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P5-C1 · Free Source System Map

Core One-Liner

With 6 months of free sources, you already surpass 90% of retail investors — paid sources (Bloomberg / SemiAnalysis) are an incremental edge, not the base.

Further Reading — Free Sources Only

P5-C1 (Part 5, Chapter 1). Entirely based on free, accessible sources. Sorted by type + priority to help you build your information channels as quickly as possible.

1. The Problem: Too Many Information Sources, 99% of Retail Investors Don't Know Which to Follow

You've heard of SemiAnalysis / Stratechery / The Information / Bloomberg / Morningstar / Substack — a whole bunch. Paid sources have marginal value, but free sources are already enough for your beginner + intermediate level.

This chapter sorts free sources by information density + timeliness, helping you set up your information channels in 30 minutes.

2. The Solution: 6 Major Categories of Free Sources + Priority

Priority Category What to Use Timeliness
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Company IR + SEC Company IR website / SEC EDGAR Real-time
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Earnings Transcripts Motley Fool / Seeking Alpha (free tier) 1-2 day lag
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Institutional Holdings (13F) Whalewisdom / Dataroma 45-day lag
⭐⭐⭐⭐ PM Public Letters Buffett / Marks / Ackman Quarterly / Annual
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Podcasts Lex Fridman / Acquired / All-In / Invest Like the Best Weekly
⭐⭐⭐ Academic Blogs Aswath Damodaran (NYU) Monthly
⭐⭐⭐ Free Newsletters Stratechery free article / The Information free article Weekly
⭐⭐⭐ YouTube Public Talks Coatue Goldman Conf / Munger Daily Journal Irregular
⭐⭐ Twitter / X (filtered) Top PMs / Industry Analysts Real-time (noisy)

3.1 Company IR + SEC (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Must-Read)

Usage: For any ticker in your thesis, must-read the latest 10-Q / 10-K / 8-K.

  • SEC EDGAR: https://www.sec.gov/edgar — All US company filings, completely free
  • Company IR website: investors.nvidia.com / aboutamazon.com/news/2024/aws — Investor Day decks have the highest information density

Key Filings: - 10-K (Annual Report) — Must-read risk factors + MD&A sections - 10-Q (Quarterly Report) — Financial numbers + brief narrative - 8-K — Major events (M&A / executive departures / earnings) - Proxy (DEF 14A) — Executive compensation + corporate governance - 13F (Institutional holdings quarterly report) — See §3.3

3.2 Earnings Transcripts (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Must-Read)

Motley Fool (fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts): - Mainstream company earnings transcripts published for free 1-2 days later - Includes full Q&A (highest density information) - Recommended: Read 5-8 per quarter (those related to your thesis)

Seeking Alpha (seekingalpha.com): - Free tier for transcripts (with limitations) - Pro tier is paid, not recommended for beginners

3.3 Institutional Holdings 13F (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Whalewisdom (whalewisdom.com): - Free tier to see top fund holdings changes - Recommended to follow: Berkshire / Bridgewater / Tiger / Coatue / Whale Rock / Lone Pine / Druckenmiller (Duquesne)

Dataroma (dataroma.com): - "Super-investor" portfolios visible for free - Track Buffett / Pabrai / Klarman / Tepper / Greenblatt

Key Caveat (taught in P2B-C3): 13F has a 45-day lag and only shows long stock (no short / options).

3.4 PM Public Letters (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Buffett's Shareholder Letters: berkshirehathaway.com/letters - One letter per year from 1965 to present, completely free - Recommended: 2016 (AAPL entry) / 2020 (pandemic) / 2024 (AI / cash hoard)

Howard Marks Memos: oaktreecapital.com/insights/memos - Monthly, completely free - Recommended: "I Beg to Differ" / "The Most Important Thing" / "Sea Change"

Bill Ackman: pershingsquareholdings.com (quarterly letter)

Stanley Druckenmiller: Fewer letters, see podcasts (§3.5)

3.5 Podcasts (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Lex Fridman Podcast (lexfridman.com/podcast): - Long (2-4 hr) deep interviews - AI-related: Andrej Karpathy / Sam Altman / Druckenmiller / Mark Zuckerberg - Recommended: #421 Druckenmiller / #333 Karpathy / #466 Sam Altman

Acquired (acquired.fm): - Deep company histories (NVDA / TSM / Standard Oil / ARM) - Recommended: NVDA episode (3-part) / TSM / ASML

All-In Podcast (allinpodcast.co): - 4 VCs/PMs discuss, AI is a frequent topic - Recommended weekly (60-90 min)

Invest Like the Best (joincolossus.com): - Patrick O'Shaughnessy interviews PMs - Recommended: Druckenmiller / Mike Speiser / Bill Ackman

3.6 Academic Blogs (⭐⭐⭐)

Aswath Damodaran (NYU Stern): aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com + YouTube channel - Valuation master, quarterly reality checks (NVDA / TSLA / MSFT) - Completely free, models available for download

Mauboussin (Counterpoint Global): Occasional free papers (posted on LinkedIn)

3.7 Free Newsletters (⭐⭐⭐)

Stratechery (stratechery.com) by Ben Thompson: - Mostly paid, but 1 free article per week - AI / tech industry strategic analysis - Free version: 1 article per week is enough for beginners

The Information (theinformation.com): - Mostly paid, but some articles are free - Tech / AI deep reporting, occasionally contrarian theses

Ben Evans Newsletter (ben-evans.com): - Completely free, weekly updates - Tech / mobile / AI trends

3.8 YouTube Public Talks (⭐⭐⭐)

Coatue Philippe Laffont: - Goldman Sachs Conference 2024 (60 min) - CNBC Delivering Alpha 2024

Munger Daily Journal Annual Meeting: - 4-6 hr each year, all publicly available on YouTube - Recommended: 2022 / 2023 (Munger's last before passing)

Druckenmiller Real Vision: Multiple public interviews

Buffett Berkshire Annual Meeting: 8-hour video publicly available

3.9 Twitter / X (⭐⭐ Noisy but Has Alpha)

Worth Following (filter the noise):

  • PMs: @stanleyfink (Bill Ackman) / @TigerCubsLLC (tracking 13F)
  • Industry: @dylan522p (Dylan Patel, SemiAnalysis founder, free tweets)
  • Academics: @AswathDamodaran (NYU)
  • Retail Education: @MattBilodeauPA / @marketsentiment

Warning: Twitter is an information source, not a thesis source. Don't buy directly based on recommendations.

Day 1 (30 min):

  1. Sign up for Whalewisdom (free)
  2. RSS subscribe to Howard Marks memos (oaktreecapital.com/insights)
  3. Follow 1-2 top PMs on Twitter
  4. Bookmark Motley Fool transcripts for your tickers
  5. Set up Google Alerts for your tickers (e.g., "NVDA earnings")

Day 2-7:

  1. Read 1 Buffett shareholder letter (any year)
  2. Listen to 1 Lex Fridman podcast (recommended: #421 Druckenmiller)
  3. Read 1 Howard Marks memo (recommended: "I Beg to Differ")
  4. Watch the Coatue Goldman talk

Week 2-4: Quarterly review of your tickers' 13F changes + Motley Fool transcripts.

5. Next → P5-C2

You've built your source channels. But what's the reading pace? A 6-week beginner reading roadmap gives you a day-by-day plan.

→ P5-C2 · 6-Week Beginner Reading Roadmap.