I Cannot Leave The Truth Unknown - Frank Martin

[JEast]

A nice article by Frank Martin of Martin Capital Management.  Click on the link in the lower left for the article.

http://www.mcmadvisors.com/

 

A plug for Frank Martin's two published books.

A Decade of Delusions

http://www.amazon.com/Decade-Delusions-Speculative-Contagion-Recession/dp/1118004566/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338304555&sr=1-1

 

Speculative Contagion

http://www.amazon.com/Speculative-Contagion-An-Antidote-Epidemics/dp/1425900755/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338304711&sr=1-3

 

 

Cheers

JEast

[lessthaniv]

JEast,

Thanks for posting. That was a fantastic read. What an articulate writer.

 

[racemize]

direct link (unless there is a reason not to post it?):

 

http://www.mcmadvisors.com/downloads/i_cannot_leave_the_truth_unknown.pdf

[onyx1]

Thanks.  Frank Martin almost always jumps to the top of my reading list.

[Rabbitisrich]

To clarify, doesn't "notional amount outstanding", as reported by the ISDA, refer to the cumulative notional amount transacted? For example, a $5M par contract purchased five times is recorded at $25M.

[twacowfca]

Thanks.  Frank Martin almost always jumps to the top of my reading list.

 

A farsighted thinker.  He points out that the patch job to the international financial system is starting to unravel.  There is more notional naked CDS derivative exposure among the big, international banks now than in 2008.  He says that $300B in subprime losses over the last few years spun out of control through counterparties and collateral requirements to over $6B in losses in that house of cards that is still being propped up.  Meanwhile, interest rate swaps, the new achilles heel between the banks have grown enormously. 

 

If one domino falls, all the Ben's horses and all the Ben's men will have quite a task putting Humpty together again.

[stahleyp]

Here's his latest missive. I feel bad for his investors (over the past few years, at least).

 

http://www.mcmadvisors.com/downloads/price_is_what_you_pay_value_is_what_you_get.pdf

 

Of course...there's this one too - from April 2009. :P

 

It May Be Darker Before the Dawn

 

http://www.mcmadvisors.com/downloads/MCM_2009_Q1.pdf

 

 

[innerscorecard]

Why is it helpful to read things by those who were very wrong, unless we are trying to find anti-mental-models (which is a very valid thing to do)?

[stahleyp]

Why is it helpful to read things by those who were very wrong, unless we are trying to find anti-mental-models (which is a very valid thing to do)?

 

Someone once posted (maybe gio?) that Buffett follows Martin. If he's good enough for Buffett, I figure it's good to check in on him every once in a while.

[giofranchi]

Why is it helpful to read things by those who were very wrong, unless we are trying to find anti-mental-models (which is a very valid thing to do)?

 

Someone once posted (maybe gio?) that Buffett follows Martin. If he's good enough for Buffett, I figure it's good to check in on him every once in a while.

 

Yes, it was me.

Though results are very important, I don’t think we should dismiss good ideas simply because they are uttered by someone who has failed to perform recently.

I guess what we should do is to understand those ideas, become very aware of the warnings those ideas contain, and then look for investment opportunities that leave us comfortable notwithstanding such threats.

I simply don’t see how to drive blindfolded might turn out to be a good idea… ;)

 

Gio

 

[frommi]

Thanks for posting. The CAPE chart with 20x and 5x earning lines makes me even more fearful than i already am. Please help me! Can somebody please post something that paints the future in rosy colors?

[Kraven]

I don't know what it is, but there is no one more boring than Frank Martin.  He doesn't perform well enough to be that boring.  Something about his writing style is so forced and unnatural in my opinion that it strikes me as very practiced.  I attempted to read his books (which are just collections of his past letters with a bit of additional commentary) and couldn't make it past about half of it. 

[Ham Hockers]

I don't know what it is, but there is no one more boring than Frank Martin.  He doesn't perform well enough to be that boring.  Something about his writing style is so forced and unnatural in my opinion that it strikes me as very practiced.  I attempted to read his books (which are just collections of his past letters with a bit of additional commentary) and couldn't make it past about half of it.

 

It's a similar feeling I get when I read Grant. Both of their writing styles annoy me.

[rukawa]

He references Corporate Bonds: Quality and Investment Performance. I think the book can be found here:

 

http://papers.nber.org/books/hick57-1

 

I have a very strong desire to read this book.

[mhdousa]

Mutual Fund Observer says that Frank is shutting his mutual fund down. Not surprised:

http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=MFVRX&region=usa&culture=en-US