welcome, self-directed investors…

My name is James Scurlock. I’m the general partner of the Intelligent Fund Ltd, as well as the author of several books about business, finance and investing, including Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit, and King Larry: The Life & Ruins of a Billionaire Genius (both Scribner). For six years I’ve studied the work of Benjamin Graham, whose book The Intelligent Investor created the first (and still the best) road map for the self-directed investor. Graham’s former students and mentees include Warren Buffett, Walter Schloss and John Bogle.

TII elaborates Graham’s methods in a conversational tone. In addition, we publish individual stocks that are deemed "investable" using Graham's methods—such as "cigar butts," "wallflowers," and "net working capital stocks”—four days a week. We also publish a rolling portfolio, which has returned more than 26% annually over the past three-plus years, versus about 10% for the S&P 500 index. Thursday is cheat day. Oh, and if the portfolio does not at least double the return of a "risk-free" asset such as an FDIC-guaranteed CD or an SPIC-guaranteed money market account over two years, you get a refund.

wall flowers, cigar butts & subscriptions…

The newsletter is published six days a week. Monday through Thursday I publish “the weighing machine,” consisting of “fresh” cigar butts and wallflowers, i.e. investable stocks, as well as some economic data and brief commentary. On Friday I publish a diary of sorts for free. Sunday features a weekly summary of our portfolio and indexes as well as the markets as a whole. (Our raw data is available in Excel format to all paying subscribers). Sunday’s edition (“Slow Money”) also includes more substantial commentary (by myself but usually much smarter people) and news. I take Easter and Christmas off, as well as market holidays and one month per year.

inoculation…

Before going any further, I suggest watching this <5 min. “inoculation” to value investing on YouTube. If it does not “take,” i.e. if it does not seem intuitive or internalizable, you will save yourself a great deal of time and frustration by exploring another investing approach (though you will also probably be poorer as as result).

Subscribe to The Intelligent Newsletter

Value investing data and commentary. User Manual at https://theintelligentnewsletter.substack.com/p/user-manual?r=7hgfb&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web and 5 min value investing "inoculation" at https://youtu.be/3ChM1hsstpw?si=hOtivTnUu5R-FR7X.

People

Author/director of Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit (Scribner, HarperCollins, Showtime), King Larry: The Life & Ruins of a Billionaire Genius (Scribner, CNBC) and general partner/manager of The Intelligent Fund, Ltd.