📖Joel Greenblatt

Systematic Investment Approach

🌿 Intermediate★★★★★

A systematic approach ensures consistent investing.

💬

A systematic approach to investing removes emotion and ensures consistency. Document your process, follow your rules, and review regularly.

— The Little Book That Beats the Market,2005

🏠 Everyday Analogy

A process is like a pilot checklist: discipline prevents simple mistakes when pressure rises and keeps outcomes more repeatable.

📖 Core Interpretation

Joel Greenblatt advocates a repeatable process: define criteria, execute consistently, and review decisions against evidence. Process quality drives outcome consistency.
💎 Key Insight:Systematic processes outperform ad hoc decisions.

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❓ Why It Matters

Without process, there is no reliable feedback loop. Structured execution and review improve decision quality over time.

🎯 How to Practice

Run a decision loop of research, thesis, execution, and post-mortem; document assumptions and update playbooks with evidence, not hindsight bias.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Having opinions without execution criteria
Reviewing outcomes but not decisions
Abandoning rules during volatility spikes

📚 Case Studies

1
Host Marriott / Marriott Spin-off (1988)
Marriott restructured, spinning off its real estate-heavy Host Marriott from its management business. Many investors dumped the more leveraged entity, pushing the price below intrinsic value.
✨ Outcome:Investing in the unpopular spin-off produced strong gains as asset values and earnings power were recognized over time.
2
Coca-Cola’s Simple Business (1988)
Greenblatt highlighted Coke’s dominant brand, straightforward business model, and predictable cash flows as a classic simple investment.
✨ Outcome:Long-term holders earned substantial returns as earnings compounded and the brand expanded globally.

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