Wisdom in fragments

Managing a hedge fund as a value-investor is a dream come true!

Value investor and niece of legendary investor John Templeton

We will not employ capital unless we can find an opportunity that has a minimum of 50% upside to our intrinsic value over the term of our investment.

Value investor and niece of legendary investor John Templeton

The point of maximum pessimism is the ultimate time to buy a stock because at this point, all the sellers are gone… and only buyers remain. How do you determine this point? Even Uncle John said it's impossible…. You never know until it has passed!

Value investor and niece of legendary investor John Templeton

Uncle John always had a desk-plate in his office that said 'trouble is opportunity' and that's very much how we see the markets.

Value investor and niece of legendary investor John Templeton

We tend to see two scenarios that come up time and time again. The first and most common scenario is that security prices become inefficient or show large departures from intrinsic value when there are few investors paying attention to the company. So in this case, we are talking about a neglected stock.

Value investor and niece of legendary investor John Templeton

Corruption can be seen as denigration of the basic right of people to dignity. It is also a threat to human security and human rights.

Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Around 66,000 women and girls are violently killed every year. Most of them are victims of 'intentional homicide'. Armed violence, in all its forms and manifestations, is mainly a direct consequence of transnational organised crime.

Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

We estimate with the World Bank that US$20-40 billion each year is lost in developing countries through corruption. If you add to that $5 billion each year in stolen assets, it clearly shows that corruption is a serious obstacle to the achievement of the millennium development goals.

Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Corruption destroys societies, hinders development and undermines security. Note what happened in the Middle East and North Africa… corruption was one of the triggers of unrest in these countries. It appears that people are fed-up of corruption, they want change, and they want it now.

Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

There are a high number of young people who want to set-up businesses, but there is a huge gap between their aspirations/intentions and the actual delivery of setting up a business…. More so with the young than any other age group.

I'm very old-fashioned in the sense that I still feel you need a strong manufacturing sector in your economy. I was saying that in the late 1970's and early 80's and people just laughed at me. I think my day is about to turn.

For every example I could give you of regulations causing problems, I could give you two of regulations creating opportunities. I think this notion that regulation is causing problems is a real red herring.

It's clear to me that small businesses, particularly micro-enterprises, have been responsible for the majority of the gross job creation in the last five years… particularly through the recession.

The world of business is scared without realising that it, itself, is the cure.

Many governments, faced with a popular revolt, have chosen to martyr wealth without realising that it is the source of entrepreneurship, innovation and philanthropy in their economies.

Instead of looking at hoarded cash as being a 'rainy day fund' we need to view these balances as stores of economic growth. This cash represents potential investments, new jobs, new innovations and the potential for significant wealth creation and diffusion.