The Value Seeker is about finding value in the financial markets. I don’t read charts.  I don’t talk about where the market is going.  I don’t talk trends.  I don’t predict the future.  You can go to any of a thousand blogs and news sites for that.  I think those methods are the modern equivalent of throwing bones on the ground to find out if there will be rain in the Spring.

I see... lemmings.

Instead, I look at stocks, bonds, commodities, and just about any other market with an eye to one thing and one thing only –

Is this worth more than what I am going to pay for it?

It is as simple as it sounds.  It is an investment methodology proven by decades of successful investors – not the least of which are legendary investors Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett.  I won’t spend time convincing you that it works – I know it does.  If you want an argument – Warren Buffett said it best in this essay.

Now that I’ve put that out there, I confess that I lied a little bit.  Occasionally, I will do all of the above things that I said I wouldn’t.  I enjoy speculation as much as the next person, and once in awhile, I like to try out my crystal ball.  Like Las Vegas, I think speculation is fun, and I risk a small portion of my portfolio (~5%) on it.  I fully expect to lose that money one day. When I do go down the dark road of speculation, I will do my best to label it in bold.

If you want to learn more about value investing and how to gain inner peace by ignoring the financial noise, stick around.  I also suggest anyone interested read the following books:

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and updated by Jason Zweigg with Warren Buffett as collaborator.  This is the definitive work on value investing, and Mr. Zweigg adds considerable depth to Benjamin Graham’s original insights with modern examples and scenarios.  ISBN number: 978-0-06-055566-5
• Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner’s Guide Third Ed. by Martin Fridson and Fernando Alvarez.  This is a concise and excellent introduction to financial statement analysis with the unstated mission of helping the reader to identify the extent to which financial statements can be molded to a company’s wishes and give the reader the tools to identify financial statement shenanigans.  Anyone who has read this book will never again take a company’s reported profits, revenues, expenses, and ratios at face value.