Essays!

A few stakeholders noted that our first Annual Report (for 2011) largely focused on various investing topics rather than the individual companies in the portfolio and the rationale behind those investments. In thinking this over and after recently reading back through the memos of Howard Marks, I believe a format change is in order. Going forward, the Annual Reports will primarily be directed to results and comments on the portfolio itself. In addition to the Annual Reports, as inspiration strikes me, I will begin posting essays on various investing topics.

One of the topics in the 2011 Annual focused on the "State of the Market" and particularly the contraction of valuation multiples over the past decade, both for the broad market and individual companies. I have reformatted that portion into its own essay, so it will be posted soon as my first essay. Additionally, I am in the process of writing a new essay concerning the fundamental nature of risk as well as the lack of correlation between returns and the risks undertaken to achieve those returns. Expect those to be posted soon!