My current favourite out of the books we received in the office is Paul Mumford’s The Stock Picker, a history of the last 30 years from the perspective of the fund he has run and the companies he has invested in. Mumford, who is reckoned to be the longest serving fund manager on the same fund, is a classic stockpicker and if you spend more than half an hour with him you will see why.
He constantly gets calls from brokers and has an incredible knowledge of the companies he has or hasn’t invested in. His ‘process’ doesn’t neatly fit into the ‘tick-box’ analysis system many work under now but this book gives you a brilliant insight into the way a real, old school, but still very active, active investor works.