The hottest Returns Substack posts right now

Distressed bonds and loans market shrinking, leading investors to get creative for returns.
Investors turning to 'lender on lender violence' tactic for generating returns.
Exploring cases filed in '24 and revisiting old favorites in the distressed finance world.

Venture Capital generally outperforms every other asset class but has wider variance in returns
Half of VC funds beat the stock market, but bottom quartile funds likely lose money
The average VC fund is average; top quartile performance may not be sufficient to succeed

Investing in traditional fine art is challenging due to market complexities and transaction limitations.
Art indices provide an incomplete picture of the art market, with limited representativeness and investability.
Digital art on the blockchain offers potential as a more accessible and diverse asset class with compelling risk-reward ratios.

Study subjects like physics and mathematics are superior to finance for fund managers.
Fund managers with a non-finance major tend to outperform those with a finance major.
Finance majors focus on reducing volatility while non-finance majors focus on maximizing returns.

Persistence of performance is more important than pure price momentum in predicting future returns.
The Directional High Minus Low (D-HML) strategy focuses on the persistence of positive returns to generate excess returns of around 1% per month.
D-HML strategy offers more downside protection during extreme drawdowns compared to traditional momentum strategies.

Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

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.
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.
Major retailers like Amazon have mastered optimizing returns through dedicated processing centers. Democratizing this capability to all brands is essential for efficient returns management.

The concept of 'home' can be complex and evolve over time, even causing feelings of homesickness.
Personal essays can be a way to express and cope with emotions surrounding experiences such as being away from home.
Returning to a place after a long absence can bring about a mix of emotions and reflections on the passage of time.