Mental Models

Valuation & Risk

Price, worth, and the honest distance between them. These models are the tools for figuring out what something is actually worth, separate from what it costs today.

Margin of Safety

Buy at a price low enough that being wrong still leaves you whole.

Owner Earnings

The cash a business could hand its owner each year without shrinking, is worth more than the accountant's net income line.

Intrinsic Value

What a business is worth is the cash it will pay out over its life, discounted back to today.

Opportunity Cost

Every decision is measured against the best alternative you gave up to make it.

Base Rates

Start every forecast with what has typically happened to similar situations, before adjusting for what seems special about this one.