Marketing Masterstrokes, Investing in Lego, Guy Spier's letter
Week #4 - We don't have to solve the problems but neither can we disengage
Hello everyone
I am sending this week’s letter on a Monday only because we had the World Cup finals yesterday and I wondered if anyone would bother opening emails. I hope you enjoyed the game yesterday irrespective of the result.
Guy Spier’s Newsletter
Guy Spier is one of the fund managers that I deeply admire and follow. He sends out a half-yearly newsletter and the latest one came out last week. You can sign up for it here. Here are some of the interesting things from the letter -
Guy has investments in two businesses in India - CARE ratings and IEX. He is a truly long term investor. He has been holding these for a few years and is focusing on the risks and the long term growth of these businesses. He is taking efforts to ensure that the businesses are going in the right direction. For example, he is writing a letter to the right set of authorities requesting changes in the credit ratings industry in India.
Guy shares a podcast between Luca Dellana and James where Luca differentiates between reproducible and non-reproducible strategies. Reproducible strategies are those that can survive over the long term vs non-reproducible ones that only work in the short-term. The crux is that you focus on doing things that absolutely work over the long term and get rid of everything else. Short term strategies that do not work over the long term will make you feel stupid in the short term but thats how its meant to be.
Having the courage to suck in public - basically do things in public even when you are not great at it. Like me writing this newsletter to you or my YouTube channel. You may not be great but it still can provide you lots of opportunities. For example, I was recently interviewed by Wint Wealth for their YouTube channel which has more than 2.5 lakh subscribers.
Guy shares a few lessons from unexpected tragedies faced by his friends. I am sharing a snippet for quick reference.
Guy shares lots of reading recommendations from the web and a few books. You must check them out yourself.
How Does Investing in Lego Works?
There are many alternative asset classes to invest in. Some are as funky as buying and selling Lego sets. But how do you do it? Here is a checklist.
On a more serious note, selling LEGO sets can be a slow burn. The process involves purchasing, storing, and waiting. Depending on retirement, this holding period typically lasts 12-24 months before a profit can be turned. You’ll have no cash flow until you resell.
Recent Examples of Marketing Masterstrokes
A lady’s car caught fire and she posted a video of the same highlighting her Stanley cup that survived the fire and also had ice intact in it. The president of Stanley created a stitch and spoke about the products from Stanley and offered to send more Stanley products and along with it, also replace a car. Genius!
Wakefit, a sleeping products brand in India took advantage of the expensive hotel rooms in Ahmedabad on the occasion of the World Cup finals and announce free stay at Stanley stores for those holding the tickets.
Have Unreasonable Goals
Credit Cards Are Amazing
I spent a day talking to WintWealth about credit cards. The video was released last week and got 1.6 lakh views so far. I hope you enjoy -
My personal blog - nirajdugar.com
Get in touch for financial planning - niraj@holisticwealth.in
Work website - Holistic Wealth
Twitter - contliving
Youtube - Niraj Dugar