He learnt everything there was to learn from his father and mother.

Tuesday, January 30, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

The message we pass our kids is important. It stays forever


My heroes are and were my parents. I can't see having anyone else as my heroes.

Michael Jordan


From FT , Tobias Buck

 
For the moment, that man is Mr Fainé, the 72-year-old chairman of both Caixabank and the Caixa foundation. The son of illiterate Catalan peasants, Mr Fainé was raised in a house without running water and electricity, and started work aged 13 in a bicycle repair shop. Over the years, he has acquired wealth and status, a corporate box in Barcelona’s elegant Liceu opera house, a taste for golf and powerful allies such as Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Telefónica boss César Alierta. Yet Mr Fainé has little in common with the smooth-talking banking elite in Madrid. Deeply religious and a father of eight children, Mr Fainé likes to share folksy anecdotes and salesmen’s wisdoms picked up during his hardscrabble years. He believes in simplicity, and never keeping more than three things in his head at the same time. He taught his parents how to read and write, but says he learnt everything there was to learn from his father and mother.


he learnt everything there was to learn from his father and mother.


My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

Maya Angelou




My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.

Pablo Picasso


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You pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus

Friday, January 26, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments


20 years ago it was consensus in Portugal that if you got a degree, a paper, even if it's Journalism or nurse you would be good for life. fast forward 20 years most of the people with diplomas make less money than the Elevator technician that has a trainning experience.

The picture below (without face or plate ) if from the elevator technician yesterday. That is a smart guy he did not went (or could not) with the consensus. Perhaps even better he is a lawyer but changed to a better life and a better pay.


"What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end."

Warren Buffett

“The future is never clear; you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.” 

Warren Buffett









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Peace of Mind

Friday, January 26, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

 






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You are your routine

Thursday, January 18, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

I've been singing Shakira songs in front of my bathroom mirror into my hairbrush forever. It's like a daily routine.

Taylor Swift

Yo tuve la suerte de estar bien preprado para alguien como Botvinnik gracias a mi madre Klara. Mi madre herdó un estricto sentido de la importancia del orden y la rutina de su propria familia. Para mí, las cosas sencillamente funcionaban así, y simpre me sentí cómodo con este regimen. Dormir, comer, ir a la escuela, estudiar y divertirse, todo formaba parte de un horario.

Gary Kasparov


Nobody ever becomes an expert parent. But I think good parenting is about consistency. It's about being there at big moments, but it's also just the consistency of decision making. And it's routine.

Sebastian Coe





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When I see this , there is hope in the world

Thursday, January 18, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

I don't have a watch 

In the past I had the desire to have a World War II Rolex . But thinking a bit I have too much stuff. I need to get rid of things not buying more.

The price of new Swiss watch is something that does not make sense even with the brand value. The price of manufacturing one must be less than 10% of the face price. 

The rule that the price of something must converge to the price of building a new one must be somewhat true for brand new things. If it's a WW II they don't manufacture more of them and that could go up a lot.




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If you want a guarantees, buy a toaster

Monday, January 15, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

If you want a guarantees, buy a toaster. Clint Eastwood...



If you don't want to control too much your life becomes easier. To be honest I think the best way to live is to let it happen and enjoy what you have. work hard do your stuff but be aware that anything can happen. anything you have little control. If you want security you will be miserable each time you have a surprise



Adults assume that if they are living correctly, they can control the events around them.

Rob.Maurer PhD


Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.

Herodotus


How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life― Marcus Aurelius

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Last night the internet stopped working so I spent a few hours with my family

Friday, January 12, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments



"Last night the internet stopped working so I spent a few hours with my family. They seem like good people."

Dave Collum


Yesterday morning Facebook was temporarily offline, leaving millions of workers unable to do anything except their jobs.

I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good.

Elon Musk


The influence of social media is unbelievable. It's sad to see - it's a fake life that some people live.

Virgil van Dijk

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Big Money Thinks Small

Thursday, January 11, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

 “Investors have fared best in industries that cater to daily needs where customers can’t or won’t switch.”

― Joel Tillinghast, Big Money Thinks Small: Biases, Blind Spots, and Smarter Investing


In 2009, during the peak of The Great Recession, Warren Buffett was driving through downtown Omaha, Neb., with a CEO friend, who took note of their bleak surroundings: Empty streets, shuttered shops, a future with seemingly little hope.

“Warren, how are we ever going to pull out of this?”, the friend asked. “This country is never going to be the same.”

Buffett paused, then posed a question.

“Do you know what the best-selling candy bar was in 1962?”

When the friend said he wasn’t sure, Buffett told him it was Snickers. Then, he told him what the best-selling candy bar was now: Snickers.


Why do I say Big Money thinks small because you usually don't make money with big stories with big trends with big news. you make money in small things that are boring. Snickers is boring. Of course Mars company is private but Hershey's is public and a big success. These consumer brands where your candy bar costs centimes and you sell it for 10X the cost is where the big money is made.


Mars is known for his secrecy and obsessions with a clean factory. They don't think big they think small and they are big.





The company is famous for its secrecy. A 1993 Washington Post Magazine article was a rare raising of the veil, as the reporter was able to see the "M"s being applied to the M&M's, something that "no outsider had ever before been invited to observe".


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Most disasters happen when a CEO is charismatic and has zero opposition

Tuesday, January 09, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

Our research suggests that too many companies got to the point of complete agreement and proceed . We believe some disagreement is in order.

Paul Carroll , Billion Dollar Lessons

“Alfred P. Sloan, the legendary builder of General Motors, once said to a meeting of one of his top committees, 'Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here?' Everyone around the table nodded. 'Then,' Sloan continued, 'I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about”
― Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui, Billion Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last Twenty-five Years

John Paul II reformed the sainthood process in 1983, making it faster, simpler, and cheaper. The office of "Devil's advocate" - an official whose job was to try to knock down the case for sainthood - was eliminated, and the required number of miracles was dropped.

Since then 500 saints were canonized a rate about 20 x faster than before.


Most disasters happen when the powerful CEO is happily surrounded with yes man and everybody's agrees. The best CEO's of the 20th century wanted debate and fight before embracing a decision 




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The details are not the details

Monday, January 08, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

There is a huge difference between doing something and doing something well. The famous extra mile makes a big difference. If we want to well in life we just need to do the extra mile. That is it. It's enough to surpass 95% of people. Details.


Beware of the person who can't be bothered by details

William Feather


A handful of men have become very rich by paying attention to details that most others ignored

Henry Ford


The details are not the details. They make the design

Charles Eames


If you don't understand the details of your business you are going to fail

Jeff Bezos

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Listen to many, speak to a few.

Tuesday, January 02, 2024 Francisco 0 Comments

 

Listen to many, speak to a few.



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