Buffett, Munger & Graham: Collection Of Words, Quotes Or Disciplines

November 17, 2014The world is infinite. Brian Lockier 2014March 27, 2012But these ground rules are the philosophy. If you are in tune with me, then lets go. If you arent, I understand. Im not going to tell you what we own or anything like that. I want to get bouquets when I deserve bouquets, and I want to get soft fruit thrown at me when I deserve it. But I dont want fruit thrown at me if Im down 5 percent, and the markets down 15 percentIm going to think I deserve a bouquet for that.Warren Buffettdiscussing taking on new investors in his fund.August 17, 2011"I save about $5+ a day in coupons. I bring a healthy lunch, nuts, fruits, for ~$2 per day, saving ~$10. Equates to >$5K per year. Future value that." Ronald R. Redfield August 2011June 8, 2011"Do the best that you can do. Never tell a lie. If you say you are going to do it, get it done. Nobody gives a shit about an excuse. By the way, those are very useful rules, especially for those in a service business. People are paying for your services with their own money. Return your calls quickly. The other thing is the five-second no. You've got to make up your mind. You don't leave people hanging." Charles MungerMay 13, 2009"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. . . . It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." The passage appears in a letter from Lincoln to (Col.) William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864. (Note: There is a debate whether or not Lincoln wrote or said this.)May 8, 2009"Value investing is like buying a snowboard during July." Ronald R. Redfield April 2009Warren Buffett once wrote that value investing is like an inoculation-it either takes or it doesnt- and when you explain to somebody what it is and how it works and why it works and show them the returns, either they get it or they dont. -Seth Klarmanof the Baupost GroupApril 3, 2008"I tell people that buying a house is not the same as buying a house on fire." James Dimon during a Government testimony, explaining why JP Morgan offered $2 per share for Bear Stearns.March 3, 2008"If they worry about what stocks will do in any given day, they shouldn't be buying stocks." Warren Buffett responding to question about stock futures being down on the morning of 3/3/08 and how he interprets such.February 25, 2008"Charlie and I operated mostly with 5 positions. If I were running 50, 100, 200 million, I would have 80% in 5 positions, with 25% for the largest. In 1964 I found a position I was willing to go heavier into, up to 40%. I told investors they could pull their money out. None did. The position was American Express Company(NYSE:AXP) after the Salad Oil Scandal. In 1951 I put the bulk of my net worth into GEICO. Later in 1998, LTCM was in trouble. With the spread between the on-the-run versus off-the-run 30 year Treasury bonds, I would have been willing to put 75% of my portfolio into it. There were various times I would have gone up to 75%, even in the past few years. If it's your game and you really know your business, you can load up." Warren Buffett 2/15/08"Over the past 50-60 years, Charlie and I have never permanently lost more than 2% of our personal worth on a position. We've suffered quotational loss, 50% movements. That's why you should never borrow money. We don't want to get into situations where anyone can pull the rug out from under our feet." Warren Buffett 2/15/08"In stocks, it's the only place where when things go on sale, people get unhappy. If I like a business, then it makes sense to buy more at 20 than at 30. If McDonald's reduces the price of hamburgers, I think it's great." Warren Buffett 2/15/08October 25, 2007"Look to your mentors, rather than eliminate them, when you have issues in your life." Ronald R. Redfield cpa,pfs 10/07.October 16, 2007"What you have to do in this environment of heavy research and abundance of value players is to be able to analyze and capture the appearance of value, within companies that are herd followed and owned by value investors yet at the same time, when you dig deep, these same companies do not carry typical value traits. Another way of saying this would be to capitalize when value investors lose sight of the ball, or get lazy. Ronald R. Redfield cpa,pfs 10/07.October 15, 2007 Einstein Words"Concern for making life better for ordinary humans, must be the chief object of science, never forget this when you are pondering over your diagrams and equations.""I believe in Spinoza's god, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists. But not in a god who concerns himself in the fate and the doings of mankind."In response to a request of using a phrase that Einstein came up with, Einstein allowed his phrase to be used, and sent this note as an explanation as to what the phrase means, "Nature hides her secret because of her essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse."During 2007, Charles Munger recommended a book on Einstein, by Walter Isaacson. I am in the middle of the book, and came across a very interesting contract that Albert had devised with and was accepted by his first wife (or was it his second, I can not recall. I am not familiar with his further life, as I am still on this chapter of a fascinating book I thought I would share this section, and see if it gives us any insight as to the thought process and personal views of Charlie. I enjoyed Isaacson's book on Ben Franklin as well."Einstein's contract with his wife.""Cold scientific approach combined with personal hostility and emotional alienation to produce an astonishing document.Conditions:A. You will make sure:1. that my clothes and laundry are kept in good order.2. that I will receive my three meals regularly, in my room.3. that my bedroom and study are kept neat, and especially that my desk is left for my use only.B. You will renounce all personal relations with me, in so far as they are not completely necessary for social reasons, specifically you will forego:1. my sitting at home with you.2. my going out or travelling with you.C. You will obey the following points in your relations with me:1. You will not expect any intimacy from me, nor will you approach me in any way.2. You will stop talking to me if I request it.3. You will leave my bedroom or study immediately without protest if I request it.D. You will undertake not to belittle me in front of our children, either in words or behavior."June 27, 2007"Value Investors must be over-weighted in patience." Seth Klarman"Investing isn't simply about being sure you are right, but about making sure you are protected if you are wrong." Jason Zweig"Don't be an extreme ideologue. To be happy in marriage, improve yourself as a spouse" Charlie Munger Wesco 2007 AM" Accounting. A noble profession, yet it gave us Enron." Charlie Munger Wesco 2007 AM"It's fun to be rational.It's fun to be trusted.More compliance is not the answer.Aspire to be a seamless well of deserved trust." Charlie Munger Wesco 2007 AMJanuary 2, 2007"If you can do more, you should." - Robert RedfordJuly 5, 2005 Interesting Poem on Stock Option expensingI read an article called "Stock Options and the Lying Liars Who Don't want to Expense Them", written by Clifford S. Asness. He had a paragraph that I just loved. Here it is in my own formation."Issued Options are an Expense"" They are an expense in a house.They are an expense to a mouse.They are not an expense only to a louse"(for the record, I totally believe in expensing options. I am amazed how many companies do not pay corporate income taxes because of stock option compensation. Many of these companies are thought to be making a ton of money, yet they have net operating loss carry forwards for tax purposes. These companies include eBay Inc(NASDAQ:EBAY), Cisco Systems, Inc.(NASDAQ:CSCO) and Qualcomm, Inc.(NASDAQ:QCOM). It is amazing how many of the analysts and investors in these companies, are not aware of the Net Operating Loss Carry-forwards)February 22, 2005Various quotes from Warren Buffett"We do not have, never have had, and never will have an opinion about where the stock market, interest rates or business activity will be a year from now." 1987" I think I am under-taxed, but I do not send along any voluntary payments." (annual meeting 1998)"The public school teacher is probably the most under-compensated and under-appreciated person in the public arena."February 22, 2005" We always run scared" (Marty Whitman on investing)January 10, 2005"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if Rome doesn't want to become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero 63BC" I place economy among the first and important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our choice between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy." Thomas Jefferson" And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude." Thomas JeffersonPrior to December 31, 2004" Every great crisis reveals the excessive speculations of many houses which no one before suspected, and which commonly indeed had not begun or had not carried very far those speculations, till they were tempted by the daily rise of price and the surrounding fever." ~ Bagehot, Walter (1826-1877)"Nothing is as dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is to be preferred. "Jean de La Fontaine" Man is a gregarious animal, and much more so in his mind than in his body. He may like to go alone for a walk, but he hates to stand alone in his opinions." ~George Santayana"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.-- Christopher Morley" If something is unsustainable, then it will stop.'' It acknowledges the size of the current-account deficit (big) yet minimizes the danger of an adjustment (benign, according to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan)."Author: Herbert Stein" A person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which and simply peruse their vision of excellence and grace, whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them they are always doing both. "Author: " A Zen Poet ""Doubt - The only human activity capable of controlling the use of power in a positive way. Doubt is central to understanding."Author - UnknownExcellent site for quotes of Mark Twain"The tough years for us were '98 and '99, when we were only making a little bit of money, and everybody else out there was making tons of money for their clients. It got easier as the market started to come down and our stocks were going up. The cheap stocks went up; expensive stocks went down. That convergence was great for value investors, including the Oakmark family, from 2000 through about mid-2003. "- Bill Nygren, July 2004Fund manager of Oakmark which has achieved a 20% average annual rate of return since 1996."I talk with some aggressive growth managers I know. I asked them when this thing (the tech meltdown) was blowing off, why didn't you get out of that crap. They said, 'Then we'd underperform relative to the market.' And if you underperform, I assume you'll get redeemed (in that shareholders redeem, or sell, their fund shares) right? They say, 'Right.' So let me get this straight: You own this crap, you get destroyed and you get redeemed anyway."- Bob Rodriguez, April 2004Fund manager of FPA Capital Fund which has achieved a 20-year annual return of 17.6%"Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results."- Warren Buffett, 1974 Letter to Shareholders"Despite three years of falling prices, which have significantly improved the attractiveness of common stocks, we still find very few that even mildly interest us. That dismal fact is testimony to the insanity of valuations reached during The Great Bubble. Unfortunately, the hangover may prove to be proportional to the binge."- Warren Buffett, March 2003"From where did this loony idea emerge that a cowlicked midwesterner who buys stock in companies that turn out syrupy fizz water, bland ice milk and lefty newspapers should thus be known as a Value Investor?...Tech will roar back. It will continue its merry dash toward infinite powers at zero cost. It will transform all in its path. Markets may (and just did) correct for overvalue, but they can't abjure the laws of physics... Bottom line: In such an explosive economy, there will be no safe harbors for traditional 'value' stocks."- Richard Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes Magazine in May 2000 just before the tech bubble burst"I like to go for cinches. I like to shoot fish in a barrel. But I like to do it after the water has run out."- Warren Buffett, Oct. 2003 talking with Wharton MBA students"The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play for big stakes."- Warren Buffett, Nov. 2002 talking with students at Gaston Hall"Sometimes you're outside your core competency. Level 3 is one of those times but I've made a bet on the people and I feel I understand the people. There was a time when people made a bet on me."- Warren Buffett, Oct. 2002 when questioned about his investment in Level 3"The definition of hell in the legal system is: endless due process and no justice; (in the corporate world) it would be: endless due diligence and no horse sense."- Charlie Munger, 2002 Berkshire Hathaway Inc.(NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) Shareholder Meeting"This time Congress should listen to the slim accountants. The logic behind their thinking is simple:"1) If options aren't a form of compensation, what are they?"2) If compensation isn't an expense, what is it?"3) And if expenses shouldn't go into the calculation of earnings, where in the world should they go?"- Warren Buffett"We don't use price-to-earnings multiples anymore at Cramer Berkowitz. If we talk about price-to-book, we have already gone astray. If we use any of what Graham and Dodd teach us, we wouldn't have a dime under management."- James Cramer at the height of the dot com frenzy"The only way to be loved is to be loveable, which really irritates me."- Warren Buffett, speaking at the CityClub in Seattle (July 21, 2001)"We've had public companies in the past in that business and they bleed. We've got a lot more blood than they do."- Warren Buffett talking about Executive Jet in a rare show of teeth at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting"First, many in Wall Street - a community in which quality control is not prized - will sell investors anything they will buy."- Warren Buffett, 2000 Letter to Shareholders"The whole concept of dividing it up into 'value' and 'growth' strikes me as twaddle. It's convenient for a bunch of pension fund consultants to get fees prattling about and a way for one advisor to distinguish himself from another. But, to me, all intelligent investing is value investing."- Charlie Munger"When they open that envelope, the first instruction is to take my pulse again."- Warren Buffett, 2001 Annual Meeting after mentioning that the instructions of his succession are sealed in an envelope at headquarters."Charlie and I decided long ago that in an investment lifetime it's too hard to make hundreds of smart decisions. That judgment became ever more compelling as Berkshire's capital mushroomed and the universe of investments that could significantly affect our results shrank dramatically. Therefore, we adopted a strategy that required our being smart - and not too smart at that - only a very few times. Indeed, we'll now settle for one good idea a year. (Charlie says it's my turn.)"- Warren Buffett"Somewhere in the middle of the Bull market the first common-stock flotations make their appearance. These are priced not unattractively, and some large profits are made by the buyers of the early issues. As the market rise continues, this brand of financing grows more frequent; the quality of the companies becomes steadily poorer; the prices asked and obtained verge on exorbitant. One fairly dependable sign of the approaching end of a bull swing is the fact that new common stocks of small and nondescript companies are offered at prices somewhat higher than the current level for many medium-sized companies with a long market history. The heedlessness of the public and the willingness of the selling organization to sell whatever may be profitably sold can have only one result - price collapse."-Benjamin Graham"When companies start measuring success by clicks that doesn't compute to us, the only thing that computes to us is cash."-Bruce Berkowitz, Fairholme Funds"The analysts and the brokers. They don't know anything. Why do they always downgrade stocks after the bad earnings come out? Where's the guy that downgrades them before the bad earnings come out? That's the smart guy. But I don't know any of them. They're rare, they're very rare. They're rarer than Jesse Jackson at a Klan meeting."- Marc Perkins, 2000 TheStreet.com"Volatility is a symptom that people have no idea of the underlying value--that they have stopped playing the asset game. They're not buying because it's a company with certain attributes. They're buying because the price is rising. People are playing games not related to any concept at all of what the long-term value of the enterprise is. And they know it."- Jeremy Grantham, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co."The fact that people will be full of greed, fear or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predicatable."- Warren Buffett, Financial Review, 1985"When you mix raisins with turds, they are still turds."- Charlie Munger"All intelligent investing is value investing - to acquire more than you are paying for. Investing is where you find a few great companies and then sit on your ass.- Charlie Munger at Berkshire Hathaway's 2000 Shareholder Meeting"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door."- Kyle Chandler"People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change."- Charles Swindoll"REITs are way more suitable for individual shareholders than for corporate shareholders. And Warren has enough residue from his old cigar-butt personality that when people became disenchanted with the REITs and the market price went down to maybe a 20% discount from what the companies could be liquidated for, he bought a few shares with his personal money. So it's nice that Warren has a few private assets with which to pick up cigar butts in memory of old times - if that's what keeps him amused."- Charlie Munger at the 1999 Wesco Annual Meeting"The secret now is to be disciplined. It's so easy to get carried away with things valued on the hereafter."- Alan Patricof, founder of Patricof & Co."Those who attended (the annual meeting) last year saw your Chairman pitch to Ernie Banks."This encounter proved to be the titanic duel that the sports world had long awaited. After the first few pitches...I fired a brushback at Ernie just to let him know who was in command. Ernie charged the mound, and I charged the plate. But a clash was avoided because we became exhausted before reaching each other."- Warren Buffett, 1999 Letter to Shareholders"We're more comfortable in that kind of business. It means we miss a lot of very big winners. But we wouldn't know how to pick them out anyway. It also means we have very few big losers - and that's quite helpful over time. We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff."- Warren Buffett, 1999 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting"When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who make it happen, those who let it happen, and those who wonder what happened."- John M. Richardson, Jr."I am out of step with present conditions. When the game is no longer played your way, it is only human to say the new approach is all wrong, bound to lead to trouble, and so on. On one point, however, I am clear. I will not abandon a previous approach whose logic I understand ( although I find it difficult to apply ) even though it may mean foregoing large, and apparently easy, profits to embrace an approach which I don't fully understand, have not practiced successfully, and which possibly could lead to substantial permanent loss of capital."- Warren Buffett in a letter to his partners in the stock market frenzy of 1969."A conventional valuation which is established as the outcome of the mass psychology of a large number of ignorant individuals is liable to change violently as the result of a sudden fluctuation of opinion due to factors which do not really make much difference to the prospective yield; since there will be no strong roots of conviction to hold it steady."- John Maynard Keynes, 1935 The State of Long-Term Expectation"We've long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children."- Warren Buffett"I just don't see anything available that gives any reasonable hope of delivering such a good year and I have no desire to grope around, hoping to 'get lucky' with other people's money. I am not attuned to this market environment, and I don't want to spoil a decent record by trying to play a game I don't understand just so I can go out a hero."- Warren Buffett"It always seemed, and still seems, ridiculously simple to say that if one can acquire a diversified group of common stocks at a price less than the applicable net current assets alone - after deducting all prior claims, and counting as zero the fixed and other assets - the results should be quite satisfactory."- Benjamin Graham,The Intelligent Investor"The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage."- Warren Buffett, July 1999 at Herb Allen's Sun Valley, Idaho Retreat"The most common cause of low prices is pessimism-some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer."- Warren Buffett, 1990 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"I don't read economic forecasts. I don't read the funny papers."- Warren Buffett"There was nothing wrong with these ideas, except that it was almost impossible not to carry them too far. With encouragement from the past and a rosy prospect in the future, the buyers of 'growth stocks' were certain to lose their sense of proportion and pay excess prices. For no clear-cut arithmetic sets a limit to the present value of a constantly increasing earning power. Such issues could become worth any value set upon them by an optimistic market."- Benjamin Graham"We have been trying to point out that this concept of an indefinitely favorable future is dangerous, even if it is true; because even if it is true you can easily overvalue the security, since you make it worth anything you want it to be worth. Beyond this, it is particularly dangerous too, because sometimes your ideas of the future turn out to be wrong. Then you have paid an awful lot for a future that isn't there. Your position then is pretty bad."- Benjamin Graham"Set your expectations high; find men and women whose integrity and values you respect; get their agreement on a course of action; and give them your ultimate trust."- John Akers"Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing taking."- Tim McMahon"Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win."- Jonathan Kozol"The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything--you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, 'Swing, you bum!'"- Warren Buffett1999 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting"Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."- Warren BuffettBusinessWeek InterviewJune 25 1999"Based on my own personal experience - both as an investor in recent years and an expert witness in years past - rarely do more than three or four variables really count. Everything else is noise."- Marty Whitman"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)"I was suffering from my chronic delusion that one good share is safer than ten bad ones, and I am always forgetting that hardly anyone else shares this particular delusion."- John Maynard Keynes, 1942contributed by Paul Nelson"Our future rates of gain will fall far short of those achieved in the past. Berkshire's capital base is now simply too large to allow us to earn truly outsized returns. If you believe otherwise, you should consider a career in sales but avoid one in mathematics (bearing in mind that there are really only three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can't). "- Warren Buffett, 1998 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"There are all kinds of businesses that Charlie and I don't understand, but that doesn't cause us to stay up at night. It just means we go on to the next one, and that's what the individual investor should do."- Warren Buffett, Morningstar, Inc.(NASDAQ:MORN) Interview"Many are looking for technical corrective reactions from time to time, but do not expect these to disturb the upward trend for any prolonged period."- Wall Street JournalSeptember 9, 1929(months before the worst disaster in financial history)"Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid."- Warren BuffettBerkshire Hathaway 1998 Annual Meeting"We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely."- Warren Buffett, 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting"Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, oversold indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed's policy on money supply, foreign investment, the movement of the constellations through the heavens, and the moss on oak trees, and they can't predict markets with any useful consistency, any more than the gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack."-Peter Lynch,One Up On Wall Street"There are 60,000 economists in the U.S., many of them employed full-time trying to forecast recessions and interest rates, and if they could do it successfully twice in a row, they'd all be millionaires by now...as far as I know, most of them are still gainfully employed, which ought to tell us something."- Peter Lynch, One Up On Wall Street"Time is the enemy of the poor business and the friend of the great business. If you have a business that's earning 20%-25% on equity, time is your friend. But time is your enemy if your money is in a low return business."- Warren Buffett, 1998 Berkshire Annual Meeting"Well, the questioner came from Singapore which has perhaps the best economic record in the history of developing an economy and therefore he referred to 15% per annum as modest. It's not modest--it's arrogant. Only someone from Singapore would call it modest. "- Charlie Munger, 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting"Ben's Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today's investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising 'Take two aspirins'?"- Warren Buffett, 1987 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet."- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Owners Manual"We attracted a lot of market timers and asset allocators. I don't need those goddamn amateurs in my fund."- Martin Whitman, Morningstar Article"If you expect to be a net saver during the next 5 years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period?"Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall."This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices."- Warren Buffett, 1997 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run it is a weighing machine."- Benjamin Graham"The strategy we've adopted precludes our following standard diversification dogma. Many pundits would therefore say the strategy must be riskier than that employed by more conventional investors. We disagree. We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it."- Warren Buffett, 1993 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"An irrisistable footnote: in 1971, pension fund managers invested a record 122% of net funds available in equities - at full prices they couldn't buy enough of them. In 1974, after the bottom had fallen out, they committed a then record low of 21% to stocks."- Warren Buffett, 1978 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful."- Warren Buffett lecturing to a group of students at Columbia U. He was 21 years old.Buffett: Don't you think Dairy Queen is more important than that? [Warren Buffett's question to Bill Gates after Bill explained why he had the best job; Berkshi re Hathaway bought International Dairy Queen last fall, for $585 million.]Gates: You can manage Dairy Queen, Warren. I'll go and buy the Dilly Bars.Buffett: We'll raise the price when you come.- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates speaking to a group of students at the University of Washington (1998)"Of the 2,692 diversified stock mutual funds tracked by Lipper Analytical Services, only 134 have beaten the S&P 500 this year."- USA Today; June 18, 1998"We have tried occasionally to buy toads at bargain prices with results that have been chronicled in past reports. Clearly our kisses fell flat. We have done well with a couple of princes - but they were princes when purchased. At least our kisses didn't turn them into toads. And, finally, we have occasionally been quite successful in purchasing fractional interests in easily-identifiable princes at toad-like prices."- Warren Buffett, 1981 Chairman's Letters to Shareholders"When returns on capital are ordinary, an earn-more-by-putting-up-more record is no great managerial achievement. You can get the same result personally while operating from your rocking chair. just quadruple the capital you commit to a savings account and you will quadruple your earnings. You would hardly expect hosannas for that particular accomplishment. Yet, retirement announcements regularly sing the praises of CEOs who have, say, quadrupled earnings of their widget company during their reign - with no one examining whether this gain was attributable simply to many years of retained earnings and the workings of compound interest."- Warren Buffett, 1985 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders"If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you'd need. If you're driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you've got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it's over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety..."- Warren Buffett, 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting"If you're an investor, you're looking on what the asset is going to do, if you're a speculator, you're commonly focusing on what the price of the object is going to do, and that's not our game."- Warren Buffett, 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting"I have owned one stock since 1969, two since 1988 and one I started buying in 1986 or so. That's my portfolio. Six stocks. I once owned 17, but that was way too much."-Philip Fisher, Forbes"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing."- Philip Fisher,Common Stocks Uncommon ProfitsBerkshire Hathaways Bright FutureWarren Buffettis coming off one of the biggest investment coups of his long career with the closing of the Kraft Foods Group Inc(NASDAQ:KRFT) Foods purchase of H.J. Heinz Company(NYSE:HNZ) Holdings earlier this month.BuffettsBerkshire Hathawayinvested $4.25 billion for a 50% equity stake in the $23 billion leveraged buyout of Heinz two years ago, along with a partner, Brazils 3G Capital. Berkshire made a second $5 billion equity investment with 3G when Kraft unveiled its deal for the ketchup maker in March. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.(NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) now is sitting on a 25% stake in the newKraft Heinz-- some 326 million shares -- worth $25 billion based on Krafts recent share price of $77, resulting in a gain of almost $16 billion. Thats a stunning profit in just two years. (3G has a similar gain.)The Heinz score rivals anything ever achieved in the private-equity industry. It also demonstrates that Buffett, who is celebrating his 50th year at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway this year, is still going strong ahead of his 85th birthday in August. Berkshire is his baby, and the company is better than ever despite the lackluster performance of its big equity portfolio, which is dominated by four stocks: American Express Company(NYSE:AXP), Coca-Cola, International Business Machines Corp.(NYSE:IBM), and Wells Fargo & Co(NYSE:WFC)....................Im scratching my head about Berkshire, says Jay Gelb, a Barclays PLC(NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC) analyst. The earnings power is stronger than ever, the company has done a series of attractive acquisitions, and it just closed on Kraft. None of that is reflected in Berkshire Hathaways valuation. Gelb carries an Overweight rating and a price target of $259,500, 22% above current levels.Downside appears limited, given the companys rising book value and its willingness to aggressively repurchase stock at 1.2 times book value, backed by a formidable balance sheet with $58 billion in cash, or $44 billion of net cash after subtracting $14 billion of debt. The net cash position is equal to more than 10% of the companys market value of $350 billion.Barronshas written frequently about Buffett and Berkshire Hathawayover the years, including a bullish 2012 piece when the shares fetched $128,000, or 1.1 times book value (Buffetts Latest Bargain: Berkshire Hathaway, Nov. 12, 2012). Buffett declined to comment for this article.BUFFETT CONTINUESto hunt for what he calls elephant-sized acquisitions that could total $35 billion or more, although he hasnt done any big deals besides Heinz in the past few years..................Berkshire is cheap, and the risk-reward is favorable, says David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners, a Ladue, Mo., firm that counts Berkshire among its largest holdings. Buffett is giving you a road map on valuation, and were closer to 1.2 times book than two times.

Charlie Munger: How One Life Hack From A Self-Made Billionaire Leads To Exceptional SuccessCountless books and articles have been written aboutWarren Buffett. Surprisingly few have been written about his business partner of over 40 years, Charlie Munger.Charlie Munger has stayed out of the public eye, giving only a small number public talks, and hes rarely been covered in the media. At Berkshire Hathaway Inc.(NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B)s annual shareholders meetings, he lets Buffett answer the questions, often times commenting, I have nothing to add........................Beyond The 10,000 Hour Rule....................................Bill Gates has said of Charlie Munger, He is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered. From business principles to economic principles to the design of student dormitories to the design of a catamaran he has no equal Our longest correspondence was a detailed discussion on the mating habits of naked mole rats and what the human species might learn from them. Munger has, in short, been the ultimate expert-generalist.The Rise Of The Expert-Generalist................................

While the 10,000 hour rule works well in areas with defined rules that dont change such as sports, music, and games, the rules of business constantly and fundamentally change. Being an expert-generalist allows individuals to quickly adapt to change. Research shows that they: See the world more accuratelyandmake better predictions of the futurebecause they are not as susceptible to the biases and assumptions prevailing in any given field or community. Have morebreakthrough ideas,because they pull insights that already work in one area into ones where they havent been tried yet. Build deeper connections with people who are different than thembecause of understanding of their perspectives. Build more open networks,which allows them to serve as a connector between people in different groups. According to network science research, having an open network is the#1 predictor of career success.Charlie Munger's Approach To Being An Expert-GeneralistIn connecting the dots across the disciplines, Charlie Munger has developed a set of what he calls models, which he uses to assess investment opportunities. In fact, hes identified over 100 of these models that he uses frequently as of the publication ofPoor Charlies Almanack. No doubt he continues to develop and perfect them.What are these models exactly?The best way to explain is to take the case of one he uses constantly, which he calls Two-Track analysis. It combines insights from psychology, neuroscience and economics about the nature of human behavior. This model instructs that when analyzing any situation in which decision-making by people is involved, which of course covers every business situation, he must consider two tracks: How they would act if they behaved rationally, according to their true best interests. How they would succumb to the pull of a number of irrational psychological biases that seem to be programmed into the human brain. Researchers haveidentified a host of them, and Munger has incorporatedtwenty-five of them into his Two-Track analysis model.Another example is classical conditioning developed by Ivan Pavlov in the early 20th century. Pavlov discovered that with the right conditioning, dogs would salivate not just when eating food, but also in anticipation of it when he walked into the laboratory. Munger applies the same logic to business. In his book, he gives the example of how Coca-Cola (one of Berkshire Hathaways largest holdings) conditions its customers with the right frequency and type of advertising while using their logo as the trigger.The following is a summary of his rules on being an expert-generalist in his own words, excerpted and condensed from the various talks hes given:

Rule #1: Learn Multiple ModelsThe first rule is that youve got to have multiple modelsbecause if you just have one or two that youre using, the nature of human psychology is such that youll torture reality so that it fits your models.Its like the old saying, To the man with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. But thats a perfectly disastrous way to think and a perfectly disastrous way to operate in the world.Rule #2: Learn Multiple Models From Multiple DisciplinesAnd the models have to come from multiple disciplinesbecause all the wisdom of the world is not to be found in one little academic department.Rule #3: Focus On Big Ideas From The Big Disciplines (20% Of Models Create 80% Of The Results)You may say, My God, this is already getting way too tough. But, fortunately, it isnt that toughbecause 80 or 90 important models will carry about 90% of the freight in making you a worldly-wise person. And, of those, only a mere handful really carry very heavy freight.Rule #4: Use A Checklist To Ensure Youre Factoring in the Right ModelsUse a checklist to be sure you get all of the main models.How can smart people be wrong? Well, the answer is that they donttake all the main models from psychology and use them as a checklist in reviewing outcomes in complex systems.Rule #5: Create Multiple Checklists And Use The Right One For The SituationYou need a different checklist and different mental models for different companies. I can never make it easy by saying, Here are three things. You have to drive it yourself to ingrain it in your head for the rest of your life.The Expert-Generalist Approach In Different FieldsWhether or not you decide to follow Mungers particular approach, one clear takeaway is the value of gaining a wide breadth of knowledge while also drilling deeply into your area of specialty.Many of the top scientists, business leaders, inventors and artists throughout time have also achieved their breakthrough successes by being an expert-generalist. Albert Einstein was trained in physics, but to formulate his law of general relativity, he taught himself an area of mathematics far removed from his expertise, Riemannian geometry. James Watson and Francis Crick combined discoveries in X-ray diffraction technology, chemistry, evolutionary theory and computation to solve the puzzle of the double helix. Steve Jobs, of course, drew on insights from his study of calligraphy and a rich understanding of design to create a new breed of computing devices.Here is an infographic with 25 of the top expert-generalists throughout history:

Copyright Michael Simmons 2015. All Rights Reserved.Bain & Company chairman, Orit Gadiesh, attests to the value of being a voracious reader across many domains in her own career, saying:Being an expert-generalist has helpedBainsee things for our clients that others miss, as we provide unique insights from one industry into another. The approach has differentiated Bain from its competitors.I bring into my work everything I do; all of my past consulting projects, all of my readings [100+ books a year]. I read novels. I read about physics, mathematics, history, biographies, art. One reason I work well in Germany is that Ive read a lot of German literature, German philosophers, German history, etc., even though Im Israeli. Theyre great writers. Likewise, I can work in France because Ive read their literature. Ive read Japanese literature, Korean literature, English literature, American literature, Israeli literature, and on and on. I bring all of that somehow into my work. And I think that makes me better at what I do. It also makes life more interesting.Whats more, those who can bridge the gaps between silos are becoming more valuable than ever as the amount of knowledge in the world and its fragmentation continue to accelerate.Being An Expert-Generalist Will Become More And More ValuedThe discipline known as scientometrics is the science of science; it studies the evolution of scientific knowledge. Two of the key findings of this field are:The amount of academic research isdoubling every 9 yearsThe number disciplines is growing exponentially.

As disciplines emerge and mature, they develop their own cultures and languages. Each has its own terminology along with its own journals and annual conferences. This specialization has already become so extreme that those who are specialists in one subfield of a discipline often know little to nothing about the work going on in other subfields.Consider the increasing specialization that has led to one important new area of science, epigenetics. Epigenetics is essentially the study of how environmental factors affect how our genes are expressed. When biology emerged as a field of its own out of medicineand natural history in the 19th century, it would have been possible for any biologist to gain a good grasp of the whole field. Today, many geneticists would tell you they dont have any real understanding of the findings in epigenetics.

Given this state of affairs, many professionals have determined the best approached is to go into sub, sub, sub specialties, where they can hope to become one of the best if they follow the 10,000 rule. That can indeed be fruitful. But opportunities also abound for those who instead develop an aptitude for building connections across disciplines.Expert-generalists face far less competition. The more fields you can pull from, the fewer people youll find taking the same approach. When it comes to drilling into one domain,the competition is generally fierce.Narrowly specializingalso leaves you vulnerable to the ever-more daunting forces of change. Orit Gadiesh offers insight in this regard:As technology, globalization, geopolitical challenges, and competition accelerate the disruption of business, people are confronted with challenges, customs, and issues they have never experienced before. I find that experts someone with deep knowledge limited to just one area often lack the flexibility needed to adapt to change and can be easily flustered or, worse, be completely derailed.Curiouser and CuriouserThe business world has placed great emphasis on focus, and rightly so. It is a vital ingredient of success. But more emphasis must now be placed on curiosity. Too often, we are so pressed by the day-to-day demands of work that we arent making time for exploration, diving into areas entirely outside our range of experience, letting our minds run, and finding inspiration from encountering new ideas with uncertain payoffs.So, when you find yourself pushing back, the inner voice of work overload screaming that you dont have time to be reading that book you just picked up about the physics of time travel or the novel someone recommended by the Nigerian Nobel Prize winner, remember this: Bill Gates recalls that the longest correspondence hes had with Charlie Munger wasnt about an investment, it was about the mating habits.