Michael Batnick discusses Benjamin Graham's historical performance track record with Ted Seides.
Opinion
Batnick: Predatory life insurance sales harm clients more than bad stock picks
“If you're selling somebody, you know, a shitty stock or mutual fund, whatever, they're giving you know, 10 grand. And sure, that sucks to lose that, but when you're selling life insurance policies to somebody, and you're asking for giant commissions premiums, …”
Insight
Batnick: Even the best analysts face limits with value investing
“You could be the best business analyst in the world, and you might have a great long-term track record and things might be okay, but there are limits to value investing, obviously.”
Insight
Investment backtests are bullshit because nobody publishes the failing ones
“Because when you show, you know, the back tests, which I think are, you know, back tests are bullshit. This looks amazing, of course. We're not, nobody's going to implement a strategy with a bad back test.”
Insight
Batnick: Momentum and Trend-Following Can Never Be Arbitraged Away
“Rising prices attract buyers and falling prices attract sellers. And it is literally that simple. And I don't care how many computers or geniuses get involved. That alone can never be arbed away.”
Assertion Supported
Batnick: Jack Bogle Once Started an Unsuccessful Technical Analysis Fund
“It was in, ah, maybe Clash of the Culture is one of his books, where he spoke about, he started a fund based on technical analysis, and obviously, ah, it didn't do so well.”
Insight
Batnick: Legendary investment mistakes stem from emotion, not valuation errors
“But one common theme that we all make mistakes on is the emotional side. Like none of these mistakes were because somebody used too aggressive of a growth assumption or an inappropriate discount rate or didn't understand the business. It was always like either…”