10 great investing blogs/ websites to read

Following the closure of the Motley Fool Singapore, Singaporeans now have one less website to visit for their stock inspiration. The Dollar and Sense team have previously put up a list of 13 local websites that continue to offer Singapore investors quality stock insights and commentaries.

Unfortunately, the New Academy of Finance doesn’t make the cut. Haha.

At risk of sounding like a sour grape, I believe that Singapore investors should definitely expand their investing knowledge and expertise beyond the realms of the Singapore market.

In this list of 10 great investing blogs/websites to read, I will not be focusing on our local websites. Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of excellent local investing websites content from individual bloggers such as Investmentmoats, financialhorse, smallcapasia, heartlandboy etc who periodically dishes out unique stock ideas for one’s consideration.

Most of you would probably already be aware of these blogs/sites. So I shall not repeat them

I thought I will take the time to share my favorite international investing blogs that feature great investing ideas that are often actionable.

I get quite a fair bit of investing inspiration from these blogs/sites.

Some of these websites/blogs focus on investing philosophy, but they are written in a simple and easy-to-understand manner that doesn’t come across as overly mundane.

Others provide specific stock ideas, ranging from the likes of dividend counters to “exposing” what the next 100-bagger stock might be.

So without further ado, this is my little X’mas present for you….

10 Great Investing Blogs/Websites to read this Christmas season

1.Vintage Value Investing

Vintage Value Investing: “Vintage Value” is a blogger who believes that the concept of value investing is vintage. While it might go out of “fashion” during strong bull-markets, just like the one we are currently experiencing, this strategy remains one that has consistently outperformed all other investing strategies over the long-run.

While hot stocks, over-leveraged portfolios, and the newest complicated financial strategies will come and go, making many wishful investors rich very quick and poor even quicker, value investing will quietly continue to help its adherents fatten their wallets.

According to Vintage Value, vintage value investing equates to the term “Intelligent Investing,” as described by Ben Graham. Intelligent investing involves analyzing a company’s fundamentals and can be characterized by an intense focus on a stock’s price, it’s intrinsic value and the very important ratio between the two.

This is my go-to website when I want to get my hands on the latest hedge fund newsletters all at the convenience of a single location.

2.The Brooklyn Investor

The Brooklyn Investor: This is a blog that you can find some thoughts on investing. Not exactly one that dishes out any specific stock recommendations per se though. However, his blog is written in an easy to understand manner, very personable and at times shockingly critical (he is a die-hard fan of Warren Buffett and is especially “critical” of Berkshire’s critics).

His articles are generally also filled with some market statistics. For example, in his latest post, he talks about why the current stock market doesn’t look like a bubble yet when one compares the current returns against the dot-com era. (snippet: 5 years annualized return through Nov 2019: 8.8%; 5 years annualized return through Dec 1999: 26.2%).

He also provides some great reviews on the latest investment books such as the biography of Robert Iger, Disney’s CEO. There is a section in the book which highlights his take on the ongoing streaming war and who he believes might win (Disney is one of them… duh).

Pretty interesting content for a “blogspot” site. Haha.

3.Validea

Validea: This is more a subscription-base website but its blog also provides pretty useful content, with a focus on trading strategies from both a fundamental and technical perspective.

Most of the articles are short summaries, basically quoting sources from investing/financial publications.

The site recently started an investing podcast titled: Excess Returns Podcast. This podcast is hosted by Jack Forehand and Justin Carbonneau, both partners at Validea.

The podcast discusses a wide range of investing topics with the goal of helping those who watch and listen to become better investors. Each podcast lasts for approximately 20 minutes.

For those who are accustom to listening to personal finance podcasts, this might be a refreshing change that really focuses on the investment component.

Check out their first podcast episode below:

4.Greenwood Investors

Greenwood Investors: This site is more of a fund that focuses on a long deep value investment strategy. However, the site has a blog that churns out regular content on stock-related ideas.

For example, the site, in its latest post: The Wandering TRIP, talks about their holdings in Tripadvisor, a huge laggard that has significantly underperformed both the market and its peers.

The reason for the underperforming is due to weaker-than-expected results and the reason for weak earnings was somewhat related to the Google Squeeze.

After doing their due diligence, they purchased more shares of the company. They believe that while half of the business is affected by the change in Google’s search algorithm, the other half is growing north of 25%, which combined with cost-cutting plans, allows the company to continue growing profitability much more quickly than consensus estimates.

Some of the articles can be a little heavy-reading though but a good read nonetheless.

5.Dividend Growth Investors

Dividend Growth Investor: This is a blog that will likely interest dividend investors looking at US Dividend stock ideas.

The author has been writing about dividend stocks for over a decade and has a wealth of information in this aspect.

Some of his popular posts are:

1. The million-dollar dividend portfolio for retirement
2. Warren Buffett’s Eight Billion Dollar Mistake
3. Nine Dividend Growth Stocks with Growing Yields on Cost

I understand that Singapore investors might be wary about investing in US dividend stocks despite their appeal as a fantastic source of passive income. US stocks have some of the best track records in terms of making consistent dividend payments.

The reason for this caution is predominantly due to the 30% withholding tax that will be incurred for US dividend payments for Singaporeans. That is a valid concern.

My own personal strategy is to look at dividend stocks but yet disregard their yield…. What??? In my article: The 7 Golden Rules of Dividend Investing, the first rule in the list is the Growth Rule, one which concentrates on the growing dividend profile of a stock instead of looking purely at the absolute amount.

Dividend growth stocks have proven to be the best total-return performer over the past 3-4 decades, significantly out-performing the index as I have illustrated in the article.

Hence, I might be attracted to a US dividend counter which yields 1% but yet has shown a consistent track record in growing its dividend payment profile.

This website provides me with such ideas.

6.Saber Capital Management

Saber Capital Management: This is another fund that is run by John Huber, an investment manager that I highly respect.

John has a policy of not charging any management fees if the fund does not earn more than 6% per year from the previous high watermark.

An investor does not pay any fees until a) all their previous losses are recouped, and b) their capital grows above the 6% hurdle. As a reminder, the 6% hurdle is not just a fixed 6% hurdle: it compounds annually, meaning after a losing year, the 6% hurdle is now a 12.36% hurdle in year 2

Bottom line: If investors’ money is not growing by more than 6% annually, they are not paying a single dime in fees.

Based on its mid-year 2019 performance, the fund is generating a Total annualized net return of 16.7% since its inception in 2014 vs. the S&P500 index annualized net return of 11.1%.

The company’s latest purchase is Wells Fargo. You can read more about his thought process on that purchase (hint: Wells Fargo could potentially generate a Total Yield of 16% in the coming year).

The fund’s portfolio is an extremely concentrated one, with the top 4 positions Apple, Facebook, Tencent and Wells Fargo accounting for 4/5ths of its capital.

A key takeaway from its half-year report: A fully invested portfolio benefits by falling stock prices if the companies in the portfolio are net buyers of their shares.

7.The Science of Hitting

The Science of Hitting: This is not technically a blog. The writer is a contributor at Gurufocus, a subscription that I use. He writes frequently on individual stock counters such as Ollie’s, Dollar Tree, Walmart etc.

The articles are not long and provide a quick summary of his thesis as to why one should be considering buying/selling these stocks.

At times, he will write philosophical pieces but they too are easily digestible content.

” We never look at any analyst reports. If I read one it was because the funny papers weren’t available. I don’t understand why people do it…”

Warren Buffett

I tend to look up some of his older stock-related articles which is easily accessible when I run out of investing ideas.

8.Money is Boring

Money is Boring: This site was born out of a simple idea of providing information about money to the younger generation, something many under 30 want, but struggle to find.

There are very few resources out there that provide, simple, informative and real-world advice on money which is what Money is Boring or MIB in short, intends to fill.

The author is another huge Warren Buffett fan and regularly blogs about Buffett-related content.

While short on specific stock-related ideas, the website is long on value-investing strategies, with various articles on value investing rules and best practices.

For those who wish to have easy access to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Videos as well as meeting transcripts, you can go to his website here.

9.Mrfreeat33

Mrfreeat33: This blog is an investing/personal finance blog about Mr Jason Fieber, a self-made entrepreneur who becomes financially free at 33 years old. Jason chronicles his investing journey in this blog, how he overcomes his poor childhood and the fact that he was a school drop out to finally achieving financial independence through investing in dividend stocks.

He tracks his dividend income on a monthly basis and writes about an undervalued dividend growth stock each week.

However, it is not just about investing or dividend related content that he blogs about.

Jason frequently writes about his own personal life, like this one, where he talks about saying his final goodbyes to Thailand, a place he calls home for the last 2 years.

His most popular articles are those that are not stock specific. However, I do enjoy reading his stock-related articles which are not overly complicated and to the point.

10.Stockgumshoe

Stockgumshoe: This is a unique stock website by Travis Johnson that basically looks to expose the teaser ideas behind Investment Newsletters, for FREE.

We do get email ads and see online ads for stock newsletters and investment and trading services. often, these ads tempt you with promises of great ideas in store, usually specific companies with huge upside potential.

But they don’t tell you the name of it – for that, they want your $1,000/year subscription first.

Stock Gumshoe helps you skip that step of figuring out what that wonderful “teaser” company might be.

So if you are tempted to subscribe to an investment newsletter which promises to reveal to you the next 100-bagger stock, after you pay them $1k bucks for their newsletter, head over to Stockgumshoe first to see if they might already have that answer you are seeking for.

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Disclosure: The accuracy of the material found in this article cannot be guaranteed. Past performance is not an assurance of future results. This article is not to be construed as a recommendation to Buy or Sell any shares or derivative products and is solely for reference only.