The Art of Boring

Art of Boring was created for curious and passionate investors. We share strategies, frameworks, and insights to help readers and listeners make better investment decisions. Our aim? To provide some bottom-up, long-term investing signal to cut through the short-term noise.

Playing the plan Mawer emerging markets equity portfolio EP70

Playing the plan: Mawer's emerging markets equity portfolio | EP70

Building resiliency while finding opportunities in emerging markets.

August 19, 2020 21 Mins

Investment potential within the payments industry | EP69

A deep dive into the themes, fundamentals, and opportunity sets in the payments industry.

August 12, 2020 36 Mins

Playing the plan: Mawer’s Canadian small cap portfolio | EP68

The impacts, risks, and potential opportunities from the COVID-19 crisis fallout on the Canadian small cap universe, and why valuations are ultimately a “blunt tool. ”

July 29, 2020 22 Mins

Quarterly update | Q2 2020 | EP67

A review of the quarter: a significant rebound in markets, the potential impacts of continuous monetary and fiscal stimulus, and deglobalization.

July 15, 2020 20 Mins

Playing the plan Mawer Canadian equity portfolio EP66

Playing the plan: Mawer’s Canadian equity portfolio | EP66

Why the current market environment “feels like 2030 is happening in 2020,” our perspective on the recent market recovery, and more.

July 3, 2020 27 Mins

(Not) boring finds for June 2020

Howard Marks sent a memo; Ray Dalio explained the last 500 years as they related to empires and reserve currencies; we learned a new word, “shoshin”; and scanned a lot of charts about U. S. advertising revenue trends.

June 30, 2020 2 Mins

Look for the baby

This past week, one of my colleagues shared a learning at our weekly research meeting. Christian and his wife, Siggi, were on vacation when Siggi unfortunately dropped her iPhone into the bath.

July 10, 2014 3 Mins

Waiting in line: The high cost of red tape

Imagine you spent 4% of your life waiting in line. Given that there are 8,765 hours in a year, this would imply that you spent 350 hours each year staring at the backs of people’s heads.

July 4, 2014 3 Mins

The art of survival

The restaurant industry is tough. Virtually anyone with decent cooking skills and a modest amount of capital can open one; the barriers to entry are quite low.

June 26, 2014 4 Mins

Fraudster alert: 10 ways investors can avoid being duped

History is ripe with hucksters. Investors were reminded of this again this month when stock market darling Gowex declared bankruptcy.

June 17, 2014 11 Mins

The leopard and his spots: Deception in emerging markets

In a recent National Geographic article, paleontologists reported the discovery of a new fossil. The 126 million year old creature was given the name Cretophasmomima melanogramma which sounds slightly more exotic than its meaning: ancient black-lined stick insect.

May 29, 2014 2 Mins

Made in Detroit: Seeing value where others do not

A scrappy, twenty-something-year old from Detroit, Andy Didorosi does not fit into the typical image of American capitalism.

May 22, 2014 5 Mins

Playing the plan: Mawer’s U.S. equity portfolio | EP14

Co-manager of Mawer’s U. S. equity portfolio, Grayson Witcher, discusses the impact of rising corporate debt levels, the importance of relationship building with management teams, and how fighting bias is key to Mawer’s investment process.

August 15, 2018 31 Mins

Playing the plan: Mawer’s Canadian equity portfolio | Vijay Viswanathan | EP13

Director of Research and Canadian equity co-manager, Vijay Viswanathan, discusses potential trade war impacts to the portfolio, Canada’s opportunity set, and dives deeper into holdings in the energy, e-commerce and insurance industries.

August 8, 2018 29 Mins

Investing with your eyes: CIO insights from South America | Paul Moroz | Ep12

CIO Paul Moroz continues to travel the world doing fundamental research for the global equity and the global small cap strategies. This episode reveals specific observations from his recent research trip to South America and New York City.

July 25, 2018 30 Mins

Quarterly update | 2Q 2018 | EP11

This episode features insights from the past quarter by Greg Peterson, portfolio manager of Mawer’s balanced and global balanced strategies.

July 12, 2018 24 Mins

Scuttlebutt and its dramatic effect on long-term investing | John Wilson | EP10

John Wilson, analyst on Mawer’s global small cap equity strategy, defines scuttlebutt and its competitive advantage for long-term investors.

July 4, 2018 19 Mins

Underweight: Our take on Japan | David Ragan | EP09

David Ragan, portfolio manager of Mawer’s international equity strategies, reveals why the portfolio is—and has always been—underweight in Japan.

June 20, 2018 21 Mins

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Playing the plan: Mawer's emerging markets equity portfolio | EP70

Investment potential within the payments industry | EP69