Ben Graham’s 1932 Forbes Articles

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Ben Graham’s 1932 Forbes Articles by Jae Jun

Here’s a thought I want to start with.

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"I don’t understand why business schools don’t teach the Warren Buffett model of investing. Or the Ben Graham model. Or the Peter Lynch model. Or the Martin Whitman model. (I could go on.)

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In English, you study great writers; in physics and biology, you study great scientists; in philosophy and math, you study great thinkers...How is it that business schools get away with teaching modern finance theory as the backbone of investing?" (source)

In 1932, Ben Graham was a freelance writer for Forbes during the bottom of the Great Depression.

Talk about timing.

With the economy sinking, it would have been tough to write something like this, but true to form, he talks about why the market is cheap with a healthy dose of common sense and objectivity.

Market's are not cheap. Quite the opposite.

From this week's Old School links, one article talked about the current "state of of the economy".

According to the "media", we are in 14 bubbles.

Ben Graham

Now I don't know how true this is, but I do know that crashes, recessions and booms will occur. And it's always good to be prepared.

This is where Ben Graham's words will help.

Read the series and study from the best of the best.

Brief points from the first article:

  • Markets are irrational
  • Majority of investors are irrational
  • Stock price does not dictate what will happen to the company
  • Shareholders are small owners of the business
  • Always look at the financial statements and assess whether the stock price makes sense
  • Businesses on Wall Street are valued differently than private equity
  • Stock prices can remain low for fear of future operating losses

Ben Graham's 1932 Forbes Articles

  1. Inflated Treasuries and Deflated Stockholders (PDF)
  2. Should Rich Corporations Return Stockholders' Cash? (PDF)
  3. Should Rich and Losing Corporations be Liquidated? (PDF)

Enjoy and let it sink in.

Cheers,

Jae

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