Top20 Newsletters
More than 20 of my favourite newsletters, but honestly this is a hard judgment. Don’t forget to look at the others.
Description & Steve’s take
A newsletter designed to help you improve your portfolio performance with tips on investing tips and on accounting red flags, and discussion of markets and stocks. Highly opinionated.
Hey, it’s my letter so it goes first, ok?
Description & Steve’s take
Weekly linkfest from one of the best value investing podcasters .
I always enjoy the links in Tobias’ weekly – usually something I would otherwise have missed and once a week is exactly the right frequency. I trust Tobias, and happy to rely on his judgment to pick an interesting selection and sometimes there is an interesting stock via his screener.
Description & Steve’s take
Asian value stocks from a Singapore-based analyst. He has worked as an analyst and co-portfolio manager in Asia for over a decade.
Selection of stock ideas, general commentary and even some forensic accounting tips. I have only sampled the free content but what I have seen is quality content with some deep dives on Asian stocks which I have not encountered before.
Description & Steve’s take
What happened in tech that actually mattered, and what did it mean? Once a week, I send an email newsletter to 170,000 people – I pick out the changes and ideas you don’t want to miss in all the noise, and give them context and analysis.
Best commentator in tech. He is ex Andreessen Horowitz and ex sell-side analysis so he is the go-to for any investor looking at tech (which means every investor). He has a brilliant Rolodex and an acute analytical brain. It’s so good that the paid version is a no-brainer for me.
Description & Steve’s take
Daily comment from one of the best finance journalists around
Sheer brilliance. How can someone write this well, provide thorough and insightful analysis and cover so much ground? Tell me that he has 20 MBAs working for him and it will make me feel better.
Description & Steve’s take
Newsletter written by Lillian Li, an ex-VC now based in China. Expect deep dives on Chinese venture capital, publicly traded names, and industry trends. As well as broader discussion of the Chinese investing and business environment.
David Einhorn said that he would not invest in China as he doesn’t have boots on the ground. We all need to be aware of China tech, even if we don’t want to invest directly, because the eco-system in some respects is better developed and lessons can be learned. Lillian is very credible in this respect and its a good letter.
Joseph’s take: Fascinating and in-depth insights. Not just on tech but on China’s business, political, and investing environment as a whole. I’d say this is essential reading for anybody interested in China. Great guest posts too.
Description & Steve’s take
A free weekly newsletter that highlights interesting SEC comment letters. Edwin Dorsey is an individual investor passionate about exposing bad companies. He also writes the short-focused Bear Cave newsletter:
An SEC comment letter re Philidor was the turning point for Valeant and this is therefore certainly something worth monitoring, but more important for short sellers than long only investors (unless one of your holdings gets covered). Some of the letters are hilarious when you see what some companies get up to.
Description & Steve’s take
Subscribe to Doomberg to feed your worst fears with the sweet nectars of penetrating logic and sharp visuals. Doomberg is especially useful on days when you are feeling confident about the future. Five minutes on Doomberg will set you straight.
This is Zerohedge done better. An incredibly amusing, insightful, fun romp through the world of investing with a cynical lens. I discovered through a recommendation and I open every email. It’s that good, although no longer free.
Description & Steve’s take
A technology and crypto focused newsletter written by Genevieve Roch-Decter – a former PM who now manages her own money.
I wish I wrote this well and in as fun a fashion. Good reason why Genevieve has 45k subscribers to her newsletter plus Instagram, TikTok and all the rest. I particularly like the way she analyses a subject and then summarises with her take and her recommended action. Good stuff.
Joseph’s take: A well researched letter that helps you understand the ‘why’ behind huge tech trends in the market. The free version features a lot of good industry breakdowns on sectors that divide opinion.
Description & Steve’s take
Former short seller talks about some long ideas as well as short selling opportunities and possible frauds.
Herb has an amazing network of contacts, writes brilliantly (he is a journalist after all) and comes up with some great themes in this hugely enjoyable newsletter. There is a free weekly option.
Description & Steve’s take
History is an invaluable tool at investor’s disposal. The goal of Investor Amnesia is to provide investors with key insights and lessons from our past in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Always like to support a new youngster and Jamie is a Brit made good in the US. I love financial history so no surprise that I would be enthusiastic about Jamie’s romps through past frauds (another favourite) and similar learnings. There is nothing new in finance!
Description & Steve’s take
Provides institutional-grade research, unparalleled training and tools, and the world’s best community of dedicated traders and investors. Think of us as the Seal Team of investing research. We trade real money, track and share our verified results in real-time, and provide you with everything you need to consistently win.
I like the Macro Ops approach and the newsletter doesn’t disappoint. Commentary here is on the free letter which is high quality, with interesting macro observations, focusing on for example why the stock market goes up, looking at liquidity indicators. Individual stock deep dives look back at the history of a growth business and ask what assumptions you would have needed to make at the time to get involved. No examples of the premium product though.
Description & Steve’s take
Trying to connect all the dots in business finance and economics
Paul is an experienced investor and writes a common sense analysis of what he thinks is interesting in the world. He is based in Bangkok so he has a slightly different perspective from the usual US commentators and I enjoy the letter.
Description & Steve’s take
One deep dive every month.
I haven’t subscribed to the paid product but friends tell me it’s extremely good and the quality of the content is excellent, particularly for a kid from Bangladesh. Also evidenced by what I have seen of the free material and his Twitter. Apparently good value too at $100 pa and with 1600 subscribers as of 01/22.
Description & Steve’s take
This newsletter is my personal exploration of the business of life and investing. I’m not smart enough to know the answers but I am pretty good a looking for teachers. I am happy to share their lessons and insights through profiles and conversations.
An enjoyable romp through a variety of subjects, sometimes cut off as the most interesting stuff is behind the paywall. Enjoyable, occasionally interesting snippet, and his review of Bill Miller was fascinating. One to watch.
Description & Steve’s take
A weekly wander through the world of finance by a highly experienced former financials hedge fund manager. Articles on public and private companies including analysis of IPOs.
This is a must not miss letter. I open it every week to check the subject, and mostly read it right through – it’s a 10 minute read and I always learn something. Marc explains topics clearly and does thorough research. One of the best letters for serious investors.
Description & Steve’s take
Each week, bestselling author and business professor Scott Galloway shares his take on tech and relationships in the digital economy.
Scott Galloway may be an academic but he offers a practical and market-savvy analysis of trends in tech which is always worth reading and is also enjoyable.
Description & Steve’s take
“Fringe Finance” is a collection of thoughts and investment decisions he makes personally that aren’t included in Twitter feed or on his podcast. The number one question he gets is how he is investing personally.
The free version is simply a round-up of the paid posts which isn’t that helpful. But someone sent me his list of 22 stocks for 2022 and it was definitely sensible, with modest valuation decent companies included as well as some speculative names and some shorts. An offer was enough to make me subscribe.
Description & Steve’s take
Bi-weekly newsletter with extracts from interesting often unusually sourced articles and links.
Steven runs an investment conference in New York each year which looks high quality and I never miss his letter. The links are invariably interesting, often from unusual sources that I would otherwise miss and the quotes summarise the key issues. A no-brainer.
Description & Steve’s take
Snippet Finance is a curation of the most interesting snippets on stocks, macroeconomics, investing and finance delivered in a short, easy to digest way. The aim is to inform and inspire.
Brilliant roundup of interesting and investing-relevant snippets of info, curated by my friend, Yuri, who is a class act. Best is his annual round up of the 52 best snippets of the year which was even recommended by Odd Lots.
Description & Steve’s take
Began as an internal daily memo at a multi-strategy hedge fund. The goal was to provide traders and analysts with a quick visual overview of key global macro trends
I subscribe to this and pay! For a while it was free with the Wall Street Journal but Lev decided to go independent again and I am always amazed at the depth and breadth of the commentary on global events and markets. Do not miss this, it’s a must have for any investor.
Description & Steve’s take
Weekly selection of 10 charts on the S&P500 and related topics (US equities in general – including sectors, styles, size, factors; macro issues affecting the stock market; sentiment/positioning/flows, issues in global equities; big themes and longer-term perspectives, and so-on).
Excellent round up of noteworthy market charts. This is one of those emails I try not to miss each week. But it’s more than just technical signals. He covers fund flows, exposure to equities by fund managers and has an array of proprietary indicators which often make me think. I haven’t seen the paid for service but given the quality of the free content, it’s bound to be good.
Description & Steve’s take
Swen publishes research reports on major listed companies globally. He also has a free newsletter – Weekly Dispatches. He issues ten research reports p.a to give readers enough ideas to work with.
High quality content at the ridiculously cheap €47 pa on the basis that Swen wants to build a large volume following who will never unsubscribe. He is playing the long game here and readers benefit. I am a subscriber and I would recommend the service.
Description & Steve’s take
Normally publish 3-6 times per week. 1 or 2 posts per week are public and free for all, while the rest are subscriber-only posts. Sometimes there are many things that we link to, and sometimes there are only a few. We aim for quality over quantity. Our hope is that the time that we save you, and the interesting things we find that you may not have found on your own, are well worth the $7 per month subscription for those that want access to everything. Joe Koster is a value investor that has been in the investing industry since 2005. I started the Value Investing World blog in 2007, which is the basis for what is now this newsletter. His day job is Founder and Portfolio Manager at Sorfis Investments in Charlotte, NC.
Daily dose of worthwhile investment links. No idea where he finds the time to listen to all these podcasts. Great selection of material which I would otherwise have missed. The free version is excellent as is the paid for. Highly recommended
Description & Steve’s take
Personal views on stocks, markets and life from Whitney.
Whitney Tilson ran a small hedge fund for many years, not entirely successfully but has found his metier as a paid newsletter writer. The paid version has stock tips and is expensive. The free letter is well written and contains sensible commentary and spotlights interesting situations. If you believed the blurb, Whitney should be a billionaire – it’s US marketing at its best. But Whitney (a friend of mine) is the nicest, most genuine person and even has some great advice on how to live a better life.
That’s our top picks, here are some others we love!
Description & Steve’s take
Bringing the best of the investment blogosphere to readers every day.
Great link fest of interesting articles. Only snag is time to consume them. Tadas has been doing this since 2015 and is a 25 year veteran so he knows what he is looking for and this is reliable.
Yuri’s take : Going since 2005 this daily email contains a delightful smorgasbord of links to articles, podcasts and posts across the financial web. Always a gem to be found for those who like to dig.
Description & Steve’s take
This is the newsletter formerly known as Snippets, which I wrote at Social Capital from 2015-2019, rebranded as Two Truths and a Take and now in its second season. This is a newsletter about news, ideas, and long-term trends in the innovation economy that I think are interesting and not obvious. Sometimes I get predictions wrong, and sometimes I get them really right. Either way, I promise that you’ll find them interesting, and you’ll learn something.
Great historical perspective and I particularly enjoy the reviews of 10 books – he must read a lot and recommends some really interesting books which I otherwise would not have thought of. I recently ordered the biography of John Law, as one example – he was the architect of the Mississippi Scheme, a fraud and bubble greater than the South Sea Bubble which is more commonly remembered.
Description & Steve’s take
Varied newsletter, no description, but author is well known.
Lots of crypto commentary and some interesting observations on for example how Larry Ellison at Oracle uses debt to fund his non-Oracle investments. Also has some postings on productivity. Part of a wider newsletter grouping Every. Thoughtful and thought provoking.
Description & Steve’s take
This is a semi-regular newsletter on thoughts, observations, and analysis around financial services and fintech. I find there’s a bit of a gap that falls somewhere in between financials equity research and fintech newsletters. The goal is to fill that gap and dig into an industry that is continually evolving, while in many ways continuing to stay the same. The goal of this newsletter is (a) to put my own thoughts on paper, (b) figure out what’s right, what’s missing, and what’s way off base, and (c) to engage with readers.
Commentary on banks and finance more generally. Seems to be pretty high quality but last post was December ’20. See Net Interest for similar content.
Description & Steve’s take
Something surprising about finance and tech to help you avoid boring people monthly.
The paid posts sounded more interesting. The free posts I read were not brilliant and the author quoted Benedict Evans in one. Quite simple to cut out the middleman and go direct. I wouldn’t bother with the free newsletter in spite of the allure of the title.
Description & Steve’s take
Helping educate Millennials on money mindset, personal finance, income generation, side hustles, passive income, and investing. Weekly market recap, stock recommendations, and investing tips.
Only found one free post and even the paid posts were somewhat irregular. What I read was a post on Bitcoin but it didn’t contain anything particularly new or insightful. Will give this one a miss.
Description & Steve’s take
A newsletter on anything that tantalizes the author in the markets.
I approached this with caution, after all, how much can a student know? Turns out quite a lot actually – he correctly identifies that Boohoo report free cash flow without including tax payments – a good spot. I was less impressed to read an “analysis” of The Hut Group which leant heavily on my video and blog without crediting me. Still, it’s worth encouraging youngsters to get involved in investing, so why not give it a try.
Description & Steve’s take
Competitively advantaged businesses, operating in growing industries, run by uniquely capable leadership.
Another of these letters publishing superficial “analysis” of businesses with no real financial data or serious attempt at understanding valuation. The author has been an infrequent publisher, so perhaps I am being uncharitable. He has an interesting Twitter account. To me this underlines how difficult it is to write genuinely useful, interesting and novel analysis. Curating tweets and articles is less difficult but still useful.
Description & Steve’s take
Weekly Newsletter
Only available to terminal users or Bloomberg subscribers, this is kind of an oddball (sorry), as there isn’t really a free newsletter option, although the podcast is free. The letter is in the same style as the podcast, original, thought-provoking and quality commentary.
Description & Steve’s take
Newsletter about newsletters – worth reading if you are launching one.
This must be one of the earliest newsletters on Substack, but the latest edition I could find was February, 2021. Lack of current output may not restrict the utility to someone wanting to understand the space, but it loses points.
Description & Steve’s take
20 years in the markets, specialising in hedge funds, macro and short selling. Taking a break to write newsletters instead.
Russell Clark was a ballsy hedge fund manager and ended up being forced to quit. It’s not a profession for the brave. I was therefore curious to read the letter, having enjoyed the fund letters. And they are good – the free letter is the paid with a 2 week delay. But you need to subscribe to encourage him to continue.
Description & Steve’s take
Each week they send a letter to thousands of investors covering the most interesting charts and themes in markets.
Want to know when there was last a larger or longer drawdown in the S&P? Charlie’s your man. Incredibly popular, as stats are LOVED by market participants. I am no exception, and it is kind of interesting that February 24, 2022 had seen a 14.6% drawdown over 51 days which was the largest since March 2020. Cute, and fun, but it’s noise. I shouldn’t read this stuff and certainly shouldn’t let it affect my sentiment towards the market. Fun, but distracting.
Description & Steve’s take
Chartbook is a regular newsletter featuring writing, statistics, charts, links, book recommendations and more from Adam Tooze. Chartbook started out, as the name suggests, as a series of charts. But, more and more, I have found myself writing essays that address both topical and historical issues, unearthing pieces of historical research I have not published elsewhere and using the newsletter as a motor to drive new attempts to make sense of things.
A rather odd combination of long form essays and short links. The long form essays are well written and the ones I looked at focused on economic and political (US) issues. The links were rather eclectic. I haven’t seen the paid version but while enjoyable, from the perspective of improving my investing skills, I can give this a pass. Although I note that John Authers is a big fan.
Description & Steve’s take
One detailed note a month covering a Small-Cap UK stock with excel models including valuation / analysis, answers to the most pertinent questions from management / IR and disclosure of trades and intentions.
Not a high price to pay at £70 as I write and some under-covered stocks mentioned but without some access to free material, it’s impossible to judge. Gets further marked down by having no name and no bio.
Description & Steve’s take
Morgan Housel wrote the 1m seller The Psychology of Money and this blog is similar, with contributions from others also.
Morgan Housel’s pithy writings, often on behavioural finance and life in general, are always interesting and easy to read. I particularly like his roundup of books for the year. This is one of these letters you should have, even if it missed the top 20 cut.
Description & Steve’s take
The Compounding Capital Review provides analysis and commentary on high quality businesses and the industries in which they operate. Author is a fundamental analyst focused on compounding machines.
Some decent albeit quite basic analysis of some well-known names, but last post was May, 2021, so again a letter which you can easily pass on.
Description & Steve’s take
Articles on a range of investing subjects from a well-known author and investment advisor.
Author is a common sense value investor and is full of sensible advice, much of which might have cost you money in the pandemic, but may prove valuable longer term. This letter would be particularly useful for less experienced investors.
Description & Steve’s take
A link fest type newsletter, curated by a likeable Aussie. I’ll be curating, compiling, and expanding on resources related to the many facets of intelligent investing. From early-stage venture to late-stage private equity and everything in between, with a focus on deconstructing mental models, identifying business strategies, and showcasing the frameworks of recurring success. Whether it’s essays, books, or videos, if it’s useful and benefits you, I’ll include it.
If you like links, this is a decent newsletter, but I prefer Joe Koster’s daily version and there are only so many that you can use. This has an Asia-Pac focus so less interesting to me. A decent introductory article again with an Asia bias and a rundown of his podcast.
Description & Steve’s take
Long-form primers and actionable research focused on semiconductors.
I probably amn’t the best judge as my total knowledge of the industry would barely fill a side of A4, but this is someone who has some sector specific knowledge although from an analytical not an industrial perspective. Paid tier might be more informative.
Description & Steve’s take
The rather ambitious strapline says “Stay informed on everything happening in financial markets.
Read by thousands of institutional and retail investors.” It’s a daily market roundup – saves you buying a WSJ subscription perhaps, but actually no harm in that.
US oriented roundup of moves in the US markets and the 10 yr and Bitcoin, a roundup of major events, a few snippets and the odd tweet. Pretty harmless and probably useful for beginners or those more casually involved in markets.
Description & Steve’s take
The #1 threat to your investment strategy is not being able to see the forest for the trees.
Another crossover professional letter, where an independent research firm, selling into the institutional community, offers an entry level product for the retail market. Luke has a comprehensive knowledge of macro and an ability to talk through complex issues like the influence of petro-dollar demand on the currency. The real value is in the paid version which I haven’t read but have seriously considered,. Free weekly is simply a summary of new videos on the YouTube channel and interesting tweets – still useful, as Luke is a high quality commentator.
Description & Steve’s take
Welcome to Gavin Baker’s Newsletter by me, Gavin Baker. CIO, Atreides Management. Former Portfolio Manager, Fidelity OTC fund.
I would love to read this but he hasn’t published. Come on Gavin.
Description & Steve’s take
Charts and analysis of upcoming trends.
This was new to me but I trust Yuri’s judgment and enthusiasm. The initial welcome email talked about the explosion in online dating among older people – I mean 70 years old! No idea if this will improve my investing, but should make me a more interesting dining companion.
Yuri’s take: I look forward to this monthly most of all. Glimpse gives you exploding trends before everyone else discovers them (not boring ones; think alcohol gummies, limb extension surgery and veneers). The way they are described is my favourite part – I always learn something new and surprising. If you sign up you get a few glimpses for free but their value, especially for investors, makes it worth paying.
Description & Steve’s take
Weekly newsletter promotes video content on the site.
I loved Keith McCullough’s book and he offers a pretty unusual product – an institutional style research offer spanning macro and individual stocks. I sometimes tune in to the webinars and the newsletter is basically an alert to what they have been saying. Bewildering array of subscriptions.
Description & Steve’s take
Long short ideas.
Long short ideas but last post was from mid-2021. Helios Capital appears to be a family office with private investments and this appears unconnected? Didn’t really dig any further, as it wasn’t likely to be fruitful.
Description & Steve’s take
Technologist and investor dedicated to diving into the technologies behind today’s hypergrowth companies. An exploration into the industries, architectures, and product lines of hypergrowth tech companies, overlaying what I think the financials are telling us, and where the platforms & mgmt are pointing to next.
Tech expert explains his views of the technology behind some of his investments. This is ideal for philistines and old folks like me who can sometimes struggle with the latest tech concepts. I have only reviewed a few of the free posts but will consider upgrading.
Description & Steve’s take
Evaluates companies based on a few key principles and then holds investments over a long time horizon.
Discloses his stock portfolio built around thesis that digitalization of our world is 10% complete and this megatrend will continue for at least another decade. Seems to have stopped writing, so low score.
Description & Steve’s take
Goal is to tell you everything you need to know about money—all in one place, and without the hype and hollow promises that characterize so much financial writing.
I was lured into this by an article written by Charles Ellis. Funnily enough, it wasn’t that interesting, albeit full of common sense. When I explored further, there are many writers contributing. I found quite an interesting piece on the difference between young and old investors but mainly this looks to be generally received wisdom and more suitable for the beginner.
Description & Steve’s take
Some weeks we will pound the table, other weeks will tell you which way the risks are skewed. Consequently, we endeavor to inform your investment process continuously to help you make high probability outcome investment decisions.
From the free content posted, he can do some serious macro analysis, although the free previews of the weekly-ish posts didn’t particularly inspire me to want to read more. Hard to judge when there is little on offer to peruse, a mistake in my view. At $999 pa, perhaps they don’t want to give too much away.
Description & Steve’s take
3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider
If you can glean a productivity tip, it’s more time for reading, right? This one from the author of Atomic Habits is amazingly good – if this doesn’t make you think harder about how to achieve your goals, you aren’t listening. It would be in the top 5 if this wasn’t an investing list. Brilliant!
Description & Steve’s take
This newsletter contains longer form thoughts from @keubiko on Twitter. Articles focused mainly on busting myths and fads – with a special interest in meme stocks and insider activity. At the time of writing, there hasn’t been a new post since June.
Gets a big build-up from QTR, and some sensible comments attributed. He is still active on Twitter, quite amusing and good following.
Joseph’s take: It’s a real shame this isn’t published anymore. The description says it’s “Entertainment, sarcasm, and sass only. NOT to be taken seriously”. However, that far undersells the quality of the author’s initial posts. The post on Clover Health is particularly good as the author shows the simple due diligence he used to bust a Jim Cramer fuelled rumour.
Description & Steve’s take
Joachim Klement is an investment strategist based in London working at Liberum Capital. Throughout his professional career, Joachim focused on asset allocation, economics, equities and alternative investments. But no matter the focus, he always looked at markets with the lens of a trained physicist who became obsessed with the human side of financial markets.
A daily email is a lot of work and these little nuggets of investing wisdom, often behavioral, are well written and relatively useful. If you are new to investing, some of this may well be helpful and the snack-sized portions make them easy to assimilate.
Description & Steve’s take
A newsletter about how risk drives our world, the macro economy, markets and pensions.
Another economics newsletter. Nothing bad about this but I didn’t see anything new or special that made me want to subscribe. I am sure it’s worthy enough and it’s well written and sensible.
Description & Steve’s take
Developed from award-winning market research, The Lead-Lag Report gives you powerful market insights to improve your long-term investment strategy. This report combines detailed risk analysis with tactical investment opportunities and delivers those insights daily.
Sensible round up of markets and macro events, interpretation of Fed signals and the like. Not room for too many of these in my regular consumption but I like to have access to a couple in case something happens and the market reacts in a way I hadn’t anticipated. This report is one of those I use for this purpose.
Description & Steve’s take
Investing & business, science & technology, and the arts. Or as the author puts it, “like we’re sitting in a pub somewhere, and I’m talking about various things that interest me or I’ve learned recently”. The writer recently featured on Jim O’Shaughnessy’s podcast.
Interesting and eclectic collection of commentary and observations on life and markets. Joseph loves it. I am not quite as enthusiastic.
Joseph’s take: An entertaining and insightful read every time. In my eyes, the author is a deep business thinker who also realises there’s more to life. This adds a lot of value to his analysis and gives a really nice feel to his writing. The newsletter is free with a ‘buy me a scotch’ option. It’s the first Substack I’ve ever paid for.
Description & Steve’s take
Stocks and investing newsletter: I am an investor in Global Equities. After more than 10 years working at institutional fund managers, I started managing money for myself and some friends/family in 2019. I generate returns mostly through owning great businesses over long periods. Since 2008 I have compounded my personal capital by 16% a year on average; my main long-only strategy has gained 83% from the start of 2019 (as of August 2021). I believe in intellectual openness and share most of my research online.
I read a few of these letters in late October’21 and they were all devoted to results from major companies. The analysis was superficial (but most sellside reports are much longer and don’t add much more) but there were clear recommendations and some interesting stocks beyond the obvious big tech (Facebook, Alphabet) and big financials (Visa, JP Morgan); for example, BAT and property portal Right move, both U.K. stocks. More detail in the authors Seeking Alpha feed.
Description & Steve’s take
Studying the most exciting companies in the world. Mostly Big Tech, SAAS, Cloud, Fintech, Consumer and E-Commerce platforms, etc.
I looked at this because the team gave it a high score and I was pretty impressed. Leans heavily on NZS Capital output (not known) but some pragmatic and sensible analysis. Portfolio had 26 positions as of 11/21 and FB and GOOG were 37% and Sea Ltd and AAPL another 17%. Next came Evolution Gaming (interesting stock) and AMZN 12% – so highly concentrated and will have had a tough ride in early 2022. That will likely continue.
Joseph’s take: Very insightful write-ups on SAAS and tech companies shaping the modern economy. The author has an impressive ability to find the few important factors that drive returns. Leading to posts that are highly readable and very valuable.
Description & Steve’s take
The idea is to take all the key lessons that I’ve learned about money, investing, and life and distill them into a simple daily graphic that can be consumed in 5 seconds or less.
Folksy wisdom in a quick and easy to read graphic. You won’t learn much but you may be reminded of the odd truism. Harmless and quick – takes longer to delete than to read.
Description & Steve’s take
Marginal Revolution is the blog of Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, both of whom teach at George Mason University. Marginal Revolution has consistently been ranked as the best or one of the best economic blogs on the web, but it is more (and less) than that, also representing the quirks of its authors.
Tyler Cowen has a massive fan club, but I am not a member. He is super smart and value-added but I have not enjoyed his output (notably the podcast) nearly as much as some of my friends. Not sure why, but for me this is missable. But I don’t want you to miss out on something good simply because I am not enthusiastic.
Yuri’s take: This is regarded as the best economics blog out there. Yet it is so much more than that. The interests are very broad and there is always something insightful to be found. Their assorted links posts are also some of the best out there.
Description
In depth analysis of financial topics and due diligence on trending stocks.
Joseph’s take: An absorbing collection of back tests and other pieces of data-driven analysis. The writer has a knack for finding interesting angles and seems very skilled at bringing the data together. An enjoyable read.
Description & Steve’s take
Newsletter to share some of the more interesting and unconventional research the analyst likes to do in his spare time. Focus on financial plumbing and the mechanics of the monetary system from both a modern and historical perspective.
Spotlight on some of the plumbing in the financial system is at times fascinating and sometimes really difficult, mind-bending almost, for a lay person like me. I have tried to pick up knowledge of the banking system for decades, but it’s really hard. This guy helps.
Description & Steve’s take
Occasional investing thoughts from a successful real estate entrepreneur. Recent posts largely focused on opportunities in the Cannabis sector, in which the author is heavily invested.
Author decided to exit Twitter after seeing the stock based comp dilution. I like it when people tell you about their mistakes – it shows honesty and I like learning from others’ mistakes as well as my own. I am less keen on the cannabis narrative than Joseph.
Joseph’s take: Interesting thoughts and background on the growing Cannabis sector. Helped by the author’s location in California and personal network. Not a must read but interesting and enjoyable nonetheless.
Description
Contrarian investing and stock research
Will’s take: Profiles of famous contrarian and deep value investors such as Walter Schloss, combined with fundamental analysis of deep value special situations. One recent example profiled is Card Factory, where Michael Burry’s Scion Capital is on the register.
Description & Steve’s take
Long term investor, stocks, growth, happiness is what it says. Not sure what that means.
Deep dives not that deep. Interesting tweets included which is a nice way of offering curated content. I didn’t agree with the “analysis” – all about the business model, little on the numbers, eg “This is a bet on a product visionary at the helm of a company with an unknowable, potentially massive, total addressable market”. Let’s see the performance.
Description & Steve’s take
Business breakdowns, by the numbers
Company analysis but now appears to have been discontinued. Author had a spell at a sellside firm and then a spell as a blogger which is good practice but not a substitute for working for an asset manager. Not sure why he didn’t continue and try to build a subscriber base as some people enjoyed it. Some stocks still in the archive.
Description & Steve’s take
He noticed a paucity of quality short selling content and this is his effort to litter the universe with what he hopes you’ll recognise as quality content. Not just shorts though.
It’s not just shorts though and when I saw he recommended a research service run by someone I think is clueless, I found it hard to take seriously. You might do better. But I doubt it. Nothing for 6 months then something in February 22.
Description & Steve’s take
Venture capitalist since 2010 shares unfiltered thoughts in the form of a weekly essay on the next big thing across these areas such as the climate crisis, access to education, societal inequality, and the intersection of healthcare, biology, and computing , as well as trends in consumer behavior, business models, venture capital and more.
I was very impressed when I read his article on the next big thing in 2022 – 50 of technology’s top thinkers weigh in on the year ahead. Impressed because its a challenging title and because to get 50 people’s views is a big deal. And I like this sort of curation, although I have no idea how expert the 50 thinkers are (but some big names included). Predictable was lots on Web 3.0, less so digital identity, the democratisation of angel investing (good luck!), decarbonisation. I haven’t read many of his other posts, but worth subscribing for this alone. My favourite tech letter remains Benedict Evans.
Description & Steve’s take
This newsletter is Mike’s “creative outlet” to write about tech, investing, corporate governance, and other topics he finds interesting. He is a former activist investor.
Pretty interesting analysis in the free content, albeit not a lot of financial meat on the bones, which is a criticism I would level at many of these articles. Again, not being able to see the paid content makes a proper assessment more difficult and marks might well have been higher.
Description & Steve’s take
Writes about prominent CEOs
I have known the author through Twitter for some time and he produces some really interesting and thought-provoking analysis so I was excited to see the newsletter. It’s good, with quotes from letters, analysis of CEO letters and an interesting analysis of Twitter’s new CEO. I would much rather someone wrote something fab 10x each year than something average 50x and I had to dig out the gems, but I wish he wrote more often. It’s a great format!
Description
Weekly market recap of charts, memes, hot takes, blogs, and a crowd sourced portfolio. Straight from one of Fintwit’s most popular sources of market opinions and jokes.
Joseph’s take: Great for catching up on stock market sentiment and having a few laughs on the way. Light hearted and easy reading with the occasional slam-dunk opinion piece. It isn’t deep analysis, but it isn’t supposed to be.
Description & Steve’s take
A short newsletter every morning with handpicked, deeply researched and jargon-free business news straight to your inbox. We firmly believe that students and professionals deserve to learn from the real world. Sadly, mainstream media no longer satiates this need. And TBH, they’re so damn boring! We are a new-age, research-based, no non-sense kinda platform that lives and breathes to make business news more understandable (and fun).
Commentary on Indian stocks. Very limited universe for me today as a foreign investor. I tend to invest there via funds (it’s one of my biggest country exposures and has been for a long time). But can be quite interesting comments on individual industries for example paint prices headed up is significant for long term grower Asian Paints but almost equally relevant to Sherwin Williams. Paint is an overlooked quality industry to invest in.
Description & Steve’s take
A global macro trading blog with an emphasis on human behaviour and reflexivity. Carl has traded professionally for 9 years, 3 working with a long volatility biased relative value arbitrage fund as global macro strategist and trader.
I was getting excited about this, but he hasn’t posted since 2017! Waste of time – why set up a Substack?
Description & Steve’s take
Welcome to Rudy Havenstein. He/Haw/Xi. Reichsbank President 1908-1923 Uncategorizable. Posts are solely for his own amusement. His way of joking is to tell the truth.
Rudy produces a high output Twitter feed with some very amusing and some shrewd observations and perhaps will be persuaded to produce a more regular newsletter. So far his main output has to complain that Twitter took him down. Waiting and hoping. This would be a good one.
Description & Steve’s take
Seeking the world’s secrets. The two most important elements of an investment for me are:
1) intense customer love (which itself is a function of a company’s agility) and 2) an expanding moat trajectory. I like ideas that don’t make sense and aAm looking to work at a public equities fund. Currently work in PE.
Doesn’t appear to be maintained, last post was 1/21 which is a relief as again it’s a long exposition of the business model with no numbers and for me, I would rather read the 10-K to find out what it does or look at the website as most of these are tech businesses.
Description
Analysis, commentary, occasional original reporting and curated links of Chinese and English language news and reports.
Written for; diplomats, policymakers, investors, executives, journalists & academics Access to an elite community of China watchers through regular online discussions and a Sinocism Discord server.
Will’s take: China coverage delivered 4 times per week. Would be useful for anyone invested or looking to invest in China, seeking detailed insight into the political, economic and cultural landscape. However, China is so opaque, not sure that this newsletter would give me any more confidence to invest. $15/month for the content with the first few paragraphs available free.
Description & Steve’s take
A newsletter is to highlight Guy Spier’s journey – to draw out some of the lessons, to grow the ecosystem and to celebrate.
If I only posted once every six months, my articles would be a lot better. And I would have hoped for more from Guy Spier. It’s not that it’s bad, but he has built up a huge fan club and I wonder about someone who has a “hedge fund” and doesn’t short, who doesn’t charge management fees, but charges a performance fee with a 6% hurdle – surely that means raking in fees for beta, which makes him smarter than I am.
Will’s take: Guy highlights books, articles and conversations that have caught his attention and then draws them together in a warm and self-deprecating prose. The eclectic nature of the content, from Charles Dickens to Reinhardt & Rogoff makes for a thought provoking mix.
Description & Steve’s take
Get the unfiltered views on macro, geopolitics and markets. The letter will always include actionable ideas
I was pointed here by John Authers, always a good indicator. His second piece (Feb ’22) included an analysis of the composition of the CPI basket, noting that the weighting of used cars was going up, which means an acceleration in inflation now, but likely a deceleration in later quarters. I like this sort of quite geeky but useful stuff.
Description & Steve’s take
The Bear Cave provides analysis, commentary, and curated links on the short world. Every Sunday the free newsletter covers new activist short campaigns, SEC Enforcement actions, and shares some exclusive research.
Remarkable young man digs out dirt on stocks that others have missed. And even shares some of this for free. Great!
Yuri’s take: This letter is full of useful analyst resources and short ideas. The free version has a great list of management resignations and short reports.
Description & Steve’s take
The Diff is a daily newsletter covering inflection points in finance and technology. I aim to answer a simple question: in a few centuries, when historians reach a consensus on what was happening today, what will they believe?
A random round up of news stories and thoughts which I usually enjoy and learn something from. Last issue I read had a discussion of FedEx framed around the political decisions necessary to chart USPS’ future. Links have a useful and informative explanation and there are book recommendations (the FedEx article was based on a book). Lots of newsletters are curated links and it’s hard to do this well.There is some thoughtful analysis here and I suspect the paid edition will be popular.
Yuri’s take: Reading Byrne Hobart just makes you automatically smarter. His real magic is akin to mathematics – he observes businesses, generalises their features as concepts, and then works with these concepts to build useful theories. It is a paid newsletter but the return on investment is outstanding.
Description & Steve’s take
Maximize Returns in Volatile Markets – consistently win in the stock market and minimize risk regardless of market conditions. Laudable objective.
This is another of those crossover professional letters where an independent research firm, ordinarily selling into the institutional community, offers an entry level product for the retail market. I like Michael’s lead-lag approach to see which sectors are doing well or badly in the market as there is a lot of information here. But as ever with these letters, the real value is in the paid version which I haven’t read.
Description & Steve’s take
A newsletter on Modern Monetary Theory.
Hardly surprising that this newsletter is mainly propaganda for Modern Monetary Theory. And if you are a believer, you will love anything the High Priestess of MMT writes. If you are a thinking person, not so much. Given the inherent simplicity of the theory, it surprises me that the proponents often think they are super smart and that sceptics just don’t understand. This is more religion than economics and it’s safe to pass on the letter unless you are a member of the cult.
Description & Steve’s take
Alf, the former Head of a $20 bn Investment Portfolio at a large bank and a passionate global macro investor, writes this to provide you with financial education, unique macroeconomic insights and actionable investment ideas.
Explanations of macro variables in plain English which must surely be a good thing. This looked from a brief examination to be the sort of letter that students should read as a supplement to textbooks. I didn’t learn anything new in a brief look, but probably would in due course. Yield curve inversion commentary just the sort of thing I would have found useful and would have saved me a lot of time reading up on.
Description & Steve’s take
Our goal is to bring valuable information straight to your inbox
Always some interesting charts on this unusual site, now mainly paid but still with some useful material in the free version.
Yuri’s take: As market structures have changed, paying attention to technicals is becoming even more important. This site provides a supercharged twitter-like feed of charts, indicators and snippets from sell-side that does a pretty good job of surveying the short term market direction (and calling it at that). Although the service is now paid you can still get a free daily email.
Description & Steve’s take
This newsletter sifts through the best ideas of others (fund managers, activists, FinTwit, investing blogs, insiders) and uncovers the highest quality ones for you to look at.
Good idea for those with limited time to sift through letters. The problem with this sort of curation is that it’s easy to be per/dissuaded by the strength of the curator’s argument. But in a noisy world, it’s nice to have some help filtering ideas.
Description & Steve’s take
Rational Reflections is a free newsletter covering current events, investing, personal finance, book reviews, and other topics of general interest.
Great twitter feed also, this value investor has owned Berkshire for over 20 years, is full of common sense, and reads a lot. He shares links and book reviews. Worth subscribing.
Description
A weekly summary of quotes from earnings calls. Grouped by theme and industry.
Joseph’s take: A handy and well-organised collection of quotes from business leaders on macro and micro issues. Useful as a way to understand market and industry segment. As well as being a window into the way different CEOs think and express themselves.
Description & Steve’s take
Published weekly, it features my new posts, as well as 5 – 10 tidbits and snippets (aka. tippets) from around the web with my notes and analysis. Launched in 2017, you’ll get a lot about commerce, technology, the future of work, as well as some fun pieces here and there to mix it up. My goal is to share thoughts on topics I find interesting and get feedback to further sharpen my thinking and expand my frame of reference.
Last published in June so I didn’t spend too much time on this but some interesting links and commentary.
Description & Steve’s take
This is an irregular newsletter with Interesting things from around the world and other people.
Excellent collection of random links – brilliant sort of thing to dip into when you are bored or have some spare time and find something you would not otherwise have read. Not investing per se, but investors need to read widely and consume thought provoking content.
Description & Steve’s take
Another newsletter from Callum Thomas with a selection of charts on equities with an S&P500 focus. It’s a juniorised version of the institutional chart offering.
Another excellent round up of noteworthy market charts and again one of those emails I try not to miss. And like the weekly version, it’s more than just technical signals. He covers fund flows, exposure to equities by fund managers and has an array of proprietary indicators which often make me think. I haven’t seen the paid for service but given the quality of the free content, it’s bound to be good.
Description & Steve’s take
High-quality equity research with deep dive company analysis and complete portfolio transparency from an analyst with 10+ years of buyside experience.
The substack has limited free content which is not enough to assess the letter’s quality, but luckily I have followed Alex for a couple of years and some of his past writing is fantastic. I haven’t read his paid letter so cannot judge value for money, but I know Alex and would be amazed if there were not some interesting analysis and some money making ideas.
Description & Steve’s take
VC at Banana Capital writes about tech and knows what he is talking about.
Not that many posts but you can always look at his Twitter where he posts his portfolio which is an unusually brave move by either super smart or stupid people. Detailed write-ups of tech companies improved my understanding.
Description & Steve’s take
An investment ideas and research newsletter dedicated to identifying mispriced or undervalued companies and situations in the public equity markets. It applies a private equity approach to public equity investing, and employs an analytical framework that is differentiated to conventional sell side research in three respects: Valuation. Downside Risk Assessment. Asymmetric Risk/Return Profile. focuses primarily on the European and US equity markets, seeking out opportunities with 50% – 100%+ upside typically among small and mid-capitalisation companies. Target equities are typically underfollowed, unpopular or misunderstood names, rather than widely-followed large-caps or “media darling” stocks.
I am rather nervous of commenting on a stock picking newsletter without spending enough time following the recommendations and seeing if they work. But the analysis looks solid and this would be a helpful letter to subscribe to, if only to access a back library of content. It saves doing all the work yourself, and will raise issues you might not have thought of or can highlight data to verify your own analysis against. Some of the analysis is very perceptive – should make it into the top 20+
Description & Steve’s take
The new home of Andrew Rangely’s popular Yet Another Value Blog. Featuring Andrew’s thoughts on quirky investing opportunities and special situations. As well as a paid service with extra write-ups and researched investment ideas.
Andrew is a nice guy and I have been on his podcast. His Substack has a premium version which I have not read. He also posts research sponsored by Regus, doing deep dives into an industry – these could be helpful if you are looking for primers on a new industry; it’s opinionated which is of course a potential risk. And he does a podcast and runs money. I honestly don’t know how he finds the time. Helpful, I would like to check the premium content.
Joseph’s take: Very enjoyable and useful thoughts on deals and special situations as they unfold. Strong analysis written in a no-nonsense and often entertaining way. Making for a great read with the potential to spark actionable ideas.
Description & Steve’s take
Its strapline “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero” tells you all you need about its approach.
ZeroHedge has its critics but it often uncovers breaking stories and as long as you understand the super cynical, often very bearish approach, you can interpret the commentary appropriately.
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