Investing

Written by Tomas Saenz · June 08, 2025

Investing is simple. Naturally, as humans do, we make it difficult. Buy quality companies or assets at discounted prices. If you follow this simple guideline, you are almost always guaranteed to come out ahead—barring any unforeseen black swan events. The beauty is in the simplicity. A good investment does not necessarily mean buying a "good thing." Rather, it’s about buying good things well.

I was recently looking for a travel bag that could serve as a one-bag solution allowing me to pack essentials in the most reliable and efficient way. My research led me to the Osprey Farpoint 40 Travel Pack, listed at $185.00 on Osprey’s website.

Being that I love a good deal, I checked my options and found that Walmart offered the same bag for $30 less. This illustrates the core idea of investing: buy good things well. Osprey makes excellent bags, and I suspect this 'investment' will last me for years. The return on investment, both financially and functionally, will be ideal.

This idea of buying good things well is central to value investing. If you invest in stocks, you're probably familiar with the P/E ratio, or price-to-earnings ratio. It’s a tool used to gauge whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued based on its profitability.

P/E = Stock share price / Earnings per share (EPS)
EPS is simply profit divided by the number of outstanding shares.

In general, a high P/E ratio may suggest the stock is overvalued or that investors expect high future growth. Value investors prefer lower P/E ratios, which may suggest a stock is undervalued and has room to grow.

In summary, investing is simple: buy good things well. Don’t just take it from me—take it from legendary investor Howard Marks: “Investment success doesn’t come from buying good things, but rather from buying things well.”