After failing the 5th class exam for the third time, the two best friends Ram and Shyam got really depressed. Having to repeat the year in the same class for the fourth time wasn’t very comforting even though they would have each other’s company.

Shyam proposed, “I can’t take this humiliation anymore. Let’s end this suffering. I am thinking of suicide.”

Ram responded, “Are you crazy? If we die now, we’ll have to start all over again from kindergarten in the next life!”

Perhaps you didn’t find the joke so funny but it had me rolling on the floor laughing. When I came to my senses I realized I had been doing the same thing in my life as far as reading books was concerned.

Whenever I lost interest in a book midway, an emotion of guilt arose, especially if the book was recommended by an important person or someone whom I respect. Having read 10-20 percent of a book, it would become really difficult to leave it in between and move on the next one even though I wasn’t enjoying the book. Why?
[Read more…] about Life 2.0: The Unfinished Books

In 1969, Warren Buffett decided to close down his 100-member investment partnership and offered to return the money to the investors. However, for those who wanted to stay invested in stock market, Buffett advised them to take their cash to Sequoia Fund run by Bill Ruane.

Warren Buffett recognizes Ruane as one of the Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville. He wrote, “When I wound up the Buffett Partnership, I asked Bill Ruane if he would set up a fund to handle all of our partners, so he set up the Sequoia Fund…Bill was the only person I recommended to my partners.”

Bill Ruane and Buffett knew each other from the time they studied under Benjamin Graham at Columbia University. Ruane was also Buffett’s stock broker in the 1960s.

Ruane is one of his generation’s most successful money managers. Sequoia fund has recorded one of the best long-term track records on Wall Street since its inception. In the 45-year period from its inception in 1970 to 2015, the fund earned an annualized return of 14.7% versus the S&P 500’s annualized return of 10.9%. It’s one of the very few funds which has managed to outperform the S&P 500 for four decades.

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