall—while I'm still putting money to work. That might sound strange, but it's the same idea as buying groceries: you'd rather your favorite store have lower prices while you're still shopping. Sharp price increases might feel good in the moment, but they make it harder to invest well going forward. When I do invest, I focus. I don't believe in spreading money across dozens of companies just to check a diversification box. If I don't understand a business well or think it's only "okay," I pass. But when I find something solid, understandable, and attractively priced, I'm comfortable putting real capital behind it. You don't need hundreds of good ideas to invest well. A few clear, thoughtful decisions made at the right times can take you a long way.
How I Think About the Stock Market People often talk about "the market" like it's some kind of force—something to predict, follow, or fear. I don't see it that way. The market is just a place where prices are set. It's a mechanism, not a guide to what I should do next. The market reflects what people, in aggregate, are willing to pay at any given moment. That can be useful, but it can also be wildly misleading. Prices swing for reasons that have little to do with the actual value of a business—emotion, momentum, algorithms, short-term headlines. A stock trading higher doesn't necessarily mean the business is doing well. A falling price doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. I don't spend much time trying to predict where the market is headed. I don't think it's possible to reliably guess whether next year will be up 10% or down 10%. Fortunately, it doesn't matter. I'm not investing based on the direction of the market. I'm investing based on what individual businesses are worth and whether I can buy them at a discount. The stock market exists to serve investors, not instruct them. Its job is to offer prices—not to tell me what those prices mean. Sometimes those prices are fair, sometimes they're not. What matters is whether I can use the market to my advantage: buying when others are overly pessimistic, and avoiding the temptation to chase whatever's hot. Markets will always swing between fear and greed. My job is not to get swept up in either. If everyone is panicking, I try to stay calm. If everyone is euphoric, I try to stay cautious. And when the market offers a chance—when a good business is priced well below its value—I want to be ready to act. In short: I use the stock market, but I don't follow it. It's a tool, nothing more.
How I Evaluate a Business When I consider an investment, I'm looking at four things: whether I understand the business, whether it has a durable competitive advantage, whether the economics are attractive, and whether the people running it are trustworthy. Only after all of that do I think about price. Understanding the Business First, the business has to make sense to me. I want to understand how it works, how it makes money, what could threaten it, and whether it has a place in the world five or ten years from now. If I can't explain it simply, I probably won't invest. As Charlie Munger put it, you have to stay within your "circle of competence." That doesn't mean I need to know every technical detail—but I need to be confident I'm not stepping into something overly complicated or unpredictable. If I can't form a clear picture of where a company is headed over the next several years, I move on. Knowing the industry matters too. If I invest in one company, I keep tabs on its competitors. Without that context, it's hard to tell whether my investment is genuinely performing well or just benefiting from a rising tide. Competitive Advantage The next thing I look for is a durable competitive advantage—what Warren Buffett calls a "moat." In practical terms, I ask myself: if I had unlimited resources and a talented team, could I build a company that successfully competes with this one? If the answer is no, that's a good sign. I want to own businesses that are hard to disrupt. That could be because of strong brand loyalty, network effects, regulatory barriers, cost advantages, or some other structural edge. But whatever form it takes, the key is durability. I want to understand not just whether a business has an advantage today, but whether that advantage will hold up—or even strengthen—over time. There's no formula that tells you the width of a moat. You have to understand the business, the industry, and the forces at play. That kind of judgment doesn't show up in academic models, but it makes all the difference. Every good business will eventually attract competition—that's capitalism. So part of the challenge is figuring out why this particular company has defended its position, and whether those defenses will still matter in ten or twenty years. Is its success based on something lasting, or is it too dependent on a single product, a short-term lead, or the brilliance of current management? Business Economics Once I understand the competitive position, I look at economics—how efficiently the business converts resources into profits, and what kind of returns it generates on the capital it uses. Some businesses are simply better than others at turning a dollar of investment into long-term value. The best ones don't need much capital to grow, yet they consistently earn strong returns. They're not always the fastest growing or the flashiest, but over time they build real wealth for their owners. A truly exceptional business usually offers something customers genuinely want, see as hard to replace, and that isn't subject to price controls. Those qualities typically show up in the company's ability to raise prices without losing business—and in consistently high returns on capital. That's not something you can fake with clever accounting. Growth only creates value when the return on the capital being reinvested exceeds the opportunity cost of that capital. A company that has to keep plowing money in just to tread water isn't doing much for shareholders. On the other hand, a company that can grow without heavy capital demands, or one that throws off more cash than it needs and can redeploy it wisely, is far more attractive. I pay close attention to return on equity—especially when it's achieved without excessive debt. I'm less interested in headline earnings growth and more interested in how efficiently the business turns capital into profits. A company that doubles its capital base just to get a modest earnings increase hasn't accomplished much. Owner Earnings When I evaluate a business, I'm not just looking at reported earnings. What I really care about is how much cash the business generates that could, in theory, be taken out without hurting its ability to keep operating and stay competitive. That's what Buffett calls "owner earnings." This number isn't something you can pull straight from a financial statement. You have to make educated guesses, especially around maintenance spending. But even with imperfections, this approach gives a far better sense of economic reality than standard accounting metrics. A lot of people talk about "cash flow" as if it were just net income plus depreciation and amortization. But that ignores the fact that most businesses need to reinvest regularly just to maintain what they have. If you don't subtract maintenance capital spending, you're painting an overly rosy picture. This is especially important in asset-heavy industries. Those businesses may postpone investments for a year or two, but not indefinitely. Sooner or later, they have to spend the money or risk falling behind. I'm trying to understand how much real, usable cash a business generates—not just what the accounting statements say. That's what drives value. Management Good businesses can be ruined by bad decision-makers. I want to see management teams that are competent, honest, and clear about their priorities. If I don't trust the people running the business, I'm not interested—no matter how good the numbers look. Even a wide moat can be squandered by poor capital allocation or self-serving behavior at the top. I want to invest alongside managers who are rational and who treat shareholders as partners, not as a source of funds for empire-building. Price Finally, there's the question of price. A great business isn't necessarily a great investment if you pay too much. As Buffett says, "Price is what you pay; value is what you get." I try to figure out what a company is worth based on how much money it might realistically generate over time. If the price is well below that value, it's worth considering. If not, I move on. I consider alternative uses for the money—sometimes holding cash or safer investments is smarter than buying stocks that don't meet my criteria. I'm not trying to time the market or obsess over small price differences. But I need a margin of safety: a gap between price and value that leaves room for uncertainty and error.
How I Think About Risk A lot of what's taught about risk in finance courses doesn't match how I see the world. In textbooks, risk is often defined as volatility—the ups and downs of stock prices—and models are built around the assumption that markets follow neat statistical distributions. In the real world, markets are messier than that. Trying to force them into tidy mathematical boxes creates the illusion of precision, not real understanding. When I think about risk, I think about two things: the chance of permanent capital loss, and the chance of tying up money for years and getting too little in return. Either outcome is a problem. I want to invest in a way that protects and grows purchasing power over time. That means I care about real, after-tax results—what I'll actually be able to buy with the money when all is said and done. If an investment can't at least preserve purchasing power and earn a reasonable return on top of that, it's not worth doing. You can't measure this kind of risk with engineering precision, but that doesn't put it beyond judgment. When I evaluate an investment, I'm asking: How confident am I that I understand the long-term economics? Can I count on management to run the business well and allocate capital wisely? Will they treat shareholders as partners? Am I paying a price that leaves room for uncertainty? And what role will taxes and inflation play in shaping the real return? Over time, I've gravitated toward investments where I feel confident in getting a good result, rather than chasing something that might produce a brilliant result but probably won't. That means I lean toward simplicity and durability. Certain businesses come with more structural risk than others. If a company needs huge amounts of capital upfront and has to wait years to see a return, that's a risk. If it operates in a commodity industry where competitors can undercut prices, that's a risk—unless it's the low-cost producer. These aren't things you can capture in a formula. They require judgment. Risk isn't about volatility. It's about the chance of permanent loss or insufficient return—and it requires thought, not just math.
When I Sell Knowing when to sell is just as important as knowing what to buy. I don't sell simply because a stock has gone up, or because something has been in the portfolio for a certain length of time. If the business is still good, management is still trustworthy, and the valuation hasn't become absurd, I'm inclined to hold. The tax consequences of selling matter, and finding a truly good business is hard enough that I don't want to give one up without a strong reason. That said, there are circumstances where selling makes sense. If the original thesis turns out to be wrong—if I misunderstood the business or the competitive dynamics have shifted in ways I didn't anticipate—I'll sell, regardless of whether I'm showing a gain or loss. Holding onto a mistake just to avoid admitting error is a good way to make a bad situation worse. I'll also sell if the valuation becomes extreme. A wonderful business at a fair price is worth owning, but even the best company can become overpriced. If the market is offering me a price far above what I think the business is worth, and I have better uses for the capital, I'll take advantage of that. Finally, I'll sell if I find something significantly better. Capital is limited. If a new opportunity offers a materially better risk-reward profile than something I already own, it may make sense to reallocate. What I try to avoid is unnecessary activity. Trading costs money—in commissions, spreads, and especially taxes. More importantly, each transaction is a chance to make a mistake. I'd rather make fewer decisions and make them well.
Industries I Approach With Caution My approach is selective by design. Certain industries are difficult for me to evaluate with the confidence I require—not because they never contain good businesses, but because their economics or complexity make it hard to form a clear long-term view. Retail Retailing is one of the tougher industries to invest in with confidence. Many retailers enjoy impressive growth and high returns for a while, only to run into sudden trouble. That kind of rise-and-fall happens more often in retail than in most other sectors. The core challenge is that retail requires constant execution. You can't win once and coast. The competitive pressure is relentless: if something works, someone copies it. Customer preferences shift quickly. What worked last year might feel tired today. When I evaluate businesses, I try to distinguish between those where you need to be smart once—by securing a durable competitive edge—and those where you have to stay sharp every single day. Retail usually falls into that second category. Even excellent execution can be fleeting. Financial Services Banks, insurers, and other financial institutions are complex by design. They're deeply intertwined with the broader economy and heavily influenced by interest rates, regulation, and accounting choices that can obscure what's really going on. What looks like strong performance might simply be a function of leverage or an economic cycle turning in their favor. Even if I believe a financial institution is well-run, it's hard to see what's beneath the surface—and small misjudgments can have outsize consequences. I'd rather invest in businesses where the economics are more transparent. Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals face constant uncertainty—regulatory hurdles, patent cliffs, changing public policy. The economics of a drug can be fantastic for a time, but the window of profitability is often shorter than it appears, and the cost of developing the next product is staggeringly high and unpredictable. I don't have the expertise to evaluate drug pipelines or scientific trial data in a way that gives me a real edge. If I can't make a clear-eyed judgment about the sustainability of a company's earnings, I usually move on. Energy and Commodities Energy and other commodity-driven sectors require large amounts of capital, face volatile pricing, and are heavily influenced by geopolitical and environmental factors outside anyone's control. Even the best operators can't escape the basic economics: when prices are high, profits boom and new capital floods in; when prices fall, companies are left overbuilt and overexposed. That cyclicality makes it difficult to form a clear long-term view of value. I prefer businesses where value is driven by internal factors, not global commodity prices.
On Diversification Because I'm selective about industries and focus on businesses I genuinely understand, my portfolio won't look like an index fund. But over time, this process naturally leads to reasonable diversification—across industries, geographies, business models, and customer types. That diversification comes not from seeking it directly, but as a byproduct of finding high-quality businesses I'm comfortable owning. Some investors might prefer broader diversification, including exposure to sectors I tend to avoid. I understand that completely. If holding a portion of your portfolio in an index fund or broadly diversified ETF helps you feel more balanced, that's perfectly reasonable. For convenience, you can hold those investments in the same account you maintain with me. I only charge management fees on capital I've personally deployed on your behalf—not on cash or passive investments. That way, you have the freedom to complement my approach in whatever way suits your goals, with clarity and fairness around fees. My job is to make decisions within a framework I believe in and understand—and to be clear about what that framework includes and what it doesn't. Your job as an investor is to build an overall portfolio that fits your comfort level, goals, and time horizon. If that means complementing my approach with something else, that's not a sign of doubt—it's a sign of prudence.