The hottest Returns Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Finance Topics

What is a dividend?

Concepts of Finance 🧠 • 279 implied HN points • 20 Oct 23
💰 Finance Investing Dividends Returns Stock Market
  1. Dividends are payments companies make to shareholders from their profits. If you own shares in a company that pays dividends, you can earn money regularly just for holding those shares.
  2. Companies pay dividends for various reasons, such as rewarding shareholders, attracting long-term investors, and boosting their stock value. A steady dividend can show that a company is financially healthy.
  3. Investing in dividends can provide income, but the returns can be limited unless you own a lot of stock. It's important to choose companies wisely and consider whether you prioritizing dividends or stock performance.

Art: Investing vs Collecting

tsalikhov • 78 implied HN points • 09 Jun 23
💰 Finance Art Investing Collecting Market Returns
  1. Investing in traditional fine art is challenging due to market complexities and transaction limitations.
  2. Art indices provide an incomplete picture of the art market, with limited representativeness and investability.
  3. Digital art on the blockchain offers potential as a more accessible and diverse asset class with compelling risk-reward ratios.

The Point of No Return? A New Model for Reverse Logistics

Equal Ventures • 59 implied HN points • 11 Oct 22
💼 Business Logistics Ecommerce Retail Returns Inventory
  1. Ecommerce returns have surged, leading to unsustainable cycles of returns. Covid-19 exacerbated this trend, with around 40% of retailers easing return policies, resulting in return rates of 20% for ecommerce.
  2. Returns are costly for retailers due to logistics expenses. Online returns can cost retailers approximately 21% of the order value, and long returns processes lock up inventory, impacting retail profitability.
  3. Major retailers like Amazon have mastered optimizing returns through dedicated processing centers. Democratizing this capability to all brands is essential for efficient returns management.
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Nothing to lose

The Leftovers • 99 implied HN points • 20 Apr 22
📚 Literature Returns Freedom
  1. The concept of 'home' can be complex and evolve over time, even causing feelings of homesickness.
  2. Personal essays can be a way to express and cope with emotions surrounding experiences such as being away from home.
  3. Returning to a place after a long absence can bring about a mix of emotions and reflections on the passage of time.

Persistence > performance

Klement on Investing • 1 implied HN point • 19 Mar 24
💰 Finance Investing Stocks Momentum Returns Strategies
  1. Persistence of performance is more important than pure price momentum in predicting future returns.
  2. The Directional High Minus Low (D-HML) strategy focuses on the persistence of positive returns to generate excess returns of around 1% per month.
  3. D-HML strategy offers more downside protection during extreme drawdowns compared to traditional momentum strategies.

Data Update 6 for 2020: Profitability, Returns and the value of Growth

Musings on Markets • 0 implied HN points • 21 Mar 20
💰 Finance Investment Valuation Profitability Growth Returns
  1. Good businesses can make profits and turn those profits into cash flow for investors. It's important to think about both profit and cash flow, especially during tough economic times.
  2. Growth, profitability, and reinvestment are crucial to a company's value. Companies that grow their revenue while managing costs effectively are usually the most successful.
  3. How well a company reinvests can affect its growth and profitability. Efficient reinvestment means more gains and better overall performance in the market.

The X Factor in Value: Excess Returns in Theory and Practice

Musings on Markets • 0 implied HN points • 19 Jan 15
💼 Business Finance Investing Corporate Finance Returns Market Analysis
  1. Businesses aim to make more money than they would elsewhere, but achieving excess returns can be hard due to competition and other challenges.
  2. To see if a company is making excess returns, you need to compare the expected return on investment against the actual returns, which can be tricky due to factors like accounting variability.
  3. Many companies don't achieve excess returns, suggesting that competition is tough and some managers might not realize their businesses aren't making enough profit.

Losers and Winners: The inevitable consequence of risk taking...

Musings on Markets • 0 implied HN points • 06 Jul 09
💰 Finance Investing Market risk Funds Performance Returns
  1. Risk-taking in investments can lead to big swings in performance. Sometimes the worst funds can become the best and vice versa, depending on market conditions.
  2. It's not surprising when funds that performed poorly one year suddenly perform well the next. This happens because their strategies are closely tied to market risks.
  3. The key to evaluating a fund isn't just short-term performance, but its ability to make money over the long run without being overly risky.

To Madoff or not to Madoff?

Musings on Markets • 0 implied HN points • 16 Dec 08
💰 Finance Investing Fraud Markets Returns Investing Fraud Market Analysis Returns
  1. Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme by using money from new investors to pay returns to older ones. This scheme only worked as long as new money kept coming in.
  2. Investors should not just focus on how much money was made, but also understand how those returns were achieved. It's important to know the strategy and risks involved.
  3. Asking the right questions about an investment helps spot problems. Madoff had no clear investment strategy, which should have raised red flags for investors.