People sometimes ask me why I do what I do. If I'm such a great speculator, why not just trade and keep my ideas to myself? Or, more cynically, if I'm such a good investor, why do I need the newsletter? Fair questions. One answer is that being a newsletter writer increases my deal flow. Companies bring opportunities to my attention because of the market megaphone I wield. It also enhances my ability to do due diligence, as companies are more often interested in showing a guy with 40,000 investors behind him around.

Another answer is that while I no longer need to work to pay my bills (I can live off my investments), I work because I like what I do.

But there's a deeper reason... as you can hear in this talk I gave last summer in Argentina.