About Detritus

Welcome to the Detritus blog.

I started my investing career with Intelligent Investor, an Australian investment publication, back in 2009 with the intention of pursuing funds management as a career. I got out because I realised how high risk a career funds management is; the years-long feedback cycle that fundamental investors operate under means it’s possible to learn you’re a mediocre investor only after committing years to building career capital in a narrow field.

After a few years of consistent effort applying a fairly traditional value investing style, it was still not apparent whether I had any edge in analysing large-cap ASX stocks. For that reason I’ve spent the past several years working in commercial finance in tech.

That early struggle to compete led me to branch out from traditional value investing, focusing on asset allocation as a more realistic solution as a part timer. I’ve recently returned to more actively investing in individual stocks, but with a modified approach and a more deliberate focus in areas or stocks where I expect to have edge.

One reason for starting the blog is that I’m already doing a lot of the writing. It’s a necessary part of my investment process. Putting thoughts into writing exposes gaps in logic and reduces the likelihood of prospective mistakes. Writing down an investment case also leaves no room to rewrite history when revisiting past decisions and it increases the specificity and quality of feedback.

My goal for the blog is to build a network with other investors over time, and to serve as a public body of work to help if I ever decide to move into investing as a career. If you enjoy the blog, the best favours you can do me are to share your investment ideas and share the blog with friends.

I chose the name Detritus as a metaphor for many investment products; the name sounds vaguely scientific (it reminds me of the hydrogen isotope Deuterium), hopefully impressive-sounding to those who don’t know much about it, but in reality it’s just decaying organic waste. I also find the detritus among listed securities — the reviled stocks which most investors will not touch nor do the work on — to be the most fertile hunting ground for my style of investing.

I regularly take snapshots of the website on the Wayback Machine so readers can verify the dates that articles were posted and that I have never deleted any articles.

Lastly, none of this is investment advice. Do your own research and don’t anticipate that I’ll provide updates on any stocks I write about. I take smaller positions than most and am more comfortable than most in situations where large losses are a likely outcome. Caveat emptor.