I’ll be writing a series of mini-essays, under the sub-title Silly Shorts. These are short-form, on everyday bugginess and messiness all around us.
Short makes them silly, as they’re not as well thought out. They’re also silly in other ways. It’s more of the comedian in me than the investor. I’ll stray outside investing more often. Many will just be quirks that I observe around me. I’ll air grievances on pet peeves. Silly is also a license to be politically incorrect. This is the equivalent of adding “just kidding” to something snarky.
Here’s a super short one, to get warmed up:
When valuing most lenders, is PB really [P + iB] since price is real and book is imaginary?
I warned you this is silly.
[PS. I'll send out Silly Shorts on Fridays, to avoid confusion with my less-silly longs]
I wish I had read this sooner as I learnt the hard way that the book value of financials is indeed imaginary.