With 2024 near its end, it’s time for my annual tradition of gathering my favorite investment writing of the year. I started this tradition in 2017, and have continued it ever since (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
2024 was a continuation of the bull market that many did not expect.
With that being said, I present my favorite investment writing of 2024:
It’s rare when someone comes up with a good, new financial rule when it comes to spending money, but Katie Gatti Tassin crushed it here. Unlike so many other spending rules which focus on your income, Katie’s approach focuses on your assets. By anchoring your spending to your assets, your spending won’t be subject to something as fickle as income, and it allows you to better gauge your financial progress. Rather than explaining her rule in detail here, read the article and see for yourself.
It might be hard to remember now, but on August 5, 2024 there was a massive selloff. The VIX got as high as 65 (the highest since March 2020) and the world started to panic. Yet, in the midst of the madness, Michael Batnick had the perfect message to reassure concerned investors. Writing about financial markets on good days is easy, but writing about them on bad days is what separates the good writers from the great ones. If you want a lesson in calm and collected writing, this is it.
You would think that it’s nearly impossible to say anything new on the idea of luck vs. skill, but Morgan Housel does just that. This piece is a prime example of how a common issue of debate can be re-examined and dissected in a whole new way. So, the next time you are trying to figure out whether an outcome is based on luck or skill, ask yourself: is it repeatable?
- Notes on Venture Capital (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV) (Carl Joseph-Black)
I’ve never included a multiple part series in my annual roundup until now. Carl Joseph-Black is a lawyer by trade who works exclusively with startups on their legal issues. Thankfully, he compiled all of his wisdom into this highly readable four-part series on venture capital (VC). Part I is on the major players in VC, Part II is on how to raise money, Part III is on what metrics matter, and Part IV has some parting thoughts. You’ll need to subscribe to his newsletter (which is free) for these insights, but, trust me, they’re worth it.
Kyla Scanlon has already established herself as the economist for Gen Z, but she is quickly becoming the voice of reason on all matters of economic policy. I loved this piece because she tackled the complicated, and often political, topic of U.S. housing in a very thorough way. Housing is by far the most important asset class for the typical American and Scanlon does a great job of examining the nuances at play here. If you want a fuller picture of the U.S. housing market, why there’s a crisis, but also why there are reasons to be hopeful, don’t miss this one.
I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I’m a sucker for listicles. This is especially true when they are based on decades of someone’s lived experience. And, in this piece, Ben Carlson delivers. While there are many deep investment and career truisms listed here, my favorite was, “Rich people hate paying taxes more than they like making more money.” If you want some money management lessons from one of the best writers in our industry, read this piece.
In 2024 I got turned onto the work of Michael Cembalest at J.P. Morgan and it’s been wonderful ever since. Cembalest is an incredible writer and researcher that takes an in-depth look at the issues of the day through his Eye on the Market newsletter. In this piece he explores small cap’s historic underperformance and whether it is “cheap” relative to history today. Filled with insightful charts and even better commentary, this is one you won’t want to miss.
In a similar vein to Cembalest, Tomas Pueyo does his research. In this piece, Pueyo explains why, based on current trends, he has no plans to invest in real estate. While you may not agree with everything he says, he makes a compelling, well-researched case for why real estate may not be the investment asset class that it used to be. I will admit that I am biased against real estate given my personal experiences in 2007-2008, nevertheless, this article is a must-read.
This was Callie Cox’s inaugural post on OptimistiCallie and what a way to start. In a world where investors (myself included) are thrilled to be earning 5% on their cash, Cox makes the case that investors are holding too much of it. And with the S&P 500 up 27% this year, her timing couldn’t have been more spot on. Though yields are higher today than they have been historically, investors would be wise to consider Cox’s warning in the years ahead.
Jared Dillian is an incredible writer and manages to make everything he writes about entertaining. While I’ve also never been a big fan of the FIRE movement, I enjoyed Dillian’s novel approach to this topic. If you want to understand why working shouldn’t be looked down upon and where the FIRE movement gets things wrong, this is the article for you.
I loved this piece from Jason Zweig on why who you invest with may be just as important as what you are investing in. Zweig’s article looks at how the behavior of a fund’s investors can influence the return of the fund itself. His flagship example is Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF, where high investor demand led to increased purchases of the smaller, less liquid stocks in the fund. This led to better returns and even more demand, in a vicious cycle of ‘self-inflated returns’. This piece emphasizes the importance of who you invest with and how their actions can influence your wealth.
I love reading articles where I know that no one else could have written them besides the author. This is one of those. Josh injects his personality and individual experience into everything he writes, but it’s especially true in this piece. Part research and part historical flashback, this piece does a wonderful job of explaining how higher interest rates have impacted investors and what this might mean for 2025 and beyond.
While not specifically a post on investing, this article is highly relevant to the AI-fueled bull market we find ourselves in today. Ben Hunt does a terrific job of illustrating both the potential power of AI and how it might come to influence humanity. If you believe that 2024 was the year of Nvidia, GPUs, and LLMs, then you won’t want to miss this article prophesying what these technologies might mean in 2025 and beyond.
Imagine you were diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and you didn’t know how long you would live. Unfortunately, in 2024, this became a reality for Jonathan Clements, one of my favorite financial writers. In this post Clements discusses his situation, what he is grateful for, and demonstrates how little money matters in the end. I’ve always been a fan of Clements’ writing, especially his book How to Think About Money, and this piece is no exception. I wish you all the best Jonathan.
I hope you enjoyed this year’s annual review.
Happy investing and thank you for reading!
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This is post 428. Any code I have related to this post can be found here with the same numbering: https://github.com/nmaggiulli/of-dollars-and-data
