Some things and ideas: August 2025
My monthly overview (Monthly recurring piece)
I consider YAVB my “empire” with four core pieces: this blog / substack (the free side), the premium side of this blog, my podcast (also on Spotify, iTunes, or YouTube), and my twitter account. You can see my 2025 vision and goals for the empire here. If you like the blog / free site, I'd encourage you to check out the pod, follow me on twitter, and maybe even subscribe to the premium site!
A bonus note: I get asked from lots of people about how to break into the finance industry. I’ve done an entire podcast on how to get a job in investing I’d encourage you to listen to…. but my top advice would be to go out and start a substack yourself! If you do launch a substack, please let me know so I can try to be helpful.
Fintwit Book Club
My friend Byrne Hobart of (The Diff and Capital Gains) continue to do our monthly book club; this month’s episode was on Railroader (Hunter Harrison bio); we recorded it earlier this week and it should be done editing in the next few days. So, while you wait for that, I’d refer you back to last month’s episode on Softwar (Larry Ellison / Oracle); I mentioned this on the pod, but it made for an interesting contrast versus Railroader.
Have a suggestion for a book Byrne and I should read / do a pod on? We’re all ears (well, I guess eyes given we both read the book!); send us a suggestion!
State of markets (Monthly recurring piece)
It’s not a perfect indicator, but I like to use the CNN “Fear & Greed” Index just to quickly quantify where the markets are.
Last month, we were firmly in greed territory, and we remain there this month…
And that feels about right. However, I will tell you that, out the corner of my eye, it seems like a lot of speculative stuff is tired / set to deflate. I’ll point you to just one: MSTR’s1 mNAV premium has really been deflating recently, and they’ve been having some trouble issuing their most recent round of preferreds. The company still trtades at a premium, but it’s no longer an enormous one, and a lot of the MSTR knockoffs are trading a NAV or even a discount.
MSTR and the knockoffs are just one example, but across the board I’m seeing a lot of signs that the frothiest areas of the market are kind of tired / way overstretched. Does that mean anything for the real market or economy? Who knows! It could mean a thousand different things. But just an observation from me!
Nerd Corner (Monthly recurring piece)
There’s no hiding it; I’m a massive nerd. I read 3-4 fantasy books a month, my favorite pastime is playing board games with my wife and friends, and I was an eager supporter of the Brandon Sanderson (original) Kickstarter (yes, I splurged and went for the hardcover books).
I didn’t support Sanderson’s DND-style board game…. but only because my wife would murder me if I bought another board game when I have a whole Dungeon Master kit collecting dust. Still, I wanted to highlight it because between the two Kickstarters Sanderson will have raised >$50m for new projects; if you’re a fan of fantasy and that type of fan enthusiasm doesn’t encourage you to give him a try, I don’t know what will! As I mention below, if you’re trying him out, I’d probably start with Mistborn, though Tress and the Emerald Sea is basically a standalone book and might be my favorite book he’s written
This month, I was all in on Wandering Inn 16 (a complete masterpiece!) and I’m just diving into Brandon Sanderson’s new book. What a time for fantasy nerds!
PS- outside of my monthly recs, I constantly get asked what my favorite fantasy books are. So I’m just going to throw this list out monthly:
Anything Brandon Sanderson writes; he’s by far the best fantasy author out there. I’d probably start with Mistborn, though Tess and the Emerald Sea is basically a standalone book and might be my favorite book he’s written. The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is also a standalone book and a very fun and fast read. Most of his works are interconnected through something called “the cosmere;” if you’re feeling crazy, here’s how to read the cosmere in order.
Kingkiller is probably the best series I’ve ever read; waiting for the third is agony.
Gentleman Bastards is right up there with Kingkiller; the mix of fun and world building is outstanding.
Red Rising series is more sci-fi, but my god is it good. I would literally stay up all night to read every book the day they came out (note: I’ve only read the first trilogy; I’m going to read the second when the last book comes out later this year).
If you’re looking for something a little more under the radar (most of the books above are widely regarded as some of the best fantasy books / series ever), the Licanius Trilogy was fantastic.
First Law trilogy is excellent. It can get a little brutal / graphic though; there are a bunch of sequels and spins, but I’ve never been able to finish them because one of them got so brutal I just put the book down and never picked it up again. But the first trilogy is really, really great.
The Cradle series probably isn’t as “good” as the books above, but I binged them and every fantasy fan I’ve recommended them to has said something along the line of “I read all ten books in two months after I opened the first one.”
I’ve also really enjoyed that author’s newest series, Last Horizon!
The Wandering Inn series isn’t for everyone, and the first ~150 pages of the first book need to get powered through…. but, if you can power through them, the world building here is incredible, and I’ve had so many friends get hooked by this series. If you like hard fantasy, I can near guarantee you’ll like it.
Similarly, Dungeon Crawler Carl won’t be for everyone, but it’s probably the most fun series of books I’ve ever read, and some of the scenes in the later books carry a surprising amount of emotional weight.
The Silvers Epic (Flight of the Silvers, Song of the Orphans, War of the Givens) is more sci-fi than fantasy, but it’s one of my favorite series I’ve ever read and I think is wildly creative in how they use time travel / multiverse as a plot point (the last book was a little slow, but the ending wrapped everything up beautifully / it got a little dusty in the room I was reading).
Other things that caught my eye (monthly recurring piece)
100 Push-Ups and 50 Pull-Ups in Under 10 Minutes. What Could Go Wrong?
Want a rant? Put politics aside. I just don’t understand why we needed a whole front page article critiquing people for pushing for fitness. RFK is ~70; do we need an expert to come on and critique him because his pull ups aren’t fitness competition standard? Or fifteen experts disclaiming “most Americans aren’t fit so they can’t do this without training?” Honestly, this article should be exhibit one of why people distrust / dislike the NYT.
Shorting is hard (and it’s supposed to be)
Probably my new favorite blog (tied with yummy century, the SATS GOAT)
disclosure: a small position in MSTR