Tag: Value Investing

When you see an investor such as Warren Buffett buying whole companies, you might think that as a small investor you can’t get the bargains that huge investors can get. However, Buffett disagrees. Although he prefers to buy whole companies, he recognizes that buying pieces of companies often represents better value, as you don’t have to pay a premium for them.

“We’ve always wanted to acquire entire businesses. People never seem to really believe that, back when we were buying See’s Candy or the Buffalo News or National Indemnity. But that’s been our number one preference right along,” Buffett said at the 1999 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “It’s just that we’ve found that much of the time we could get far for more our money, in terms of wonderful businesses, by buying pieces in the stock market, than we could by negotiated purchase.”

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Few can hope to reach the heights of investing genius embodied by Warren Buffett. However, Buffett himself humbly suggests that the majority of profitable investments do not spring from extraordinary brilliance, but rather arise from astutely capitalizing on the missteps of others. In essence, success in the realm of investment hinges on an ability to recognize and seize upon the errors committed by one’s counterparts. This notion underscores the critical importance of a shrewd and discerning mindset in navigating the complex and ever-shifting terrain of financial markets.

“What gives you opportunities is other people doing dumb things,” Buffett said at the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “Well, the 58 years we’ve been running Berkshire, I would say there’s been a great increase in the number of people doing dumb things. And they do big, dumb things, and the reason they do it to some extent is because they can get money from other people so much easier than when we started.”

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Warren Buffett, in his characteristic wisdom, emphasizes that investors need not dwell on a business’s past actions but should instead focus on its future endeavors. He understands that the past is not always a reliable predictor of a company’s trajectory. For Buffett, true investing lies in peering into the horizon, discerning the opportunities that lie ahead. As he aptly puts it, “That’s what investing is, is seeing out.”

“You don’t get paid for what’s already happened. You only get paid for what’s going to happen in the future,” Warren Buffett said at the 2007 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “The past is only useful to you in the extent to which it gives you insights into the future, and sometimes the past doesn’t give you any insights into the future.”

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Index funds have exploded in popularity over the past three decades, and it is easy for investors to think that this simple form of investing is somehow second best. However, over twenty years ago, Warren Buffett already looked at index funds as one of the best opportunities for the average investor to buy equities.

“For the average investor who wants to own equities over a twenty or thirty year period, we think regular investment in some kind of very low-cost pool of money, which might well be an index fund, probably makes as much sense as anything,” Buffett said at the 1999 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “But it’s important to keep the cost down,” he added.

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Whether it is something as futuristic as the metaverse, or something as mundane as ride-sharing, Warren Buffett is quick to point out that just because an industry is on the cutting-edge, and will be transformational to the world, doesn’t mean it will be a good investment. As Buffett famously said “If a capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money.”

“There’s a lot of difference between making money and spotting a wonderful industry. You know, the two most important industries in the first half of this century in the United States, in the world, probably were the auto industry and the airplane industry,” Buffett said at the 1999 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “Here you had these two discoveries, both in the first decade, essentially in the first decade of the century. And if you’d foreseen, in 1905 or thereabouts, what the auto would do to the world, let alone this country, or what the airplane would do, you might have thought that it was a great way to get rich. But very, very few people got rich by being, by riding the back of that auto industry. And probably even fewer got rich by participating in the airline industry over that time.”

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Warren Buffett offers a unique perspective on crafting a meaningful existence. His advice, though unconventional, is a profound invitation to introspection and deliberate living. He suggests that to determine how one wants to live, it is wise to start with the end in mind and reverse engineer the desired outcome.

“You should write your obituary and then try and figure out how to live up to it,” Buffett said at the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. This unconventional approach to personal introspection challenges us to consider our own mortality, prompting us to reflect on the legacy we wish to leave behind.

By visualizing the narrative of our lives through the lens of an obituary, we gain clarity about our core values, priorities, and aspirations. It compels us to ask ourselves: How do we want to be remembered? What contributions do we want to make to the world? What impact do we desire to have on our loved ones and society at large?

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

With so many people trading stocks every day, it might seem wise to look to a longer time horizon than just trying to make money overnight. What is a long term time frame? Warren Buffett points out that even three to five years, a seeming eternity to some trade-happy investors, is not really sufficient to give you the safety you hope to gain as a long term investor.

“If your time frame is three to five years, A.) I wouldn’t advise it being that way, because I think if you think you’re going to get out then, it gets more toward, leaning toward the bigger fool theory,” Buffett said at the 1998 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “The best way to look at any investment is how will I feel if I own it forever? You know, and put all my family’s net worth in it.”

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© 2022 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Warren Buffett, known for his baseball analogies, compares investing to a batter waiting for the right pitch. Unlike the batter, investors face no called strikes and can patiently seek the perfect opportunity. However, it’s important not to let the pursuit of perfection hinder the recognition of good investments. While aiming for home runs, one must also appreciate the value of solid opportunities. Striking a balance between waiting for ideal prospects and seizing worthwhile investments is the key to long-term success.

“One of the things, one of the errors people make in business, and sometimes it can be a huge error, is that they try and measure every deal against the best deal they’ve ever made,” Buffet said 2011 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “The goal is not to make a better deal than you’ve ever made before. The goal is to make a satisfactory deal that’s the best deal you can make at the time.”

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Warren Buffett is renowned for his brilliant investment decisions, but even he admits that some of his early ones were not so great. In particular, he acknowledges that his initial purchase of Berkshire Hathaway was a costly mistake, resulting in a missed opportunity worth $200 billion. Although the company was ailing in the textile industry, he thought it was a cheap opportunity to acquire assets below their book value. However, he later realized that the money required to keep it afloat would have been better spent on acquiring a high-quality business instead.

“Start from a good base,” Buffett said at the 2000 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “Don’t follow our example in that respect. Start out with a good business and then keep adding on good businesses.”

Hear Buffett’s full explanation

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

With a seasoned wisdom born out of decades of astute observation and thoughtful analysis, Warren Buffett urges investors to eschew the siren call of capricious sentiments that too often cloud judgment and lead to grave missteps. For in the delicate dance of financial markets, where fortunes are won and lost amidst the ebb and flow of economic tides, it is the rational mind, steadfast and unswayed by the tempestuous winds of emotion, that emerges victorious.

“We make bad investment decisions plenty of times. I make more than Charlie. I like to think it’s because I make more decisions, but probably my batting average is worse. But, I can’t recall any time in the history of Berkshire that we made an emotional decision,” Buffett said at the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “You don’t want to be a no emotion person in all of your life, but you definitely want to be a no emotion person in making an investment or business decision.”

Hear Buffett’s full explanation

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© 2023 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.