📖Jeremy Grantham

Probabilistic Thinking

🌳 Advanced★★★★★

Think in probabilities, not certainties.

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Think in probabilities, not certainties. Every investment has a range of possible outcomes. Weight your decisions by the expected value of each scenario.

— GMO Quarterly Letters,2017

🏠 Everyday Analogy

Valuation is like buying a house: the asking price reflects mood, but true value comes from structure, location, and long-term utility. Good assets still need sensible prices.

📖 Core Interpretation

In Probabilistic Thinking, Jeremy Grantham focuses on the gap between price and value. Returns come from paying less than what a business is worth, not from guessing short-term market moves.
💎 Key Insight:Expected value calculations guide rational decisions.

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❓ Why It Matters

Ignoring valuation turns even good companies into poor investments. Overpaying compresses future returns and leaves little margin when assumptions are wrong.

🎯 How to Practice

Estimate intrinsic value with conservative assumptions, set clear buy ranges, and act only when price offers a meaningful discount with acceptable downside.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Confusing a low price with true cheapness
Using one metric without business context
Overly optimistic assumptions that erase margin of safety

📚 Case Studies

1
Dot-Com Bubble Warning (2000)
Grantham publicly warned in 1998–2000 that tech stocks were in a massive bubble, reducing GMO client exposure to overvalued growth and internet shares.
✨ Outcome:Clients underperformed during the final surge, but avoided most of the 2000–2002 crash and preserved substantial capital.
2
Housing and Credit Bubble Call (2007)
Grantham labeled 2005–2007 a global housing and credit bubble, slashing exposure to risky mortgage-linked and leveraged financial assets before the crisis hit.
✨ Outcome:Underperformance before mid-2007, then strong relative results during the 2008 crash as portfolios were less exposed to collapsing financials.

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