Thinking Points
- My best friend just broke the internet for value investors.
- Samir Patel of Askeladden Capital released Poor Ash’s Almanack (PAA), the best mental model site around.
- If learning is your thing, you’ll get a good kick out of it. Check it out here.
A little bit about Poor Ash’s Almanack
If you enjoy learning, you’ll love Poor Ash’s Almanack (PAA), the newest (and best) mental model site on the block. The author behind this extensive almanack is actually one person – Samir Patel, founder and portfolio manager of Askeladden Capital. PAA is meant to shift your learning process into high gear, making you happier, successful, and more interesting at a cocktail party (but not guaranteeing that last bit).
Now, as a Kenkyo reader, I’m guessing you’re already heard of Charlie Munger and mental models. If you’re like the most of us, however, you probably have limited time available each week to read and learn outside of work. Luckily, PAA’s got you covered – you can get the spark notes 10 minute summary of a mental model. And if you’re still itching for more, you’ll find books that’ll take you deeper, right there on PAA.
But wait a sec, we just talked about being busy? So before you go on to read an entire book, you can check out book reviews at PAA. It gives you the key points of the book in a matter of minutes! You can then decide whether you want to invest your limited time on a deeper dive.
A little bit about Samir
Samir is the founder and portfolio manager of Askeladden Capital. Here’s a snippet from his about page:
“I’m Samir Patel, a value investor from Texas running a long-only “hedge fund” (limited partnership) and separately managed accounts (SMAs) My strategy is pretty simple: I wait patiently for high-quality small-cap companies* to trade down to attractive valuations.”
If you read the latter half of the above quote and noticed similarities in my investment approach here on Kenkyo, great! Samir is my closest friend. In fact, he introduced me to value investing. It would be an understatement to say he’s influenced my investment approach.
Samir is also the smartest person I know. Fair warning though, if you’re meeting him for coffee and looking forward to an intellectually stimulating conversation, don’t bring a dog. He’s a big sucker for dogs. Bring one and he’ll be having a meeting with your dog (and it won’t be intellectually stimulating). And then you might not have a dog after the meeting.
Check out Poor Ash’s Almanack
If you’re all about learning, you’ll get a good kick out of Poor Ash’s Almanack. It’s comprehensive, it’s free, and most importantly, it’s authored by one of the smartest people around. Check it out and tell me your thoughts when you have a moment 🙂
