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Sunday, August 16, 2026

Investment and Life Lessons - Part 21

Here's the PART 21 of our Investment and Life Lessons series. 

These are the ideas we've gathered from our various readings on business, stocks, economy, money, war, love and life. Our list is getting too long again hence we're sharing it with the Filipino Investors out there for them to learn a thing or two. Cheers!
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  1. Loose lips sink ships

  2. En Vino Veritas, in wine there is truth

  3. Give the glory, keep the money

  4. Everything is easy to the person who does not have to do it

  5. Life is about questions not answers

  6. Success is when your children wanna be with you when they are adults

  7. Self love is the path to absolute madness

  8. “Dual mandate” of the Fed: to keep employment high and inflation low.

  9. Economist Milton Friedman and coauthor Anna Schwartz explain in “A Monetary History of the United States,” just over a decade after its creation, the Fed actually created the panic it was founded to stop. Their policies, Friedman and Schwartz argue, spiraled what could have been an ordinary recession into the Great Depression.

  10. Even Ben Bernanke, a member of the Fed’s board of governors at the time and later the Fed chair, said in a 2002 speech, “Let me end my talk by slightly abusing my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You’re right, we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.”

  11. The purpose of the fed is to help banks socialize losses and privatize profits

  12. He gets what he wants, and he doesn't want what he doesn't get

  13. Loyalty is a foreign concept in this day and age

  14. IOUs are called financial claims. They are claims against someone else’s money at a future date

  15. To the Deficit Spending Unit (DSU), a financial claim is a liability, and interest payments are the penalty for consuming before income is earned

  16. To the Surplus Spending Unit (SSU), the financial claim is an asset, and the interest earned is the reward for postponing consumption

  17. It's better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war

  18. an idle mind is a devil’s workshop

  19. No matter how good you are, if you stay for too long, you’ll spoil it. A good dancer must know when to leave the stage

  20. A man can never have too much red wine, too many books or too much ammunition - Kipling

  21. Does thou love life? Then do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of - Benjamin Franklin

  22. The only time you really live fully is from 30 to 60. The young are slaves to dreams. The old servant of regrets. Only the middle aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits

  23. Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools. They don't have brains enough to be honest

  24. Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. For it is better to be alone than in bad company

  25. To be busy is man’s only happiness

  26. The infinite frame always conquers the finite

  27. The point of the game is to keep playing

  28. As long as it’s unknown, that means I have a chance - Michael Jordan

  29. When it feels scary to jump, that is exactly when you jump, otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life, and that I can't do.

  30. My statement is right if it's true more often than it's untrue, not if it's always true. Truisms are based on probability, not perfection. By focusing on the exceptions, you fail to comprehend the basis of the rule and thus miss the point entirely.

  31. In a high trust society, older people mentor the younger people they view as worthy, and prepare them to take over their roles. In a low trust society, older people often see younger people as a threat to their position, and actively sabotage them to stop them ascending.

  32. The worse a situation becomes, the less it takes to turn it around, the bigger the upside - George Soros

  33. I am not predicting. I am observing. - GS

  34. The main difference between me and other people who have amassed this kind of money is that I am primarily interested in ideas, and I don't have much personal use for money. - GS

  35. In life, we are all either kings or pawns; emperors and fools - Napoleon Bonaparte

  36. Winter defeated Napoleon. Winter defeated Hitler. And winter will defeat Europe once again.

  37. Slow but sure - Metodio VergaƱo

  38. All men die, but not all men die complaining

  39. All men suffer. Not all men pity themselves

  40. Being great is in your duty, being great is in your nature

  41. My words like a penitentiary dick. Hittin' bitches where it's most needed - 2pac

  42. The enemy would've won today, if they had been commanded by a winner - Caesar

  43. The man makes the suit. The suit doesn't make the man.

  44. Live long enough to become a living legend - Jim Rohn

  45. You gotta have paper in this world - Snoop Dogg

  46. Sometimes it's not about our forceful interventions but our gentle surrender - Tao Te Ching

  47. Go big, because we all go home - Naval

  48. Ad hominem is the last resort of an exhausted mind

  49. If world leaders fought the war, we would have world peace

  50. The rules dictate that you must be precise as the law is a precise endeavor

  51. With malice comes the desire to offend, but with honesty and courage comes the willingness to offend in order to help.

  52. Young man, don't ever come between a man and his meal

  53. Never get in between a somebody and their paper

  54. Taking away a man’s livelihood from him is akin to killing him

  55. The Artist makes improvement for improvements sake in pursuing the height of the craft

  56. We always aim for silent delivery - Angela Baguisi-Peralta

  57. Women manipulate the weak man and submit to the one who sets boundaries

  58. Millionaires don't believe in astrology, billionaires do - JPMorgan

  59. The truth is like a Lion, you don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself - St Augustine

  60. Physics is unforgiving - Elon Musk

  61. Physics is the law and everything else is a recommendation - Elon Musk

  62. You can break a law made by humans; but try breaking a law made by Physics

  63. There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen - Vladimir Lenin

  64. Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing - Optimus Prime

  65. When people cannot control you, they will try to control the perception of you

  66. All roads lead to you, even the ones i took to forget you

  67. Make excellence your way of life

  68. Do it not to impress, but to serve

  69. To whom much is given, much is expected

  70. If you feel oppressed but can't say how, you're not oppressed. You're just particularly bad at what you do and want to blame someone else for it

  71. Vanity, definitely my favorite sin

  72. The biggest way to kill a big dream, is to introduce it to a small mind

  73. It’s in your words, and your words become flesh

  74. The real G’s move in silence like lasagna - Lil Wayne

  75. Silent G

  76. What's fair is unfair

  77. What's perfect is imperfect

  78. JOMO - Joy of missing out

  79. You can't control the wind but you can adjust the sails.

  80. Trust not a woman when she weeps, for it is her nature to weep when she wants her will

  81. There are no Hebrew words for retirement, adolescent and fair

  82. retirement - because it is a bad concept, you should never retire

  83. adolescent - because it is a bad concept, an adolescent is someone who wants the privileges of an “adult” but without the attached responsibilities like a “child”

  84. fair - because it is a bad concept, fair is a very loose word an undefined, could create conflict, they believe in justice and agreements are sacred, because agreements are clearly defined i.e 50-50, 48-52, 33-67

  85. You can have a relatively small differences at the population level that produce walloping consequences at the tail end of the distribution

  86. Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything

  87. C’est la vie

  88. Even most egalitarians care deeply of creating geniuses in their society

  89. Nietzsche had a more penetrating knowledge of himself than any other man who ever lived - Sigmund Freud

  90. I had to stop reading Nietzsche otherwise, I’ll have no original ideas of my own - Sigmund Freud

  91. Rome against Judea, Judea against Rome - so far there has been no great event than this battle - Friedrich Nietzsche

  92. Every philosophy is an intimate confession of the philosopher - Nietzsche

  93. The wise man is someone who is willing to compromise his virtue to preserve his happiness

  94. The wise man is as virtuous as he can be without hurting the source of his happiness

  95. Today is the first day of the rest of my life - Sal Valentinetti

  96. Women are in business, men are in love

  97. She can ruin your faith with her casual lies

  98. Things don't just happen, things happen just - Jim Rohn

  99. Go where you’re treated best 

  100. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Investment and Life Lessons - Part 20

Here's the PART 20 of our Investment and Life Lessons series. 

These are the ideas we've gathered from our various readings on business, stocks, economy, money, war, love and life. Our list is getting too long again hence we're sharing it with the Filipino Investors out there for them to learn a thing or two. Cheers!
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  1. Thus the master makes things change without interfering. She is probing yet causes no harm. Straightforward, yet does not impose her will. Radiant, and easy on the eye - Lao Tzu

  2. Do not meddle with people’s livelihood; by respecting them they will in turn respect you - Lao Tzu

  3. The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff. Living plants are flexible and tender; the dead are brittle and dry - Lao Tzu

  4. Only he who is the lowest servant of the kingdom, is worthy of becoming its ruler. He who is willing to tackle the most unpleasant tasks, is the best ruler in the world. True sayings seem contradictory - Lao Tzu

  5. The Tao of Heavens nourishes by not forcing. The Tao of the Wise Person acts by not competing - Lao Tzu

  6. Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god  ― Aristotle

  7. What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease - Sun Tzu

  8. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory - Sun Tzu

  9. The helpful orientation of performance management is that “to rate” is not the end in view - but to enable the employees to realize the goals. - Prof. Rachel Consunji

  10. Mahalaga ang pagpansin - Rachel Consunji

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Nietzche's Higher Man

 “Nobody is more inferior than those who insist on being equal.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche



1. Rejection of the Herd Mentality

  • Nietzsche criticizes the conformity and mediocrity of "herd morality," which he associates with conventional societal norms and religious dogmas (especially Christianity).
  • Herd morality suppresses individuality and fosters mediocrity by valuing humility, obedience, and equality over ambition, strength, and creativity.
  • Higher men, by contrast, reject these imposed norms and carve their paths, setting their values and goals.

2. Self-Overcoming

  • Central to Nietzsche’s philosophy is the idea of "Überwindung" (self-overcoming). Higher men constantly challenge themselves, aiming to surpass their previous achievements and limitations.
  • Life, for Nietzsche, is a dynamic process of growth through struggle. Higher men embrace this struggle as a way to refine and elevate themselves.
  • They embrace their instincts and passions but channel them creatively, rather than repressing or indulging them blindly.

3. Will to Power

  • The "will to power" is the driving force of life, according to Nietzsche. It represents the desire to assert oneself, to grow, and to create.
  • Higher men embody the will to power by striving not for domination over others but for mastery of themselves and their circumstances.
  • Their greatness lies in their ability to impose their vision of life upon reality, shaping the world according to their unique perspective.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Even When My Hair Turns White - Rey Valera

(English Translation of "Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko")

When we grow old,

I hope we never change.
No matter when,
No matter where, this is my dream.
Would you still be able to,
Kiss me and hold me, oh,

Even as we age?
I’m just asking you—
Would you still love me,
Even when my hair turns white?

Friday, November 17, 2023

Vernian Capital on X: Bought FILRT as a Play on the BPO Sector with an Indicative Yield of 10%

Historical Chart, Weekly

Investment Rationale:

1. Assets comprising of 17 fully operational, Grade-A PEZA accredited Office Buildings in Alabang 

and 1 prime beach lot property in Boracay leased to Crimson hotels

2. Attractive dividend yield of 10% at current levels

3. "peak rates" outlook in 2023, policy rates projected to fall in 2024 onwards, making $FILRT yield more attractive

4. Strong BPO sector outlook projected to grow more than 10% per year in the next 5 years

5. Vacancy rate of ~20% is putting pressure on rental income but can be viewed as upside potential should office leasing picks up

6. Given point number 4, we think point 5 should be mitigated with almost 80% of tenants being largely multinational BPO companies

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Vernian Capital on X: Bought GDXJ as a Bullish Play on Gold

November is one of gold's strongest month based on the 20-year historical average. If this plays out, we could be testing the multi-year resistance at 2050-2100 levels by then.

Macro backdrop of "flight to safety is also in play".

Technical Pattern: Falling broadening wedge, continuation pattern, bullish to the upside Long $GDXJ at 33.36
Holding Period: 1 to 4 months
Price Target: None, discretionary
Stop Loss: None, discretionary

Traded Under (3) Special Situations

1Y, Daily Chart

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Effect of Interest Rate Hikes in the Stock Market (S&P 500) - A Historical Study

If you've been following the financial markets, the chatter in the current environment is the sell-off on global stock markets was driven by fears of an interest rate hike, particularly the 10-Year US treasury yield.

This raises the question: How did the stock market behave with the interest rate spikes in the past? And does a stock market sell-off necessarily follow when there is "spike" in treasury yields?

To answer this inquiry, we decided to check history since the current rate hike is not the first time it happened - in fact, looking at the data, we've visually identified 7 notable rate spikes in the last 40 years. We then checked how the bond prices and stock prices behaved during this "rate hike/spike" period to give us a flavor of what to potentially expect.


10-Year Treasury Yield from 1980 to Present