Top Podcasts of the Week

Below is our “Top Podcast” list with our curator, Colby Donovan!

Today we have Ray Dalio on the changing world order, a deep dive into the rise of coffee prices, and author Leonard Mlodinow on how to harness our emotions to make better decisions.

• Odd Lots: Why the Price of Coffee Beans Soared in the Last Year. Ryan Delany is a longtime player in the coffee space and founder of the Coffee Trading Academy. He joins the episode to explain how the coffee market works and what’s driven the huge price swing. He covers many of the factors affecting supply and demand — including extreme weather events, COVID, the transition to work from home, and the impact of all the players in the space. [January 6, 2022–60 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Website Link

• We Study Billionaires — The Investor’s Podcast Network: TIP410: The Changing World Order W/ Ray Dalio. Author William Green interviews Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio. They begin by covering topics from his new book, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail, including the impact of the rise of China, low interest rates, and social unrest in the US. Then he pivots to topics he wrote about in his first book, Principles, and why he structured his firm differently than most. He finishes by sharing the lessons he learned from the tragic loss of his son at the end of 2020. [January 1, 2022–102 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Website Link

• Risk of Ruin: Bill Perkins is Not Afraid. Bill Perkins is a natural gas trader, poker player, and the author of Die With Zero. Bill talks about his start in the markets, becoming an energy trader, and later working with John Arnold while taking the other side of the natural gas market from Amaranth, which led to the shut down of Amaranth. He also tells the story of almost blowing up his own fund during an extremely cold winter one year. But all along the way, he looks at where he can find an edge, how much to bet on that edge, and having the ability to handle the outcome, regardless of where the chips fall. [January 3, 2021–44 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google

“If you’re going to be a boxer, you better like getting punched.”

The Meb Faber Show

• 381 — Leonard Mlodinow — How To Harness Your Emotions To Become A Better Investor. Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist and best-selling author of a number of books, including The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives and Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking, which releases next week! This episode takes a look at the relationship between our emotions and investment decisions. Leonard explains how emotions can make us emphasize or de-emphasize certain beliefs and even completely ignore certain data points. Then he shares what studies say about how the best traders handle their emotions and talk about the role of social and emotional contagion on financial markets. [January 5, 2022–48 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Website Link

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Ray Dalio (Founder, Bridgewater Associates): 

1. The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) by Joseph Campbell

2. The Lessons of History by Will Durant

3. River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life by Richard Dawkins

4. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 by Paul Kennedy

5. No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

6. The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard Haass

Will Ahmed (Founder & CEO, Whoop):

1. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight

Good investing,Meb Fabertheideafarm.com