The annual letter to investors has become a fixture of funds management. Seeing themselves as oracles of not just financial markets, but geopolitics, chief executives and chief investment officers pen essays that predict the future, and ponder the past.

Some are earnest. A few are self-reflective. All promote money men accustomed to the deference that comes with controlling great wealth, from Bill Ackman at Pershing Square Holdings to Robert Luciano at VGI Partners.