Whitney Tilson’s email to investors dissucssing Vatican used charity funds to bet on Hertz credit derivatives; develop good habits.
Q3 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Vatican's Bet On Hertz Credit Derivatives
2) You just can't make up a headline like this!
This Financial Times article reminds me of a long-running Sports Illustrated blurb, "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse"... Vatican used charity funds to bet on Hertz credit derivatives. Excerpt:
The Vatican invested some donations for the poor and needy in derivatives that bet on the creditworthiness of Hertz, the U.S. car rental company that defaulted on its debts earlier this year, according to documents seen by the Financial Times.
Develop Good Habits
4) Speaking of habits, it's something I write about more than two dozen times in my forthcoming book, The Art of Playing Defense. Here's an excerpt from one section:
Develop Good Habits
You can transform yourself into the person you want to be, but you have to decide early because the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. – Warren Buffett
Think about that. All the little things you do dozens of times every day – your habits – define who you are, and once these patterns are set, they're really tough to change. Thus, it's critically important to develop good habits early in life.
Buffett tells students to look at the people you work or go to school with and ponder this question: who do you think is going to be really successful in life, not just financially, but in every way?
As you think about this, he continues, what are the characteristics you're focusing on? Are they smart? Do they work really hard and not give up easily? Do they have integrity? Is their word their bond? Are they 100% reliable? Are they well organized? Do they take care of themselves and not take foolish risks? Are they kind and a pleasure to spend time with? Do they make the world a better place?
Now ask yourself: what are they doing that I can't do as well? I think you'll find at least 90% of these traits are things over which you have total control.
So you see, he concludes, you don't need me to tell you what habits you should try to adopt – you already know. There's no secret – they're obvious! The real question is: what are you going to do about it?
Best regards,
Whitney
