What I'm Reading 03.23.15

1. Emily Nussbaum on The New Yorker "Candy Girl"

In case, people don't know, I love TV comedies (a problem caused by severe insomnia). I just finished watching an entire season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schimdt, a Netflix show that recounts a girl who navigates New York City after being kidnapped for 15 years by a doomsday cult. Kimmy's optimism is so effervescent, and this piece perhaps capture what I believe is the essence of the series. We are more than our worst days, in fact surviving is more than just existing - it is a freedom within ourselves.

2. Aswath Damodaran on Musings on Markets "Illiquidity and Bubbles in Private Share Markets: Testing Mark Cuban's thesis!"

The valuation guru has spoken! This time, he talks about the tech bubble, specifically the one that Mark Cuban (Shark Tank dude) believes come from the private market due to the absence of liquidity. I think Damodaran is completely spot on with regards to the private market taking a discount of liquidity. Just think about PEs and VCs all aiming to get IPOs. Why in the world would they do it, if they do not believe in the value of liquidity premium? In fact, the private market limits the impact of the bubble, by limiting the effect to only institutional players. We would be protecting many of the passive and/or retail investors. Props to the valuation guru for using good data to come to this conclusion.

3.  Seth Mydans on New York Times "Lee Kuan Yew, Founding Father and First Premier of Singapore, Dies at 91"

Through my interactions with many Singaporeans, I have learned to garner respect for the founding father of Singapore. I am still amazed by how much of an improvement he brought to Singapore: the political stability, the economic development, the human capital investment, and the social security structure. I won't say his reign was perfect; at times, he could be authoritarian especially with regards to gay rights and freedom of press. But indeed, the efficient, developed Singapore of today only existed due to his founding contributions, and for that, I think it is high time we pay our respects.

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On another note, Kygo and Ke$ha is headlining this year's Spring Fling (which is Penn's big annual concert tradition - we had Tiesto & David Guetta last time - YEAH, BE JELLY PEOPLE). So yeah, here's my favorite song by Kygo to celebrate:

Firestone | Listen for free at bop.fm

What I'm Reading 01.04.15

First one of 2015! I have been in Singapore this week on a family holiday, but thank goodness for Internet. Also, some of you may be wondering on why I've been reading lots of Financial Times. It's because the hotel we were staying delivered Financial Times every morning to our room, so conveniently many of the articles ended being really good. Here are things that I have been reading this week:

1. Erik Holm and Anupreeta Das (WSJ Moneybeat) on "Buffett Reminds His Top Managers: Reputation Is Everything"

It's no secret that Warren Buffett is one of my favorite value investors. In this article, Buffett sends a note to his top Berkshire Hathaway managers on the importance of reputation. As he puts it, "we can afford to lose money - even a lot of money. But we can't afford to lose reputation - even a shred of reputation."

2. Saadia Zahidi (The Financial Times) on Muslim Womenomics

Women in the Muslim world are often missing from the narrative - both in the stories of Muhammad (check out Khadijah, one of Muhammad's spouse, and her flourishing business) and today's stories. Many progress in education, and workforce equality are discounted, but they have been contributing to the development of the area.

3. John Cassidy (The New Yorker) talks about Twelve Lessons For 2015

Here comes another BuzzFeed-style list of things that happened in 2014 and what we learned. Except, this one does it with refreshing candor (in a liberal bias, duh, it's the New Yorker). Take it with a grain of salt, but it does summarize major political & economic events in the year well.

4. Monavar Khajav (The Financial Times) on Iranian women drug addicts

We often stereotype drug addicts as the scary, rough, violent men that we often see portrayed in television. The truth is very far removed from that stereotype. Take for instance, the young educated women of Iran. Trapped in between of increasing opportunities and conservative Muslim strictures, they have taken refuge in the use of drugs as an escape. This hits pretty close to home for me, since I have seen numerous people my age using drugs as a means of escaping - be it tedium, lack of parental attention, academic pressure, or social enforcement. The funny thing is that the people you would think are drug addicts (or users) are highly educated people from good social standing with enough money to spare. It's time that we break that stereotype and realize that drug addicts are not a marginalized community separate from us - they are part of our community and a result of our society's side effects.

Side note: This just represents the articles I've been reading. I've also been reading some books on the side too, amongst them:

• Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (still slowly making progress... At this rate, I might take a couple of months to finish this book)
• The Shifts and The Shocks: What We've Learned - and Have Still to Learn -  From the Financial Crisis by Martin Wolf
• Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton

New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year 2015 everyone! Starting the new year, we embark upon a new journey. And with that new journey, I think this is a good time to write down our resolutions, set new goals, and go out and achieve them. Here are my resolutions for the upcoming year:

1. Start my own YouTube channel, and publish a video bi-weekly on accounting, investing, finance, and economics. The plan is to have it launched by the end of January.
2. Make time for reading. I'm setting a goal of finishing 1 book every week, unless I'm reading something like Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky  (great book, but incredibly dense).
3. Be more responsive with emails, and get to inbox zero ASAP. I've been trying to implement David Allen's Getting Things Done system, but I've had trouble getting started because of my emails.
4. Limit eating out to 3 times a week. I need to stop getting sashimi delivery all the time.
5. Revamp my wardrobe. I honestly dislike shopping (yes, this is a girl saying she hates shopping), but I realize what a difference clothing can make to your professional image. I promise to make time this semester to go shopping every month, and read more fashion blogs. Some of my favorite fashion blogs include: Extra Petite, The Brooklyn Blonde, Song of Style, and Wendy's Lookbook.

Cheers to all of you. Looking forward to an amazing 2015! 

What I'm Reading 12.28.14

I am a self-proclaimed avid reader, but I never really get to put it into words. So from now on, I'm gathering a list of articles that I thought were interesting to read from this week to be posted every Sunday evening.

1. Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital talks about The Lesson on Oil

And why investors should have seen the plunge coming... and why we don't. Great practical application of principles from The Most Important Things Illuminated.

2. WSJ Op-Ed Life without Fannie and Freddie

Can we privatize the mortgage-backed securities guarantee business? This op-ed summarizes many important points from the Congressional Budget Office's report, exploring the implications of this action. 

3. New Yorker article by Tim Wu Why Airlines Want You to Suffer

Most people here know that US airlines are one of the worst providers of service. Wu examines the business model that leads the airline industry in the US to its current state (the answer: the fee model is not a good way to price discriminate).

4. New Yorker article by Maria Konnikova Pain Really Make Us Gain

What do fraternity houses, religious cults, and medical residencies have in common? A painful form of initiation. Konnikova dives deep into the science of pain and how it strengthens social bonds by focusing our attention to the shared experience of pain.