116: Investing Lessons from 40+ Years at the FT & Bloomberg - With John Authers, Senior Markets Editor at Bloomberg
Oct 19, 2023
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John Authers, renowned financial commentator and author, shares his investing lessons, including diversification, fee minimisation, and avoiding home country bias. He discusses the evolution of the 60/40 portfolio, lessons from Swensen, and doubts about private assets euphoria. John also explains how he and his team approach research, assess mistakes, and stay relevant in a fast-evolving industry.
Being invested in the stock market most of the time is significant for long-term success.
John Authors emphasizes the importance of diversification and the risks of market timing.
John Authors' satisfying work experience was covering the financial crisis from 2006 to 2009 in New York.
Deep dives
The importance of being in the market
The speaker reflects on their past bearishness and emphasizes the significance of being invested in the stock market most of the time.
The podcast host introduces the guest
The podcast host introduces John Authors, a British financial commentator and author with extensive experience in the industry.
John Authors' journey into financial journalism
John Authors discusses his transition into financial journalism, starting with his background in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and his early interest in American politics.
The satisfaction of covering the financial crisis
John Authors shares his most satisfying work experience, which was covering the financial crisis from 2006 to 2009 while working in New York.
Lessons from writing 'The Long View' column
John Authors reflects on the key lessons he learned from writing 'The Long View' column, including the importance of diversification and the risks of market timing.
Today’s guest has performed with Pavarotti, but in his day job he is a financial commentator and author, who spent 29 years at the Financial Times, including as Global Head of the Lex Column, before moving to Bloomberg as Senior Markets Editor.
He is responsible for ‘Points of Return’, the highly regarded and followed commentary, and has the unusual appeal of a career spanning geographies, asset classes and employers.
John recaps on his investing lessons from years of writing ‘The Long View’ at the FT, Lex, and being a correspondent across industries. He highlights some key investing takeaways, including diversification, fee minimisation, patience and avoiding home country bias.
He also discusses the evolution of the 60/40 portfolio, lessons from Swensen, and reflects on his doubts about some of the private assets euphoria.
In addition, John explains how he and his team approach the topics they want to research and cover, how he prioritises the news which matters, assessing mistakes, and staying relevant in a fast-evolving industry.
Finally, he also covers corporate culture, whether the City of London is losing out to New York, and reflects on lessons from one or two of the great investors.