Stanley Druckenmiller (pictured below) is an investing great, who operated from around 1980 to 2010. At one point in his career, he managed the Quantum Fund with George Soros. When he retired and closed his investment firm, Duquesne Capital, he had $12 billion under management. He's only 71 years old now.

I liked this quote of his:

"It doesn't matter what a company is earning now, or what they have earned in the past. You have to visualise the situation 18 months from now, that's where the price will be".

This is why we spend a lot of time reading the news, studying company earnings and forecasts, and assessing the growth prospects of our chosen investment holdings. We are wondering how they'll be performing in 2026.

Over the last 13 years, the US stock market is up 5-fold. I have been managing money for clients in the US for 15 years, so my timing has been fortunate. Having said that, it has not been plain sailing, it never is.

There have been multiple crashes and global events that have changed the world forever. There were frequent warnings from very clever people that things were going to get rough or that our best days were behind us. For the most part, it was best to ignore that advice.

Even the legendary Howard Marks (pictured below) said in 2017 that the best returns of this particular cycle were done. Since then the market is up on average 14% per annum. Most of the time, the warnings are far worse than the reality. And that is why we prefer to stay fully invested and ride the cycles.

Porsche recently announced that it had patented a new engine design, a six-stroke power unit. Conventional four-stroke cycle engines operate on an intake, compression, ignition (power), and exhaust sequence.

Porsche's six-stroke engine design introduces two additional strokes into each cycle. This alteration allows for a second compression and ignition phase, effectively doubling the combustion events within a single cycle, where each piston compresses the fuel/air mixture twice. So the new order would be intake, compression, ignition, compression, ignition and exhaust.

The idea is that the new design would result in more power and better fuel efficiency. A traditional engine has a power leg every four strokes, but with the new six-stroke engine, there is power every three strokes. Similarly, a six-stroke engine only has fuel intake every six strokes, thus using less fuel.

This all sounds great, but Porsche has yet to build the engine. It's more complex, so will be difficult and expensive to manufacture. I think that certain cars should always have combustion engines, so I hope Porsche can get this project off the ground and scaled into production.

You can watch a video about the specifics here - This new engine will change the world.

Ever get stuck deciding what to watch on streaming platforms? Let me help by sharing some insights on what's trending. Netflix's Engagement Report for the first half of 2024 is based on over 94 billion hours of viewer time.

British hits like Fool Me Once and Baby Reindeer dominated the top 10, while non-English shows, particularly Spanish and Korean series, accounted for a third of the total watch time. The Bridgerton series was a standout, pulling in 189 million views, with Bridgerton Season 3 alone grabbing 92 million.

Whether you're into action flicks like Damsel, comedies like Young Sheldon, or reality TV like Love Is Blind, Netflix's content diversity has something for everyone. My wife and I just finished watching Billionaire Island and The Gentlemen, both were incredible.

Americans love their yellow school buses. More parents and students are riding a greener version - Switching to electric.

How does being sponsored to travel the world sound? Ask and you shall receive - Crowdfund your next trip.

Asian markets had a slow start to the fourth quarter, though a weaker yen helped boost Japanese indices. The Nikkei 225 climbed 1.9%, rebounding from a nearly 5% drop after some political leadership uncertainty spooked markets. A snap election has been called for October 27.

Chinese markets, including Hong Kong, will now be closed for the Golden Week holidays.

In local company news, The Spar Group reported weaker-than-expected sales performance, with turnover from continuing operations up 4.1% for the 47 weeks ending August 23. In Southern Africa, only liquor sales were strong. Go figure.

US equity futures are up pre-market. The Rand is trading at around R17.27 to the US Dollar.

Its October, so the year-end is looming. We hope it's a good one for you.