A fresh perspective on value investing

Share

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Linkedin
• Whatsapp
• Pinterest

Share this article

Join the conversation

Follow us

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Newsletter

Get the MoneyWeek Newsletter

Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors

---

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful

---

Want to add more newsletters?

Twice daily

MoneyWeek

Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Signup +

Four times a week

Look After My Bills

Sign up to our free money-saving newsletter, filled with the latest news and expert advice to help you find the best tips and deals for managing your bills. Start saving today!

Signup +

---

An account already exists for this email address, please log in.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Concentrated Investing

by Allen Benello, Michael van Biemaand Tobias CarlislePublished by Wiley, £33.99Buy at Amazon

Most investment books treat diversification as an automatic virtue suggesting that you should reduce your risk by spreading your assets as widely as possible. This may work for those who want an easy life; yet several studies and the careers of many of the world's most successful investors show that investing heavily in a few high-conviction ideas can pay off handsomely. Concentrated Investing: Strategies of the World's Greatest Concentrated Value Investors, by Allen Benello, Michael van Biema and Tobias Carlisle, focuses on some of these success stories.

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

The book is split into eight sections, each focusing on an individual investor. Some are very well known, such as Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Others are more obscure such as Lou Simpson, who works for GEICO, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, and has a very good track record of his own. Then there's John Maynard Keynes famousfor his writings on economics, and fiscal and monetary policy fewer people realise he was also one of the best money managers of the interwar period.

The book is mostly straightforward and requires no special expertise to understand. However, the third chapter is a bit more involved it focuses on the Kelly formula, a method for determining the optimal amount that a gambler should bet, given the "edge" they have over their market.

While the basic conclusion that you should bet (or invest) heavily when you have an edge, and stay away if not is simple, the maths is quite involved. It would have been better to place this chapter near the end of the book, since it requires a little more effort. However, this is an original approach to both value investing and diversification, and brings a new perspective to some familiar topics.

Concentrated Investing by Allen Benello, Michael van Biema and Tobias Carlisle (Wiley, £33.99).