Top 12 Personality Traits of Ultra-Successful Engineers

Sept. 30, 2019

Introduction

It is most important task for me to find my weakness and then work on improvement. I did have two onsite in August 2019 from Amazon and Facebook, I failed both of them. I was thinking today, maybe I should check it out new research topic called personality traits related to very good engineer.

Case study

Here is the article I like to read first. I like to compare to myself, what I should work on one by one. I can solve another 100 to 200 algorithms, but I need to learn the basics of personality traits, and then I should figure out how to work on improvements.

1. Trustworthy
2. Honest / Speaking the Truth
3. Clear Communication Skills
4. Team Player / Good Working Relationships / Teamwork
5. Open Minded / Seeing the Big Picture
6. Thinking Ahead / Being Ready for the Unexpected
7. Effectively Managing Risks
8. Setting Realistic yet Challenging Goals
9. Minimizing Complexity
10. Assuming / Taking Ownership / Taking Action

Book Club Ep. 1: "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need"

Here is the link.

9 signs you aren't as good at investing as you think you are - No. 4 You try to time your investments

You try to time your investments

People have a tendency to "shun the market when it's getting drubbed and venture back only after it has recovered," financial journalist Andrew Tobias explains in the updated version of his 1978 investing classic, "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need."

However, "It is precisely when the market looks worst that the opportunities are best; precisely when things are good again that the opportunities are slimmest and the risks greatest."

In short: Don't get overly excited when the market is judged to be healthy, and remember that bad things aren't obvious when times are good. As Buffett likes to say, "You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out."

9 signs you aren't as good at investing as you think you are - No. 3 You don't know how taxes affect your returns

You don't know how taxes affect your returns

The US government doesn't let you have the money you may make investing for free — when you cash in, you'll owe what's called capital gains taxes. Some withdrawals, like those from retirement accounts in some cases, can be taxed as income.

Various factors affect how much you'll have to pay, such as how long you've owned the asset. You'll pay a higher capital gains tax rate on investments you've owned for a shorter amount of time. (There's another reason to invest for the long term.)

"Taxes can greatly impact your investments – both while you are working and in retirement," Eweka explained to Business Insider. "If you are working and have many years until you need to access your money, your taxes and strategy are a lot different than when you are retired and pay taxes as you withdraw money from the returns generated within a workplace retirement plan such as a 403(b) or 401(k)."

9 signs you aren't as good at investing as you think you are - No. 2 You set and forget your investments

You set and forget your investments

Yes, you should keep your hands off your money ... to a point.

Life happens, and there are times — particularly big life changes — when it's smart to review your investments and make financial adjustments.

For example, if you decide to retire early, you'll need to readjust your time horizon and the amount of risk you choose to take in your portfolio. As your money grows, and as you get closer to the end of your time horizon, the original portfolio you created may no longer suit your needs.

9 signs you aren't as good at investing as you think you are - No. 1 You think short term

Here is the article.

Just like in virtually every other aspect of personal finance, you don't want to rely on investing to "get rich quick."

It's a long term game, and one of the best things you can do for your investments is leave them alone. As certified financial planner Shelly-Ann Eweka advises, "Avoid impulsively selling an underperforming investment and stay the course with a diversified portfolio that is able to withstand inevitable short-term rises and dips in the market."

Legendary investor Warren Buffett sums it up nicely: "If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes."

Be curious - happy birthday 53 years old

Sept. 30, 2019

Introduction

I like to be curious and keep learning. I will turn 53 years old in Oct. 2019

Stay foolish and stay curious

I like to encourage myself to explore my career options. I like to build strong foundation of data structure and algorithm in next 12 months.

Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Proverbs 4:14-15 Don’t follow the ways of the wicked; don’t do what evil people do. Avoid their ways, and don’t follow them. Stay away from them and keep on going.

Do not worry and happy birthday - 53 years old

Sept. 30, 2019

Introduction

It is time for me to prepare my birthday in less than 10 days. I like to remind myself to enjoy every day. Do not worry and stay positive.

My picture 

I took a picture and noticed that I may show less confident sometimes. It is time for me to gather the strength, work on my fitness, stay health and happy.

Isaiah 40:31

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Build wealth and grow rich with more gray hair

Sept. 30, 2019

Introduction

It is so challenge to welcome more gray hari. I will turn 53 years old next month. I like to build wealth and grow rich, I start to learn that there are so many ways to build wealth, as long as I work hard, I will find more ways to get there.

My thought process of aging

I start to notice that I have to learn to work with my physical strength, understand how to work better since I am over 50 years old.

Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Fitness goal - 176 lb

Sept. 30, 2019

Introduction

It is my goal to control weight under 180 lb, same as US open champion Bianca's weight.

My picture 

I like to show my picture took today. I will turn 53 years old, and I like to work on my fitness and really focus on my health.

My hair will turn gray, and I will be so experienced to work on same job in 10th year.

Enjoy the aging process, embrace hard work. I like to lose some stomach fat, 10 lb will be great!

My art - winners embrace hard work

Sept. 30, 2019

Introduction

It is the inventory day at work. The secretary told us to clean the desk. And last minute of work the marketing girl likes to throw away the picture frame, I asked to keep it, and then I chose the verse I like, and make it a piece of art to put on my table.

My art  

Here is the verse with picture framework.

Julia is the name I use in the current job. I just found the verse from Google, and then add my name with five different colors - Julia.

A water cup with facebook logo is my daily tool to water the plants last few years. I got the water cup as a gift back in January 2015 in Westin hotel, a Facebook tech talk. After the talk, I asked the recruiter if I can get an onsite interview in the hotel next day. I guessed that they come to interview candidates in the city of Vancouver. I got one, but I could not solve a sliding window algorithm, and I started the coding blog called Juliacodingblog.com after January 2015.

I like to make my table more organized, so I like to use some folders to keep my printouts. I like to read books, and also take some break to print out the projects I work on.

I am so luck to live in Canada from 2010, so that I learn to build better healthy life style. Play tennis in the central park of Burnaby city. I have a charming personality to play over hundreds players. I start to learn to read people, and also learn to a really good sports player as well.

I like to be a winner. I just start to memorize the verse. I love the discipline of it. In other words, hard work discipline me. I need to train myself using Leetcode algorithms first. Meet people in mock interview first. Write discussion post first.

I love the trade-off I am making to win.
Here are highlights of trade-offs:
1. Try to minimize time to finish projects;
2. Increase my ability to solve problems;
3. Train myself hard to write algorithm and data structure problems first;
4. Leave system design as is. Learn by reading is not good enough, I should try to learn by practice, real coding on Leetcode online judge;
5. I should train myself to do good testing first on Leetcode, I will learn and adapt to my work quickly.

I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH (BY RAMIT SETHI)

Here is the link.

THE LITTLE BOOK THAT BEATS THE MARKET (BY JOEL GREENBLATT)

Here is the video I like to watch.

The Greatest Value Investors of All Time - Joel Greenblatt

Joel Greenblatt and his magic formula

Before he turned 30, Greenblatt started the Gotham Capital hedge fund in 1985 and ran it until 2006, when he returned investors' money and stepped aside. He is now a professor at the Columbia Business School and is the co-founder of the Value Investors Club website. What has captured the attention of avid value investors, however, are his books; most notably, the best-selling The Little Book That Beats the Market.

In the book, after explaining the basics of value investing, Greenblatt claims to have a "magic formula" that will beat the market. The big secret? Rank companies by their earnings yields and on their return on capital, combine the rankings, and buy the top dozen or so companies. The earnings yield of a stock is calculated by flipping the P/E ratio. Instead of dividing the price by EPS, divide the EPS by the stock's price. The result, when expressed as a percentage, is the earnings yield. This percentage can be easily compared to bond yields, assuring investors they are accepting a greater potential for rewards by investing in stocks, a riskier asset class than bonds.  The return on capital looks for how much companies have to pay to buy the assets that created their earnings.

That simple formula, Greenblatt insists, is the secret to successful and simple investing.

Investment track record: For the two decades that Greenblatt managed Gotham Capital, the fund returned an annualized rate of 40%. That return is simply staggering and is more than Buffett averaged over any two-decade period.

Important lesson: While there are several lessons I've personally taken away from Greenblatt over the years, one of my most profound epiphanies was when I realized why Greenblatt was so high on companies that had high returns on capital. It was a way to quantify a company's moat, a competitive advantage a business holds over its competition and one of the singular factors Buffett seeks out in his investments. In The Little Book, Greenblatt explains:

"To earn a high return on capital even for one year, it's likely that, at least temporarily, there's something special about that company's business. Otherwise, competition would already have driven down returns on capital to lower levels.

It could be that the company has a relatively new business concept (perhaps a candy store that sells only gum), or a new product (like a hot video game), or a better product (such as an iPod that's smaller and easier to use than a competitors' products), a good brand name, ... or a company could have a very strong competitive position...

In short, companies that achieve a high return on capital are likely to have a special advantage of some kind. That special advantage keeps competitors from destroying the ability to earn above-average profits."

The Greatest Value Investors of All Time - Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett: The Oracle of Omaha

As if he even needs an introduction , Buffett was born in 1930 in Nebraska. After graduating high school, he attended Columbia Business School where he studied under, who else, Benjamin Graham. Buffett would credit Graham's teachings for his successful investment career for the rest of his life. After running several successful investing partnerships, Buffett eventually disbanded them and invested in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A)(NYSE:BRK.B), a textile manufacturing company. In the mid-1960s, Buffett took control of the company after aggressively buying shares and turned it into a diversified holding company, a corporate umbrella under which largely independent companies run their businesses separate from each other. Berkshire's market cap, the total market value of a company's outstanding shares, is now near $500 billion.

Despite his incredible success, Buffett still lives in the same house in Omaha that he purchased in 1957 for $31,500. To this day, he "only" makes $100,000 a year in salary for performing his CEO duties at Berkshire. Due to his incredible investing success, however, his estimated net worth is about $87.5 billion, making him the third richest person on earth.

Investment track record: From 1965 to 2017, shares in Berkshire Hathaway had annual returns  of 20.9% compared to the S&P 500 index's 9.9% return. To put that into perspective, in 2015 the New York Times calculated that, since 1965, shares in Berkshire Hathaway had gained a cumulative 1,826,163%! The company is a longtime shareholder of stalwarts like American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC).

Important lesson: Enough ink has been spilled distilling Buffett's investing wisdom to fill a large library, but my personal favorite comes from Buffett's 1989 shareholder letter. In this letter, he wrote, "Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre... It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price."

Buffett first followed what he called a "cigar butt" approach to investing, trying to find a company that was good for a last few puffs before disposing of it. Later, he came to understand that buying quality companies, defined as businesses with substantial economic moats, and holding them for long periods of time was a far superior approach to investing. This method allowed the magic of compound interest to do the heavy lifting. Compound interest is not only gains on the original principle, but also gains on accumulated interest. While this sounds trivial, over time, it exponentially powers returns. 

As he put it, "Time is the friend to the wonderful business." Indeed.

The Greatest Value Investors of All Time - Shelby Cullom Davis

I will play with the content and then make my study notes. 

Shelby Cullom Davis: The insurance investor

Shleby Cullom Davis (it is important to use his middle name because his son by the same name was also a successful investor) is unique because he did not start investing until he turned 38. Before turning to a life in investment, Davis was a freelance writer and economic advisor to New York Governor Thomas Dewey. In 1947, Davis took an inheritance his wife received from a family owned furniture chain, and began investing. For years, Davis would stick almost wholly to investing in insurance companies because he liked their business model of being able to invest the float, the money insurers can invest between the time they collect a premium to when they have to pay out a claim.

Davis studied the principles of Benjamin Graham religiously and purposefully sought out insurance companies with low P/E ratios and good management teams. He also checked their balance sheets to ensure they did not invest the float in risky assets like junk bonds, debt issued to companies with questionable credit ratings . A trip to Japan in the 1960s proved especially fortuitous, as he discovered Japanese insurance companies were not only more undervalued than American insurance companies but also enjoyed a bigger moat, or competitive advantage, due to regulations limiting the number of insurers allowed to operate.

Investment track record: Davis started investing with $50,000 and ended, at the time of his death in 1994, with a fortune worth more than $900 million, an incredible 23% average annual compound growth rate! His most notable investments, outside of Japan, included insurers such as American International Group, Chubb, and Progressive.

Important lesson: Davis liked to buy companies with low P/E ratios that would double their earnings growth over time. As the earnings grew, however, so did the companies' valuation levels as expressed by metrics such as the P/E ratio.. When the P/E ratio and earnings both doubled, Davis would affectionately call this the "Davis Double Play". Each of these, by definition, would result in an investment returning at least four times its value. As John Rothchild wrote in his biography on the Davis family, The Davis Dynasty, this quickly became powerful math:

"In 1950, insurance companies sold for four times earnings. Ten years later, they sold for 15 to 20 times earnings, and their earnings had quadrupled ... What he'd bought for four times $1, they bought for 18 times $8. His $4,000 investment was now worth $144,000 in Mr. Market's estimation ... Davis called this sort of lucrative transformation "Davis Double Play." As a company's earnings advanced, giving the stock an initial boost, investors put a higher price tag on the earnings, giving the stock a second boost."

While it might be almost impossible to find a stock with a valuation that has the potential to double in a few years in this market, the principle behind the Davis Double Play is as powerful as ever. Stocks with potential for earnings growth and multiple expansion, provide a powerful combination to boost investors' returns.

The Greatest Value Investors of All Time - Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham: The father of value investing

Graham became a partner at a Wall Street firm just six years after graduating college. For 30 years, from 1926 to 1956, he lectured on a range of financial matters at Columbia University. After suffering great losses in the crash of 1929, Benjamin Graham learned his lessons and described them in his seminal books, Security Analysis in 1934 and The Intelligent Investor in 1949. In Security Analysis, Graham defined the difference between investments and speculations as, "An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative."

Graham's notions of careful selection of stocks for a portfolio paved the way for fundamental analysis, the attempt to determine a company's intrinsic value, or what a company is actually worth, by studying the business's underlying quantitative and qualitative factors.

Investment track record: After the publication of Security Analysis in 1934, the Graham-Newsome Corporation averaged 17% annual returns until 1956 when the company was terminated. During this time, Graham outperformed the market average by at least 2.5% annually.

Though normally widely diversified by investing in stocks across a number of different sectors, Graham once invested more than 20% of his portfolio to acquire GEICO, the property and casualty insurance company. While they held it, the value of the holding increased an incredible 200 times, from about $700,000 to more than $1 billion!

Important lesson: I believe the most valuable lesson to take away from Graham is that the market is not always efficient, meaning that stocks often sell below their intrinsic value, what a stock is actually worth. In Intelligent Investor, Graham wrote:

"Imagine that in some private business you own a small share that cost you $1,000. One of your partners, named Mr. Market, is very obliging indeed. Every day he tells you what he thinks your interest is worth and furthermore offers either to buy you out or to sell you an additional interest on that basis. Sometimes his idea of value appears plausible and justified by business developments and prospects as you know them. Often, on the other hand, Mr. Market lets his enthusiasm or his fears run away with him, and the value he proposes seems to you a little short of silly."

Graham developed the notion of the margin of safety, the gap between the stock's intrinsic value and current market price. The further the market price was below the intrinsic value, the more likely it is that investors will score a winning investment. This stands in stark contrast to the efficient market hypothesis, which states that all information is factored into a stock's market price. The implication of this theory being that "beating the market" is a matter of chance, not skill and hard work.

Graham's track record is a testament, however, to the belief that waiting for Mr. Market to irrationally offer investors great entry points for stocks is a proven way to beat the market.

Joel Greenblatt: "The Little Book that Beats the Market" | Talks at Google

Here is the link.


Joel Greenblatt is a managing partner of Gotham Capital, a hedge fund that he founded in 1985 and Gotham Asset Management, a manager of hedge funds and long/short mutual funds. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Alliant Techsystems, a NYSE listed aerospace and defense company. Since 1996, he has been a professor on the adjunct faculty of Columbia Business School where he teaches Value and Special Situation Investing. He is the author of three books, You Can Be A Stock Market Genius (1997), The Little Book That Beats The Market (2005), and The Big Secret for the Small Investor (2011). Mr. Greenblatt is a co-founder of Success Academy Charter Schools, a network of 41 charter schools in New York City and the former Chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a BS and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Brief outline of topics covered: How to think about the Stock Market Active vs. Passive Investing, which should you choose? Is the market really efficient? What does that mean? What is the opportunity for active investors, if any? What are the opportunities for individual investors? How should most people invest? How should you invest? This talk was moderated by Saurabh Madaan.

How Scammers in China Manipulate Amazon

Here is the article.

Keep a good habit to code every day.

Sept. 29, 2019

Introduction

Coding is a good habit for me to maintain. I like to write about it, and I like to understand importance of crafting skills as a software programmer.

Code challenges

Here are some ideas to work on coding every day.

Top interviewer on interviewing.io

Sept. 29, 2019

Introduction

It is so surprising to learn that I am one of top interviewers on interviewing.io.

An email

Why Amazon Is Gobbling Up Failed Malls | WSJ

Here is the video.

California Home Prices Are Soaring. Here's Why | WSJ

Here is the link.

Low Inflation Haunts the Fed: Here's Why | WSJ

Here is the link.

How Negative Yields Work | WSJ

Here is the article.

From pecan to peanut, and back to pecan

Sept. 29, 2019

Introduction

It is time for me to do some shopping in Costco. I need to purchase cooking oil, and also a bag of pecan. I like to write a story of my choice, from pecan to peanut and back to pecan.

Story

I started to work on my personal finance research on Nov. 2018, and then I like to work on frugality life style. One thing is to eat peanut instead of pecan. The latter one costs more.

I also have weight issue. I have to work hard to lose extra 10 to 15 lbs.

I went back to stock market as an investor, I saw my profit of Victoria went down zero and back to $1200 dollars, and then went down $700 dollars, multiple times. Am I so busy, should I spend time to think about selling high and buy low? $500 dollars difference is also making sense for one month. One time the profit went down to less than 10 dollars, but still above zero.

So I just relax my expense, choose to consume pecan instead of peanuts again.

I will come back later and see if I should look into this kind of behavior as a consumer, and an investor.

13768 108 AVENUE, Surrey, British Columbia V3T0L9

$289,900 CAD

$1,122/moGet Mortgage

•  1 Bed
 
•  1 Bath
 
•  429 Sqft
 
•  Condo

Property Summary for 13768 108 AVENUE

Property Type

 

Condo

MLS® Number

 

R2407494

Year Built

 

2018

Date Added

 

24 September 2019

Stories

 

1

Basement

 

None

Neighborhood

 

Surrey City Center

Postal Code

 

V3T0L9

Description for 13768 108 AVENUE

You'll love this pristine, almost new condo in the perfectly located VENUE with North Shore Mountain views completed in 2018. You get 9ft ceilings, laminate flooring, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, good sized balcony, and in-suite full sized washer/dryer. Amenities includes fully equipped fitness centre, indoor social lounge with kitchen, and outdoor 2,100 sqft rooftop patio with BBQ, gas fire pits, and grassed outdoor rec area offering city and mountain views. Just a few minutes to Gateway Skytrain Station, SFU, KPU, New Library, Surrey Central Mall, North Surrey Rec Centre and T & T Supermarket! 1 locker, 1 parking plus visitor parking. Smoking restricted building. Pets allowed with restrictions. Rentals allowed. Great investment. Price to sell! Call before it's gone! * PREC - Personal Real Estate Corporation (id:1937)

13733 107A AVENUE, Surrey, British Columbia V3T0B7

Here is the article.

$264,900 CAD

$1,026/moGet Mortgage

•  1 Bath
 
•  416 Sqft
 
•  Condo

Property Summary for 13733 107A AVENUE

Property Type

 

Condo

MLS® Number

 

R2401163

Year Built

 

2009

Date Added

 

27 September 2019

Stories

 

1

Basement

 

None

Neighborhood

 

Surrey City Center

Postal Code

 

V3T0B7

Description for 13733 107A AVENUE

Investors alert! Great starter level studio suite within walking distance to Gateway Skytrain! This Penthouse suite has 10' ceilings,Walnut engineered hardwood floors, Quartz Counter tops, and stainless steel appliances. Good sized East facing balcony overlooking the quiet courtyard. Great floor plan that includes a small den that can be used as a bedroom, an office, storage or huge walk in closet! Secured underground parking and storage locker as well! Building features a gym and playground area. Walking distance to all amenities and unrestricted rentals! * PREC - Personal Real Estate Corporation (id:1937)

Actionable Items

I only have 20% down payment after working full time 10 years in Canada. What I can do is to push myself to learn how to invest in stock market, and learn how to enjoy the life as a renter in the city of Vancouver. 

Six Gurus Make Top of Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans

Here is the article.

Do I have refugee mentality?

Sept. 29, 2019

Introduction

It is my personal finance research. I heard the term through the interview of Charlies Dreifus, his parents are German refugee, and he was told that he is risk averse, refugee mentality. I like to talk about refugee mentality, and how I should work on this short research.

Refugee mentality

I do have refugee mentality. When I got my student visa back in 2008 to United States Florida, I have this refugee mentality. I will try to make one thing work out, which is my Canada skilled work immigration.

I told myself to be patient. Work hard and work smart. Try to break into any opportunity if I can.

Life is tough without a work permit like permanent residentship. I also have difficulty to catch up research and be able to progress into Ph.D. level from 2008 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2014, I also tried hard to get Canadian citizenship first. Do not work on other things except the status. I need to be able to have a place retire. I need to settle down, even if I do not think that I can afford a condo in price range of $130,000 Canadian dollars back in 2010 to 2015.

I never have ambition to be a millionaire. Be wealth and grow rich. My mentality is changed after 2001.

Actionable Items

I like to figure out how to hold good mentality. I should keep myself confident, based on facts, statistics, my own performance on problem solving.

One thing is to be independent. Do not rely on other people's opinion. Do my own research. Keep people away if they are not positive and being bully.

How Charlie Dreifus' 'Risk Allergy' Shapes His Work

Here is the article with 10 minutes video. I like to spend some time on this article and video.

Risk averse, refugee mentality - I like to look into this topic.

McDevitt: Great. So you're the portfolio manager on Royce Special Equity, and one of the interesting things, I think, about your process and philosophy is you're very vigilant about debt, and companies that have large debt loads you tend to avoid. Tell us a bit about where that vigilance came from? What are the roots of that?

Dreifus: Well, it goes beyond debt, but I'll certainly discuss that. I got an award from my boss, Chuck Royce. It's a caricature of me wearing belts and suspenders. I'm that risk-averse. The origins, I can really trace to two influences. My parents were German refugees who came to the States in the late 1930s without anything. It was sort of a lifestyle. Another interviewer once said to me, "Charlie, you're so risk-averse. You have a refugee mentality." And while I was born here, I said, "Bingo, my parents were refugees." So that's something that I think people either have or don't have.

Veteran Small Cap Value Manager Charlie Dreifus Is Sticking With His Contrarian Risk Averse Approach

Here is the video.

Harvard tops graduate 'rich list' of colleges that will make you a millionaire but University of Virginia has highest number of self-made men

Here is the article.

Why are Harvard's alumni so wealthy?

Here is the article.

Some possible explanations for the discrepancy:

• Harvard selects students with higher expected earnings.
• Harvard selects students from families who are already wealthy (more than other top schools: the wealthy alumni are not self-made).
• Students who aspire to make a lot of money choose Harvard (over other top schools).
• Going to Harvard increases students' earning power (more than other top schools), for example, through better networking opportunities.

Jeremy Grantham - difference in pay

Grantham believes that this contract between major corporations and the American public – which he says was strong back in the 1960s – has now collapsed. He cites the disparity in pay between CEOs and the average employees at major corporations as one example of how things have changed. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the difference in pay between the CEOs of the 350 largest US companies and their employees was 312 times in 2017. By contrast, it was just 20 times in 1965.

‘Basically, the capitalist beast is out of control, and it doesn’t owe any responsibility to the society it lives in, the town, the state or the country even,’ Grantham says. ‘Given half the chance, it will just withdraw its business and go and try its luck in Malaysia. They don’t care about the workers, which is even more important.’

Seth Klarman - confidence on capitalism

Klarman, the famed value investor who runs the Baupost Group, voiced similar concerns in early 2019. He told The New Yorker that shortsighted business practices were endangering public confidence in capitalism.

He has an ally in his Boston neighbor Grantham, founder of value shop Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo (GMO), who shared his own concerns with Citywire in an interview at his Beacon Hill home in mid-January.

‘I have a very low opinion of capitalism in 2019. We have reached a low point,’ he says.

‘The greatest manifestation of that is the massive emphasis on maximizing short-term profits, which is simply bad business. It is incredibly bad for society, and it’s not good for long-term growth rates. It tends to give you better short-term profit margins and lower economic growth.

‘For capitalism to work, you need there to be some sense of social contract – social discipline, if you will,’ he argues.

Ray Dalio - wealth gap

Dalio, founder and co-chief investment officer of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, made his comments in November last year, at the Summit conference in Los Angeles. According to Barron’s, he said: ‘Capitalism is basically not working for the majority of people. That’s just the reality.’

He went on to highlight that the top tenth of 1% of the US population enjoys a net worth equal to that of the bottom 90% and even suggested that president Trump should declare a state of national emergency in response to this wealth gap.