Jeremy Grantham – Bubbles, Value Investing, and the Long Game at GMO
From Jeanne: One area I know very little about is the world of investment. My dad shared this podcast with his three children, I assume in an attempt to get us interested and a little more up to speed! It’s relatively accessible, and I’m sharing it for two reasons; 1. it’s an area I’d like to learn more about (and maybe this is the case for a few of you as well?) And 2. it made me realise I may have quite a narrow view of the people who work in this field…
A few things caught my attention while listeing. For example, Grantham’s point about the complexity of large institutions and the pressures on the people making decisions within them. Even if you see a risk, acting on it before everyone else could put your career on the line. It can be safer professionally to be wrong alongside everyone else than to risk being wrong on your own. It made me wonder how often this happens elsewhere too (at work, in politics, even among friends…): how much of what looks like agreement is actually people feeling that questioning it would cost them too much? And how do we make room for people to challenge the prevailing view, without assuming that going against it automatically makes them right?
I also found his comment/point on our tendency to be overly optimistic and short-term focused easy to observe in myself and most humans around me!!
But what I enjoyed most was hearing about his foundation (towards the end of the podcast), and his concern for the planet and its future. I caught myself being surprised that someone from the investment world would care so much about this. Which probably says more about my assumptions than anything else! For a world I know very little about, I seem to have formed quite a few opinions about the people in it. That alone felt like a good reason to share this here. Hope you enjoy it as well and keen to hear any comments below :)
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Remember, you don’t need to be an expert to join the conversation. Questions, reactions and different perspectives are all welcome. Comment below👇🏻
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