Calling for Improvements

[CompoundingCed]

This is a tough time for everyone. In this period, it’s inevitable that we question what does not seem to be working.

Here’s how it typically goes. A newcomer found this board in the past 2 years. He was attracted by the track record of this board, got all euphoric and cursed his luck for not finding this board earlier. This newcomer, expecting the good times to last consistently and in perpetuity, now gets burned bad by a market downturn, curses his luck for adopting the investing style of this board and offers an “innocent” public critique of said style. For good measure, he throws in a suggestion to improve the board.

For these newcomers who feel that their pain gives them the right to tell us what to do, consider the following.

First, this is Saul’s Investing Discussions. The guy’s name is in the board’s name. This board was set up to discuss one (and only one) person’s investing style. This is not a free-for-all, no-holds-barred public board to find the best way of investing or the best way to run a board in your opinion. To those who moan about their unfair treatment when they make “constructive” suggestions: how would you like it if strangers came up to your house to give you suggestions on how to run your house better? We don’t go to your house to do that, so don’t do that in ours either.

Second, it takes years of effort to build up a board like this with very specific rules and with participants who largely respect these rules. Anyone can type suggestions and critiques behind a keyboard. If you feel so strongly about it, do something. For e.g. a few people are calling for an OT board to be set up, but the irony is when push comes to shove, excuses like “purely due to time constraint” or “If someone starts it, I will be there” surface. No one wants to do the work. If all you can contribute to Saul’s board is your moaning (or your support for the moaners), your posts are not welcome in this board.

If this post has stirred up anger or resentment in you, your posts are likely not suited for this board. There are many other TMF public boards that you can go to. As @Bear and @stocknovice have indirectly alluded to, don’t come in here with your spotty investment track record to moan about how we do things in our house and expect us welcome you with outstretched hands.

For the rest of the silent observers that understand and respect the rules of this board, thank you for helping us maintain the sanctity of this board.

[tdonb]

I don’t generally read posts from unknown sources on here, but I have noticed over the years that when the board managers and regulars start complaining about nonsense posted by newbies it is usually time for a reversal. Cheers to better times ahead, and thank you to Saul and other level heads around here. I’m still way up from where I was when I first found Saul’s board.

[KuberB]

Hi CompoundingCed, first of all thank you for your message. Many of the things what you are saying are correct. But I am not broke (at least not yet), fortunately I have a well paying profession which can take care of my family needs. Of course the lost money could have given bit more buffer in crisis but that’s OK. I can always make it again, so not worried.

Putting that aside, I was neither criticising anyone nor saying that the method you follow on this board are wrong. Far from it. I do appreciate the discussions and also agree with the assessments that are regularly made by people here who certainly are far more knowledgeable than me. Besides it is none of my business to say if someone else’s investing style is wrong. In fact I made it clear many of my losses are not due to the strategies many of you follow here or even discouraged on the board (eg like selling stocks when low or investing in options. I was merely expressing my thoughts and seeking suggestions from others to see if we can minimise our further losses in these testing times. That’s all. May be there are no more new ideas and we just might have to wait for the market to turn around. I don’t know. But I just felt I should ask. So I am sorry if you or others felt I was trying to blame anyone.

Again, as I said, of course some moderation is absolutely required for the board of this size so that it will not get cluttered and become useless. But I also think we should be careful how & how much we do it so that we do not inadvertently discourage opposing views. Because sometimes they can be useful too; at least to re-check and confirm what our thinking & hypothesis about a particular investment is correct

I still think an OT board would be nice to have so that all these doubts, opinions, suggestions etc etc (like this thread) can be redirected to. Not wanting to work is not the reason I said can’t start one. Really wish I could do it myself. But I genuinely do not have time (at least for now) due to long hours of work and a terminally ill parent at home requiring high level of care. I can certainly help when my situation changes. But is it such a bad idea to check if someone is in a slightly better situation than me who might have some spare time to help us run it?

I always felt the board to be “ours”. But if you consider this board belongs to just selected few and even a simple suggestion from anyone else is akin to invading your house, then I have nothing more to say.

Again, I apologise if I hurt you or anyone else’s sentiments. It was not my intention.
KuberB

[RWRocks]

OT:Boards:

look on the right hand side of the screen. There is a link to OT Boards. For those who bothered to read (as Saul recommends EVERY SINGLE WEEK).

Honestly …

RW

[SaulR80683]

I always felt the board to be “ours”. But if you consider this board belongs to just selected few and even a simple suggestion from anyone else is akin to invading your house, then I have nothing more to say.

Kuber (and others),
Yes, Kuber, I set this board up, and it is different than other boards (and Twitter, etc). It has Rules, and it is those Rules which has made it so valuable, and have brought wealth to so many families. The Rules are posted every Monday. You should read them, and read the Knowledgebase.

The board is set up to analyze the businesses of individual high growth stocks. Not the valuation of them, because talking about EV/S is laughable when you are talking about companies with growth rates of 80-85% average, and with recurring revenue while those other companies have to start over each year from scratch. Most of our companies with little if any capex and they don’t have to build factories or double their supply lines to double revenue. They have gross margins of 80% so their revenue is worth twice as much to the company as the same revenue is to a company with 40% gross margins. They have NRRs of 125% or so, so that the same customers end up spending 25% more next year, without the company having to go out to find new customers, and the new customers’ new revenue is added on to that 125%.

And just for an illustration of the power of compounding, 80% growth for 5 years would bring you 19 TIMES what you started with. How do you put the same $100 million in S in the formula EV/S as you would for a company growing by 15%. (Granted, no company will continue for 5 years at 80%, but you can see that even with slowing they will probably have much, much more revenue in five years than what they started with).

If you want to discuss valuation there are plenty of boards that would welcome you. Don’t come here to complain that we don’t. As several people have pointed out, if this was a board for discussions of French Cooking, you wouldn’t come and post about how much better Chinese egg rolls are, or post your latest recipe for hamburgers on a bun.

Again: This particular board is set up to analyze the businesses of individual high growth stocks. Not the valuation of them.

If you are not happy with those rules, you are welcome to leave and go someplace else where you will feel welcome. Don’t hang around here to complain.

Saul