David Winters and James Grant on WealthTrack

We greet the New Year with two top portfolio managers and a highly-respected observer of the financial scene. BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer and three fund manager, Bob Doll will be back to share his usually prescient predictions and strategies for the New Year. The Wintergreen Fund’s David Winters will tell us why he continues to emphasize international investing. And Jim Grant, the Editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer will pull no punches about the outlook for the credit markets in 2008.

Here is video link and transcript. (Only available for 2 weeks)
Or you can download the video (MP4 Format) here (Right Click and Save as..).

James Grant - Liquidity, Leverage, and Risks to Financial Markets (Podcast)

This podcast link is from CFA Institute. In this podcast, James Grant discusses the following:

• The effect of unprecedented leverage and easy credit on global financial markets and investor behavior
• The rise of high-rated structured products and re-leveraging of corporate balance sheets
• The ability of portfolios to weather potential financial storms

Audiocast Link.

Grant and Eveillard on Reuters Investment 2008 Outlook Summit

• Video clips

• Jim Grant : Central banks keep fueling inflation
• "The word liquidity is a phony word that sounds sophisticated," Grant told the Reuters Investment 2008 Outlook Summit. "It clearly means money, money that is being materialized out of thin air through the actions of central banks."
• Eveillard eyes gold, Japan
• Eveillard, who manages the First Eagle Funds, says his overseas fun has a position in gold "as insurance against 1 to 3 years of difficult economic and financial circumstances." Eveillard also believes "Japanese equities at large are undervalued."

James Grant - My Hero, Benjamin Grossbaum

On November 15 in Manhattan, the editor of Grant's spoke before the Center for Jewish History on the topic, "My Hero, Benjamin Grossbaum." Following is the edited text of his remarks.

It is a pleasure to be here this evening. I am under strict instructions from the rector of Grace Church, Brooklyn, not to let down the Episcopal side. Uphold the highest standards of the Episcopalian intellectual tradition, he told me. What that tradition might be, he couldn't say, and neither can I. But I'll do my level best.

My subject is Benjamin Graham: his life, his investment philosophy, his writings and his Jewishness. About his love life, I will say little, as my time this evening is limited—just three hours, I believe. Some years ago, Fortune Magazine, in a squib it published on the occasion of Graham's induction into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame, said that the thrice-married father of value investing "leaped from blonde to blonde like an Alpine goat springing from peak to peak."

I am a frankly worshipful admirer of Graham's. I love him for his heart as much as for his head. Between 1929 and 1932, his investment partnership lost 70% of its value. Not until 1936 did it recoup all it relinquished since the Crash. Yet Graham persevered and, along with his partner, Jerry Newman, went on to achieve a brilliant long-term investment record—not excluding those three disastrous years. We have all heard the platitude, "The first rule of investing is not to lose money and the second rule is not to forget the first." Very helpful. Well, Graham shows that a debilitating loss is no reason to give up. . . . Never quit.

Direct Link - My Hero, Benjamin Grossbaum.