Yesterday, I heard a fascinating presentation by Mohnish Pabrai, who runs Pabrai Investment Funds. The presentation on the Latticework Model (of Charlie Munger) was similar to this one available online.
Mohnish’s fund has given 35% compounded annual returns over the past 4 years – better than 99% of the fund managers. He is in the Warren Buffett-Charlie Munger mould, with the belief that one should make a few, big bets.
Some info on the Latticework model (from the NYSSA site):
According to Robert G. Hagstom Jr., author of “Latticework: The New Investing”, reading the great books as well as studying Newtonian physics will actually make you a better money manager.
Hagstrom urges investment professionals to take a broad worldview, incorporating principles from biology, mathematics, physics, economics, psychology, and literature. This approach, known as the latticework concept, originated when Charlie Munger gave a series of lectures on How to Achieve Worldly Wisdom at the University of Southern California in 1994 and 1996. The idea is that a broad liberal arts approach will help one excel not only at investing, but at anything in life, certainly surpassing the individual who operates with only a single view.
Our educational system is composed of strictly separate disciplines. The art of achieving worldly wisdom is about combining these bodies of knowledge and linking them together.
[Chetan Parikh has a review of Hagstrom’s book at Capital Ideas Online.]
A lot of what Mohnish said can also apply to entrepreneurs. I found another presentation (made at TiE) by him which connects entrepreneurship and value investing.
Another interesting talk (at PIF’s Sep 2003 Annual meeting) given by Mohnish is transcripted. Gives excellent insights into his thinking.
