Porchester, the Artist Formerly Known As
A new life, a fresh direction and plenty of clichés
Porchester Papers is dead.
Given I hadn’t posted anything in over six months, you probably already came to that conclusion yourself. Consider it now official.
What is this mysterious new post and newsletter all about?
Things have changed a lot behind the scenes, and things will change here on Substack too.
Daddy Issues
I am in the very privileged and fortunate position to now be the father of the most perfect little human being.
Despite your whole life people telling you how big a deal this is, you only appreciate how important these moments are when they actually happen to you. It’s difficult to grasp what it truly means to be in that situation until you are a parent yourself.
Delivered to you are a whole new set of responsibilities. Not only the obvious tasks of feeding the baby, changing their nappies and furiously cleaning sick out of your carpet, but also plenty more intangible duties.
The other realisation you have is how much free time you had before. It might seem obvious, but keeping a little human alive is massively time-consuming. And there is nothing else I would be rather be doing.
As a result, writing has taken a back seat. However, this recent period has given me the opportunity to reflect on the Porchester Papers project and whether I want to continue with it.
Although I do really enjoy writing, Porchester Papers had some problems. Overall it wasn’t particularly interesting. I found myself quite bored reading back some of the notes now. Perhaps I am being too self-critical.
Writing research pieces on individual companies is not only a lot of work but is also fairly limited in scope and audience. I also do plenty of company and investment research already in my day job, and want my writing to be an opportunity to have fun and explore something different.
I want to make my writing not only broader and more digestible, but also more personal.
G(etting) Old
I am constantly working towards being a better father, better investor, better critical thinker and generally a better person. Each of these paths is an adventure where neither the journey there nor the final destination are entirely clear.
For this next stage of writing, I would like to bring together all these journeys into one newsletter. Stories, thoughts and nuggets that I come across and am looking to share, all delivered with a personal but also light-hearted lustre.
Explorers have spent centuries looking for the El Dorado, the legend of the golden city. Although no golden city has ever been found, the journeys carried out by these explorers helped to map many previously unknown areas of the Americas and were adventures in and of themselves.
Putting aside maybe some of the conflicts those explorers might have had with the indigenous people at the time - this clichéd legend reflects fittingly these personal journeys I wish to write about.
We can never be the perfect parent, investor or person but we can keep exploring and evolving on these personal adventures, and the journey there is as valuable (or potentially more valuable) than the final destination.
Hence the rebrand - Cities of Gold.
And the new pen name - Aldo Rado.
Might be one of the most worn out pieces of imagery there is, but who doesn’t like a proper adventure like the legend of the El Dorado? Also better than trying to have a successful finance blog which has the word “Por” in the name.
There is also an argument to be made that this period is the beginning of the monetary economics we know are familiar with today. The huge inflow of gold and silver from the New World into Spain brought with it significant price inflation, since gold was still the principal medium of exchange. This shaped the economy of Europe and the World for years to come.
And let’s be honest, Cities of Gold sounds pretty grand and important.
Cities of Gold won’t be sticking to a set publishing schedule. I will write when I have the time and when I feel I have something worth writing about. It will also not be about any specific topics, but if you know me, have interacted with me or have read any of what I have written in the past, should give a fair idea of what to expect - minus the long write ups about boring companies.
To the previous 90 subscribers of the Porchester Papers, I appreciate you very much and thank you for your patience. Hopefully you will all enjoy the new direction and look forward to hearing feedback.
You’re indestructible, always believing. Gold.
Aldo Rado
