Jeremy Granthom's GMO Quarterly Letter

Every quarter I make sure to post Jeremy Granthom's quarterly letter at GMO.  Granthom is very insightful and has been keenly right in his markets calls over the past few decades.  As an investor or market follower, you can usually pull some very good ideas or at least reinforce investment strategies that are already implemented.

One theme that Granthom and I agree on is the long-term play in the ag industry.  Weather it is equipment makers, fertilizers, or seeds  manufactures the world is going to need allot more of all things agriculture as the world's population continues to explode.  But with any long-term strategy it is susceptible to short-term trading actions.

Another point to make within the letter is the connection that Granthom makes between a downfall of capitalism (growth, growth, growth) and the ability to sustain that growth with the natural resources available to us.  Again weather it is oil, water, farmland you name it the earth currently does not have the natural resources to support ourselves forever.  This gets back to the long-term agriculture strategy.  I could make the same point with oil but oil is far more volatile than farmland.  Farmland won't spike up because Israel is threatening to attach Iran but oil sure will.

Here is the link to Granthom's letter in PDF format.  Here are 10 investing points that he makes via the letter:

1. Believe in history
2. “Neither a lender nor a borrower be.”
3. Don’t put all of your treasure in one boat
4. Be patient and focus on the long term
5. Recognize your advantages over the professionals
6. Try to contain natural optimism
7. But on rare occasions, try hard to be brave
8. Resist the crowd: cherish numbers only
9. In the end it’s quite simple.  Really
10. “This above all: to thine own self be true.”