OnTrack Reading

Years ago, I had a friend who died far too young. He was, in my opinion, one of the best portfolio managers in the country and he and I would do business together occasionally. His name was Russ.

While we did a little treasury bond business together which benefited both of us, the real pleasure came from our conversations, which we had every month or so. I came at the economy from a top-down, or macroeconomic perspective, whereas Russ always came at it from the ground up. He knew more about digging out little nuggets of information than anyone I ever encountered in the bond business, and this was before the internet era when digging took some real effort.

Given that we were coming at the big picture from opposite directions all the time, it was surprising how often we seemed to arrive at roughly the same conclusion on the direction the economy, and interest rates, were likely to take. I would pontificate about money supply and taxes and then, invariably, Russ would say “here’s a little tidbit that might interest you.”

He always called them tidbits, but they were almost always 24 karat nuggets of information that he’d dug out and been watching over the years. I wish I’d written them all down now; pencil and paper back then, you know.

So, this is the Tidbit section of the Guide. Some of what you find in here will probably be just bits of information not worth your time reading, but I hope that you will find some nuggets in here too, just as I did when talking with Russ too long ago now.

The first one I’m sure is a nugget, by the way. It’s the best way I’ve ever found of getting a child to tell b from d, and it’s out of Romalda Spalding’s book, The Writing Road to Reading. I highly encourage you to read Telling b from d.

Next: Telling b from d, or return to the OnTrack Reading Home Page.