Sussing out publications that cover investments in a fair-minded manner is no easy task. In that light I have been reading Mutual Fund Observer and prior that FundAlarm for as long as I can remember. A monthly publication is for the vast majority of investors as frequent as they need to be checking in on the world of investing.
I also have the benefit of having read both Josh and David’s answers to the question. In that light I will simply agree with what they have both written. I am not sure quite how he does it but Josh has created for himself a process that provides him with what he needs to succeed in a number of different venues. David has correctly noted that a focus on books, not necessarily investment-related, is an important antidote to the daily din of the financial media.
I spend much of my day wading through the financial media and blogosphere looking for analysis and insight that has a half-life of more than a day or two. The recommended sources below do much the same thing with a very different focus.
Print: The Week. You can consume this weekly magazine online but I still rely on the US Mail to provide me with my copy. The Week is a curated look at the week’s, or more likely, the previous week’s news. It covers the gamut from domestic and international news, entertainment, finance and last but not least real estate. The elites may read The Economist every week. Someone with a busy schedule reads The Week.
Podcast: Science Friday. Science Friday is broadcast on many public radio stations but I consume it via podcast. It is already a cliche to say that the worlds of science and technology are changing at an increasingly rapid rate. For a lay audience Science Friday provides listeners with an accessible way of keeping up. For example last week’s show included segments on the science of sunscreen, cephalopod intelligence and 3-D mammography.
Online: The Browser, Longreads and Longform One caveat I would have about reading non-fiction books is that many of them are magazine articles padded out to fill out the publisher’s idea of how long a book should be. If that is the case then reading original long form reporting and analysis should provide us with a good bang for the buck. The Browser is not focused explicitly on long form content, but I thought I would mention it here since it is so darn good.
Successful investing isn’t about making quick decisions in the moment. It is about sitting on your hands most of the time and making decisions after some thoughtful consideration. As I have written prior a multi-disciplinary approach to investing provides you with the perspective necessary to see the world as it is as opposed to how Wall Street would like you to see it.
