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There's Always Something to Do: The Peter Cundill Investment Approach
In the context of recent financial upheavals and ongoing uncertainty, Peter Cundill's wise and frequently funny reflections are more important than ever. In a seamlessly assembled narrative drawn from interviews, speeches, and exclusive access to the daily journal Cundill kept for forty-five years, Christopher Risso-Gill outlines Cundill's investment approach and provides accounts of his investments and the analytical process that led to their selection. A book for everyday investors as much as professional investors and investment gurus, There's Always Something to Do offers a compelling perspective on global financial markets and on how we can avoid their worst pitfalls and grow our hard-earned capital.
248 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
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January 3, 2021
“There’s Always Something to Do” is a book about the late and great value investor Peter Cundill. Cundill had a stunning track record - his flagship Value fund generating compound returns to investors of over 15% for more than three decades. But his engaging personality and life also made him interesting – sports loving, he ran over 20 marathons in his lifetime, yet loved cigars, martinis and junk food. An inveterate traveler, he was given the nickname “Indiana Jones of investing” as he traveled far and wide in search of bargain stocks, well before the practice became truly fashionable. He was an early proponent of international investing, although he started out as a Canadian/North American fund manager.
The title of the book comes from a quote by the legendary investor Irving Kahn. It was a maxim that Cundill took to heart – that there’s always something to do, u just have to look harder, be creative and flexible. This is useful to remember at a time when for the past decade or so, the practice of value investing has come under extreme pressure from alternate styles such as growth investing.
But true value investors are unlikely to be surprised – these practitioners understand that they take a somewhat lonely course as they try to find unloved stocks away from the crowd. This has been written about extensively elsewhere – Joel Greenblatt often talks about the paramount need for patience and likelihood of lumpy returns, while even great investors like Buffet have had periods of underperformance due to the market chasing momentum stocks. Cundill, as befits one looking for value among laggards, made it a practice to every December visit the worst performing major market of the year. This combined two of Cundill’s trademark traits, travel, and hunting for stock ideas – although I think using a 2-3 year timeframe would work even better.
While at times somewhat uncritical of the fund manager, the book more than makes up by highlighting his thought processes during good as well as bad times. In this, the author was helped by Cundill’s habit of writing detailed notes regarding his thought processes while investing. Many of the notes are reproduced here, giving the reader too a first hand glimpse into the mind of the famed investor. He is believed to have left behind nearly 100 journals of neatly handwritten notes.
It is good to know that even the greatest of investors sometimes suffer from self-doubt. When his returns suffered in the late Eighties after 15 years of consistent outperformance, the book describes his anguish, and battle against the self-doubt that easily creeps up when the markets aren’t going the way one would like them to. This is where the real challenge of value investing lies, as its just much easier to join in with the crowd and chase the latest “easy” story than to buy and hold on to the, almost by definition, unloved “value” stocks. And that’s particularly acute when performance lags in bull markets.
And having bought cheap, sometimes too early, value investors then start having the problem of timing the selling decision when the market finally starts to recognise the investment merit. As highlighted in some examples, the risk then shifts to one of exiting too early, and thus leaving money on the table after having done the hard and lonely work to start with. This is a challenge that many investors including myself have faced and Cundill’s method, arrived at after much debate and soul searching, offers one solution – to sell half of any holding that doubles. This is an imperfect, one size fits all, solution, but the logic of structurally taking some profits at set milestones is not fundamentally unsound.
Investors’ typical tendencies to chase momentum and the latest investment fashions also create a business problem for value funds. This is highlighted by the example of how Cundill’s conservatism and moving to cash benefitted investors during the 1989 Crash, when his fund resumed its outperformance. By definition, a crash makes the market very attractive for value stock pickers, since many more stocks are now available at bargains. However, this is also precisely the time when investors, scarred by losses that their overall portfolio may have taken, either refuse to allocate more into stocks, or pull money out of the ones (such as Cundill’s) that have done relatively better.
As many professional fund managers realise over time, doing well in bear markets is intellectually very satisfying since its tough; but doing well in bull markets is far more profitable.
The title of the book comes from a quote by the legendary investor Irving Kahn. It was a maxim that Cundill took to heart – that there’s always something to do, u just have to look harder, be creative and flexible. This is useful to remember at a time when for the past decade or so, the practice of value investing has come under extreme pressure from alternate styles such as growth investing.
But true value investors are unlikely to be surprised – these practitioners understand that they take a somewhat lonely course as they try to find unloved stocks away from the crowd. This has been written about extensively elsewhere – Joel Greenblatt often talks about the paramount need for patience and likelihood of lumpy returns, while even great investors like Buffet have had periods of underperformance due to the market chasing momentum stocks. Cundill, as befits one looking for value among laggards, made it a practice to every December visit the worst performing major market of the year. This combined two of Cundill’s trademark traits, travel, and hunting for stock ideas – although I think using a 2-3 year timeframe would work even better.
While at times somewhat uncritical of the fund manager, the book more than makes up by highlighting his thought processes during good as well as bad times. In this, the author was helped by Cundill’s habit of writing detailed notes regarding his thought processes while investing. Many of the notes are reproduced here, giving the reader too a first hand glimpse into the mind of the famed investor. He is believed to have left behind nearly 100 journals of neatly handwritten notes.
It is good to know that even the greatest of investors sometimes suffer from self-doubt. When his returns suffered in the late Eighties after 15 years of consistent outperformance, the book describes his anguish, and battle against the self-doubt that easily creeps up when the markets aren’t going the way one would like them to. This is where the real challenge of value investing lies, as its just much easier to join in with the crowd and chase the latest “easy” story than to buy and hold on to the, almost by definition, unloved “value” stocks. And that’s particularly acute when performance lags in bull markets.
And having bought cheap, sometimes too early, value investors then start having the problem of timing the selling decision when the market finally starts to recognise the investment merit. As highlighted in some examples, the risk then shifts to one of exiting too early, and thus leaving money on the table after having done the hard and lonely work to start with. This is a challenge that many investors including myself have faced and Cundill’s method, arrived at after much debate and soul searching, offers one solution – to sell half of any holding that doubles. This is an imperfect, one size fits all, solution, but the logic of structurally taking some profits at set milestones is not fundamentally unsound.
Investors’ typical tendencies to chase momentum and the latest investment fashions also create a business problem for value funds. This is highlighted by the example of how Cundill’s conservatism and moving to cash benefitted investors during the 1989 Crash, when his fund resumed its outperformance. By definition, a crash makes the market very attractive for value stock pickers, since many more stocks are now available at bargains. However, this is also precisely the time when investors, scarred by losses that their overall portfolio may have taken, either refuse to allocate more into stocks, or pull money out of the ones (such as Cundill’s) that have done relatively better.
As many professional fund managers realise over time, doing well in bear markets is intellectually very satisfying since its tough; but doing well in bull markets is far more profitable.
April 9, 2015
The book describes Peter Cundill's investing career. As a "deep value" investor, he was able to stick to purchases below book value, focusing on hard assets. He also emphasized global investment, including extreme bargains in markets with shaky respect for capital. As some other great investors, Cundill did not delegate investment decisions broadly, studies situations in depth, and was extremely patient as the deep bargains got even cheaper -- sometimes by 50% or more -- for years -- before working out well. His very strong track record of in excess of 15% cumulative returns for decades (admittedly some of them strong decades) is a testament both to the strength of Graham principles and to Cundill's ability to apply them.
The best parts of the book are, to me, specific observations and insights about investable businesses -- eg "every business needs to have a safety valve, some assets it can sell off in a crunch, some excess cash on the balance sheet, etc", or "balance sheet is a bear market phenomenon" (meaning in prolonged bull markets, people forget just how cheap stocks can get, and forget to look for hard assets).
A higher-level lesson is that value investing is extremely multi-faced and flexible. Tailoring it to one's personality -- so that the investment manager is thoroughly well matched to the types of investments being made -- is both possible and seems important (basically, it's "to get outstanding results, do what you love"). In Cundill's case, that involved extensive travel, exposure to various cultural events, and acquaintances with fellow money managers.
Some parts of the book just focus on what a swell person Peter is, or highlight how much he seemed to enjoy rubbing elbows with other passengers taking the Concorde flight from Europe to NYC, or about the fine dining he enjoyed with friends, or how fast a marathon runner he was. Those parts of the book seemed to cut against humility that Cundill otherwise seems to advocate.
Regardless, Cundill is clearly someone who combined he qualities of patience and discipline with voracious reading. A few of his investments are presented and analyzed in somewhat more depth, and those writeups -- both the ones that went well and that did not -- are extremely helpful.
Four stars for glimpses of good insights, talking about the usual valu principles in a somewhat different light, mixed with more mundane content.
The best parts of the book are, to me, specific observations and insights about investable businesses -- eg "every business needs to have a safety valve, some assets it can sell off in a crunch, some excess cash on the balance sheet, etc", or "balance sheet is a bear market phenomenon" (meaning in prolonged bull markets, people forget just how cheap stocks can get, and forget to look for hard assets).
A higher-level lesson is that value investing is extremely multi-faced and flexible. Tailoring it to one's personality -- so that the investment manager is thoroughly well matched to the types of investments being made -- is both possible and seems important (basically, it's "to get outstanding results, do what you love"). In Cundill's case, that involved extensive travel, exposure to various cultural events, and acquaintances with fellow money managers.
Some parts of the book just focus on what a swell person Peter is, or highlight how much he seemed to enjoy rubbing elbows with other passengers taking the Concorde flight from Europe to NYC, or about the fine dining he enjoyed with friends, or how fast a marathon runner he was. Those parts of the book seemed to cut against humility that Cundill otherwise seems to advocate.
Regardless, Cundill is clearly someone who combined he qualities of patience and discipline with voracious reading. A few of his investments are presented and analyzed in somewhat more depth, and those writeups -- both the ones that went well and that did not -- are extremely helpful.
Four stars for glimpses of good insights, talking about the usual valu principles in a somewhat different light, mixed with more mundane content.
September 11, 2022
I’ve read many investment classics but still really enjoyed this one for its numerous examples and Peter Cundill’s devotion to value principles. Quite inspiring actually! I also enjoyed how the book explained the ups and downs of this type of investing (and all types but specifically when your starting philosophy is a contrarian one), especially from an emotional perspective. This is not always strongly emphasised and often the investors are depicted as these rational robots. The emotional strife one faces when an investment you make halves is immense. I would have liked a little more detail on his portfolio approach from a concentration perspective and also how he actually sourced his ideas (besides his network) ie. his day to day process. But all round very enjoyable and readable!
November 3, 2012
A very good book on Cundill's life and investment approach.
The problem in fundamental investing style, sa he rightly pointed out, is that one will tend to buy too early and sell too soon. Even a great investment may turn mediocre if the first few years of holding doesn't provide a good return.
Highly recommended.
The problem in fundamental investing style, sa he rightly pointed out, is that one will tend to buy too early and sell too soon. Even a great investment may turn mediocre if the first few years of holding doesn't provide a good return.
Highly recommended.
Read
December 21, 2015Great read! I enjoyed getting to learn about Mr. Cundill.
July 6, 2023
No matter what kind of investor you are, you will be inspired by the life of Peter Cundill.
July 9, 2025
Enjoyable read. Well written book with short chapters. Peter Cundills discipline sticking to his beliefs for such a long time is impressive. Only buying below liquadation value for 33 years or so is not easy to stick with and do. I believe this book ads value if you are into value investing or Grahams work. Not the most practical investment book, but still worth picking up
February 18, 2014
Top 5 all time investing books. Not only is Cundhill a great investor, but seems like a very interesting and terrific person. Highly recommended.
January 27, 2021
Read this book a couple of years ago and recently re-read my notes and made a quick summary of what I thought was the most interesting "lessons" from the book.
The book describes Peter Cundill’s life and career and is based on his investment journals, investor letters and lectures. Cundill was born in 1938 and began his career as an accountant and financial advisor at the age of 25. At the age of 35, he found Benjamin Graham’s books and two years later, in 1975, he took over the underperforming All-Canadian Venture Fund. For the next 33 years, the fund, with a deep value philosophy, had an annual return of 15.2%. In 2011 Cundill died of fragile x, 72 years old.
CUNDILL GULPED LIFE. Cundill was described as a very curious person with sharp intuition, a great appetite for reading and with great patience. The intellectual interest was broad and included classical music, the theatre, art, literature and philosophy. He was also an avid runner and had 22 marathons under his belt. However, he was not a full-blooded health freak but had also an interest in martinis and cigars. In addition, he was an adventurer and has been called “The Indiana Jones of Canadian Money Managers”.
“The most important attribute for success in value investing is patience, patience and more patience. The majority of investors do not possess this characteristic”
A GLOBAL APPROACH. Cundill was ready to invest in anything anywhere, as long as there was a margin of safety and an attractive upside. To enable global coverage, he built a wide network of contacts with like-minded investors around the world. The network included names such as Prem Watsa, Michael Price, Irving Kahn and John Templeton. The international positions were always 100% currency hedged. Cundill was constantly on the move, which made him comfortable investing in countries outside the United States and Canada. In November every year, he travelled to the country whose stock market had the worst development during the year. In the 1970s he invested in Sweden, in the 1980s in Panama and in the 1990s in Argentina and Ecuador. During his career he worked and lived in Vancouver, Paris and London.
“Sometimes the stuff we buy is so illiquid that it is almost the same as doing private equity”
AN OPEN MIND. Cundill invested in net-nets (companies valued under current assets less all liabilities) and had an average annual return of 26% during his first ten years. A low valuation was key to get his interest – the type of business model was insignificant. However, he was not entirely religious about the net-net focus and in the late 1980’s successfully went short the Japanese Nikki index. He considered derivatives to be an excellent tool for value investors who identified markets at “the antithesis of value”. Through futures and options, he could short markets and equities without the risk exposure becoming too large. He closely followed what other successful investors were doing and was willing to back down if he liked their case.
“The intrinsic value was defined as the price that a private investor would be prepared to pay for the security if it were not listed on a public exchange.”
GENERALS INSTEAD OF COMMITTEES. Cundill considered that the investment game is a game best played alone. If investment decisions are to be made jointly, the best – and most inconvenient – investments are almost by definition omitted. He always did his homework himself. Cundill downplayed the glamorous shimmer of his profession and said that 99% of the days were purely routine work – reading, simple calculations and fact checking.
DO NOT SKIMP ON THE SPREAD. When the analysis was finished, he considered it a “fools game” to try to save a few cents when placing the order – if he was happy with the price, he met the seller. His approach to selling was to sell half the position after it had doubled – and then have an open mind for when the other half would be sold. Had he reconsidered a position, he did not try to make a small profit on the deal but took the price the market offered and sold.
THE NUMBER OF NET-NETS MATTERS. Cundill “timed” the market by letting the number of existing net-nets determine how large the fund’s cash position would be. When there were few net-nets, he became worried about the market valuation and tended to build up cash. When there were many net-nets, he was fully invested. At times, the cash amounted to as much as 40% of the capital. He was generally sceptical of market timing, but by keeping track of the number of net-nets, he was often correctly positioned.
The book describes Peter Cundill’s life and career and is based on his investment journals, investor letters and lectures. Cundill was born in 1938 and began his career as an accountant and financial advisor at the age of 25. At the age of 35, he found Benjamin Graham’s books and two years later, in 1975, he took over the underperforming All-Canadian Venture Fund. For the next 33 years, the fund, with a deep value philosophy, had an annual return of 15.2%. In 2011 Cundill died of fragile x, 72 years old.
CUNDILL GULPED LIFE. Cundill was described as a very curious person with sharp intuition, a great appetite for reading and with great patience. The intellectual interest was broad and included classical music, the theatre, art, literature and philosophy. He was also an avid runner and had 22 marathons under his belt. However, he was not a full-blooded health freak but had also an interest in martinis and cigars. In addition, he was an adventurer and has been called “The Indiana Jones of Canadian Money Managers”.
“The most important attribute for success in value investing is patience, patience and more patience. The majority of investors do not possess this characteristic”
A GLOBAL APPROACH. Cundill was ready to invest in anything anywhere, as long as there was a margin of safety and an attractive upside. To enable global coverage, he built a wide network of contacts with like-minded investors around the world. The network included names such as Prem Watsa, Michael Price, Irving Kahn and John Templeton. The international positions were always 100% currency hedged. Cundill was constantly on the move, which made him comfortable investing in countries outside the United States and Canada. In November every year, he travelled to the country whose stock market had the worst development during the year. In the 1970s he invested in Sweden, in the 1980s in Panama and in the 1990s in Argentina and Ecuador. During his career he worked and lived in Vancouver, Paris and London.
“Sometimes the stuff we buy is so illiquid that it is almost the same as doing private equity”
AN OPEN MIND. Cundill invested in net-nets (companies valued under current assets less all liabilities) and had an average annual return of 26% during his first ten years. A low valuation was key to get his interest – the type of business model was insignificant. However, he was not entirely religious about the net-net focus and in the late 1980’s successfully went short the Japanese Nikki index. He considered derivatives to be an excellent tool for value investors who identified markets at “the antithesis of value”. Through futures and options, he could short markets and equities without the risk exposure becoming too large. He closely followed what other successful investors were doing and was willing to back down if he liked their case.
“The intrinsic value was defined as the price that a private investor would be prepared to pay for the security if it were not listed on a public exchange.”
GENERALS INSTEAD OF COMMITTEES. Cundill considered that the investment game is a game best played alone. If investment decisions are to be made jointly, the best – and most inconvenient – investments are almost by definition omitted. He always did his homework himself. Cundill downplayed the glamorous shimmer of his profession and said that 99% of the days were purely routine work – reading, simple calculations and fact checking.
DO NOT SKIMP ON THE SPREAD. When the analysis was finished, he considered it a “fools game” to try to save a few cents when placing the order – if he was happy with the price, he met the seller. His approach to selling was to sell half the position after it had doubled – and then have an open mind for when the other half would be sold. Had he reconsidered a position, he did not try to make a small profit on the deal but took the price the market offered and sold.
THE NUMBER OF NET-NETS MATTERS. Cundill “timed” the market by letting the number of existing net-nets determine how large the fund’s cash position would be. When there were few net-nets, he became worried about the market valuation and tended to build up cash. When there were many net-nets, he was fully invested. At times, the cash amounted to as much as 40% of the capital. He was generally sceptical of market timing, but by keeping track of the number of net-nets, he was often correctly positioned.
August 21, 2018
Peter Cundill – deep value, contrarian fund manager extraordinaire, Canada’s fiercest disciple of the Benjamin Graham investment principles and a live-life-to-its-fullest-type human being, do you really know enough about him? If not, you will have the immense pleasure of reading this well- written book as well as supporting the Cundill Foundation and the memory of Peter Cundill who passed away in 2011 after suffering from a rare degenerative neurological condition. Michael Price of Mutual Series fame recently stated: “Whenever somebody asks me about what an investor ought to be all about, I give them this book”.
All value investors, no matter how you calculate your intrinsic value – asset based or cash flow based – will find golden nuggets in the book. Cundill’s legacy illustrates that value investing is more than a proper use of a calculator – it’s how you deal with your internal demons that separates good from great. After racking up 15 straight years of positive returns, the Cundill Value Fund met fierce resistance in the fall of 1989, through a combination of a few languishing stock-picks and a short-position on Japan. The book ́s vivid first- hand account of the tremendous anguish Cundill feels going through this rough patch makes it clear that the answer to the question when can one relax a bit after a run of good performance, is never. Peter Cundill beat his demons – and a plentitude of doubters – that time by applying well-trusted principles and sticking to his guns. But clarity of mind and common sense is never very clear when you need it the most.
One of many unique aspects of Cundill’s life was his copious note-book-taking. These dual investment/life diaries – 200 hand-written journals starting in 1963 – have of course helped the author Christopher Risso-Gill tremendously, mostly by being able to add considerable color by smartly inserting Cundill ́s own thoughts. Not that Mr. Risso-Gill was any stranger to Cundill ́s accomplishments; being a long-serving director of the Cundill Value Fund he observed and likely contributed some to the success from a front-row seat. And while his lack of subjectivity shines through in a few places, the book is made better by the author’s intimate familiarity with the basic storyline. It is, however, perhaps another aspect of his life that made Peter Cundill most proud – the “Indiana Jones of investment management” epithet. Starting in the late 1960s with a visit to the then exotic Tokyo, he became known as an extensive traveler, regularly clocking up more than 100,000 flying miles annually in his quest for international bargains, once commenting, “if I haven’t been on a plane for a week I begin to feel restless”. Especially noteworthy was his December-routine of always visiting the worst-performing stock- market that year, often providing him with rare contrarian value-cases. In so doing, the Cundill investment approach can best be described as combining balance sheet based number crunching with the old merchant-banker’s penchant for “sniffing the local air”. He was also very much a networking-man, the “clou” being the annual Cundill Conference, where he gathered investors, politicians and economists for a two-day event. The highlight according to most was “Pete’s Morning” where Cundill set off on a 2-3 hour long presentation on value investing, cases, thoughts on the macro-picture or other pertinent topics (had it been great to participate or what!).
There ́s Always Something To Do is a practitioner’s value investing chronicle of the finest kind. It compares exceedingly well with previous highlights of the genre, such as Anthony Bolton’s Investing Against The Tide and Richard Oldfield’s Simple But Not Easy. Peter Cundill’s outstanding 35-year track record as a mutual fund manager naturally increases the “weight” of the book, but his persona and ability to break new ground also speaks for itself. As he was very anxious to share his investment experiences, thinking it could be useful to others (most great investors have an inclination to “evangelize” in the positive sense of the word), it was to his immense delight when the first copy of the book was pressed into his hands in early 2011. Two days later Peter Cundill passed away. As they say, timing is everything.
All value investors, no matter how you calculate your intrinsic value – asset based or cash flow based – will find golden nuggets in the book. Cundill’s legacy illustrates that value investing is more than a proper use of a calculator – it’s how you deal with your internal demons that separates good from great. After racking up 15 straight years of positive returns, the Cundill Value Fund met fierce resistance in the fall of 1989, through a combination of a few languishing stock-picks and a short-position on Japan. The book ́s vivid first- hand account of the tremendous anguish Cundill feels going through this rough patch makes it clear that the answer to the question when can one relax a bit after a run of good performance, is never. Peter Cundill beat his demons – and a plentitude of doubters – that time by applying well-trusted principles and sticking to his guns. But clarity of mind and common sense is never very clear when you need it the most.
One of many unique aspects of Cundill’s life was his copious note-book-taking. These dual investment/life diaries – 200 hand-written journals starting in 1963 – have of course helped the author Christopher Risso-Gill tremendously, mostly by being able to add considerable color by smartly inserting Cundill ́s own thoughts. Not that Mr. Risso-Gill was any stranger to Cundill ́s accomplishments; being a long-serving director of the Cundill Value Fund he observed and likely contributed some to the success from a front-row seat. And while his lack of subjectivity shines through in a few places, the book is made better by the author’s intimate familiarity with the basic storyline. It is, however, perhaps another aspect of his life that made Peter Cundill most proud – the “Indiana Jones of investment management” epithet. Starting in the late 1960s with a visit to the then exotic Tokyo, he became known as an extensive traveler, regularly clocking up more than 100,000 flying miles annually in his quest for international bargains, once commenting, “if I haven’t been on a plane for a week I begin to feel restless”. Especially noteworthy was his December-routine of always visiting the worst-performing stock- market that year, often providing him with rare contrarian value-cases. In so doing, the Cundill investment approach can best be described as combining balance sheet based number crunching with the old merchant-banker’s penchant for “sniffing the local air”. He was also very much a networking-man, the “clou” being the annual Cundill Conference, where he gathered investors, politicians and economists for a two-day event. The highlight according to most was “Pete’s Morning” where Cundill set off on a 2-3 hour long presentation on value investing, cases, thoughts on the macro-picture or other pertinent topics (had it been great to participate or what!).
There ́s Always Something To Do is a practitioner’s value investing chronicle of the finest kind. It compares exceedingly well with previous highlights of the genre, such as Anthony Bolton’s Investing Against The Tide and Richard Oldfield’s Simple But Not Easy. Peter Cundill’s outstanding 35-year track record as a mutual fund manager naturally increases the “weight” of the book, but his persona and ability to break new ground also speaks for itself. As he was very anxious to share his investment experiences, thinking it could be useful to others (most great investors have an inclination to “evangelize” in the positive sense of the word), it was to his immense delight when the first copy of the book was pressed into his hands in early 2011. Two days later Peter Cundill passed away. As they say, timing is everything.
January 23, 2023
Good read on Peter Cundill, a deep value investor. Cundill's thoroughness, grit and discipline come through. A real global investor not intimidated by unfamiliar geographies (he'd familiarize himself through travel or through his global, well-developed network of investor acquaintances). I was also struck by the fact that he considered complicated businesses, obscure accounting, etc. to be opportunities because it meant a significant majority of professional investors would not be interested and thus would make the security more likely to be underpriced or mispriced.
February 11, 2025
An easy quick read on how one of the great modern investors did his thing. Peter Cundill's track record over 30 year was pretty astonishing, especially given his cash weightings for a lot of that period and his adherence to a balance sheet-obsessive investment philosophy. Quite how someone compounds at 15%+ with no focus on enduring competitive advantage is beyond me. The counterpoint to Nick Sleep's evolution from finding net-nets, I guess. Enjoyable.
May 26, 2025
Cundill was very focused on the balance sheets of companies and ensuring a margin of safety based on the assets in relation to the price.
I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. The only caveat was that I took a long break in the middle because some other library books were due, and so I had to try to finish them first. But I pretty much couldn't put this one down (except for when I forced myself to).
I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. The only caveat was that I took a long break in the middle because some other library books were due, and so I had to try to finish them first. But I pretty much couldn't put this one down (except for when I forced myself to).
October 27, 2025
A very captivating read. I was relatively unfamiliar with Peter until this book, who is now one of my favorites. Very illuminating to see the emphasis on balance sheet figures. Not only is it the primary analysis Peter does, he journals that it is the ONLY analysis he does. Aside from the insight into a great prolonged track record, the personal additives are what make this book even more entertaining.
July 20, 2019
The book reviews the investing life of Peter Cundill, a practitioner of value investing. It gives brief notes on numerous Cundill's past investments, in a large universe including equity, distress assets, sovereign bonds, and others.
Quite interesting, but I give it three stars because I am a difficult reader.
Quite interesting, but I give it three stars because I am a difficult reader.
October 20, 2019
My first encounter with Cundill's name was at 2011 when I own the same stock as his fund, tough I didn't know who he was then. A value investor who able to finish 22 marathons, in sub-3 as well, and very open on investing worldwide. How interesting Peter's Cundill life was. I learn some insight and wisdoms from this biography of Canadian's value investor. Even I may stole his work sheet.
November 25, 2024
Peter Cundil was an interesting investor, a net-net value investors that had discipline abroad. While I find him to be an interesting investor, this book reads more like history than a business biography or investing title. It glossed over lots of investment details, and talked about his personal life extensively at times.
April 11, 2020
Refreshing and genuine look into a successful investor’s life, both professional and personal. Relevant read for all serious investment professionals, beyond just value-investors. I personally work in middle-market private credit in the United States and found this book both useful and enjoyable.
April 27, 2019
A few anecdotes are interesting, but pretty elementary and surface level biography.
October 14, 2019
good. a summary of his successes.
August 23, 2020
didn't go into much depth about life, techniques etc.
June 13, 2021
Not my favourite book but it was OK
January 8, 2023
Author was overly biased as if access to Cundhill’s journal was conditional on a positive portrayal.
June 21, 2013
This is a fantastic biography. It has been written in a way that one is not accustomed to, so it takes some getting used to. But Cundill's life seems to have been quite exciting.
Marathons, family life, and a very Ben Grahamian but global approach to investing.
It's not often that one sees examples of value investing/ cigar butt investing applied across the world - and the author speaks in significant details about how Cundill went about investing in certain companies.
Liked the bits about how he tried living in Paris and then in London.
Investment stories I liked - Tiffany, Paribas, Brascan, C&W, Ecuadorean debt, his stories about staying in cash and battling investors, colleagues when defending his positions.
All along, the book has been peppered with Cundill's own notes and they are a magnificent peak into the mind of a guy who had a 15.2 % Compound return for thirty years. That's a long long career.
Have made so many notes in this book, that it feels more like a note book than a biography/ investment book.
Get it. Won't regret it.
Meant for value investors.
Marathons, family life, and a very Ben Grahamian but global approach to investing.
It's not often that one sees examples of value investing/ cigar butt investing applied across the world - and the author speaks in significant details about how Cundill went about investing in certain companies.
Liked the bits about how he tried living in Paris and then in London.
Investment stories I liked - Tiffany, Paribas, Brascan, C&W, Ecuadorean debt, his stories about staying in cash and battling investors, colleagues when defending his positions.
All along, the book has been peppered with Cundill's own notes and they are a magnificent peak into the mind of a guy who had a 15.2 % Compound return for thirty years. That's a long long career.
Have made so many notes in this book, that it feels more like a note book than a biography/ investment book.
Get it. Won't regret it.
Meant for value investors.
August 20, 2014
A truly excellent biography of Peter Cundill.
The book is very well written. Not only does the book venture deep into Cundill's investment philosophy, but his wisdom in life shines through.
The Glossary and Appendices are filled with even more quotes from Cundill.
The book is very well written. Not only does the book venture deep into Cundill's investment philosophy, but his wisdom in life shines through.
The Glossary and Appendices are filled with even more quotes from Cundill.
August 3, 2015
mostly things he did right.
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