The Peter Lynch Investor » Newsletter » Investment letters are boring. James Bond is not.
James Bond Goldfinger

Investment letters are boring. James Bond is not.

Darcy Paterson

Apr 17, 2023  
Nick Sleep letters

Nick Sleep is no James Bond but his investment letters are actually entertaining!

Yes, it’s true. The Nick Sleep letters are packed with wisdom. Plus, they’re entertaining.

I’m pretty confident that on a “interesting subjects to read” list, investing letters are near the bottom. Luckily, Sleep has a knack for storytelling. One of the more interesting stories he recounts is that of the James Bond car from the movie Goldfinger.

Goldfinger was/is one of my favourite Bond movies ever. One of the reasons I love that movie is because of the Aston Martin DB5 that Bond drives. It’s a beautiful car.

Back in the 60’s after the movie was released a man named Chris Evans contacted the production guy to see if he could buy the car. He told him he could buy the car but he had to buy both of them. Apparently, they always have at least two when making movies. He told him he’d have to pay 15 for them. Evans assumed he meant £15,000 but when the cars arrived the invoice was for £1,500.

He sold one of them to buy a Ferrari GTO. The other one he kept. As far as investments go it’s legendary. I read an article about how one of the cars sold for $6.4 million in 2019. That’s annualized 17% return over nearly six decades.

This is just one of many entertaining stories Sleep manages to thread into the investment letters. It’s not only entertaining but it underscores some of his investment principles. Principles like don’t be afraid to search out idiosyncratic and obscure investments. As well, invest for the long term.

There are more principles that Sleep discusses in the letters like his appreciation for Bill Miller’s the three competitive advantages for investors. They’re great. I’ll talk more about them in my next post.