Warren Buffett 03 (May 15 - Dec 26)

[winston]

"The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect.

You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd."

– Warren Buffett

[winston]

Warren Buffett credits his extraordinary life to two strokes of luck

by Janet Guyon

His first stroke of luck, he says in the film, was to be born in 1930 in America as a white man. That conveyed upon him advantages and opportunities that neither women nor black men enjoyed.

His second lucky break came in meeting his late wife, Susan, whom he married in 1952. She exposed this nerdy, numbers-driven guy to politics and art and ultimately persuaded him to give away his fortune. “She rounded him into a person who could fit into society”

Source: Quartz

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-bu ... 44602.html

[behappyalways]

Here's what Warren Buffett bought and sold last quarter
http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/14/investi ... index.html

[winston]

Durability is a trait you should never overlook.

“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 E. Buffett

[winston]

I am making this investment today because… You need to be able to answer that every single time.

“I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that.

“I’m paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because.” If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t buy it.

If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you’ll make a lot of money.”

- Warren Buffett

[winston]

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”

- Warren Buffett

[winston]

Last year, Buffett addressed the fears and uncertainty in markets.

He said the growth trajectory for America has been and will continue to be UP.

“America's economic magic remains alive and well.”

And the growth trajectory has to do with two key factors:
1. Improvements in productivity and
2. innovation.

[winston]

On productivity, he said:

"America's population is growing about 0.8% per year (0.5% from births minus deaths and 0.3% from net migration). Thus 2% of overall growth produces about 1.2% of per capita growth.

That may not sound impressive. But in a single generation of, say, 25 years, that rate of growth leads to a gain of 34.4% in real GDP per capita. (Compounding effects produce the excess over the percentage that would result by simply multiplying 25 x 1.2%.)

In turn, that 34.4% gain will produce a staggering $19,000 increase in real GDP per capita for the next generation.

Were that to be distributed equally, the gain would be $76,000 annually for a family of four.

Today's politicians need not shed tears for tomorrow's children. All families in my upper middle–class neighborhood regularly enjoy a living standard better than that achieved by John D. Rockefeller Sr. at the time of my birth. Transportation, entertainment, communication or medical services."

[winston]

On innovation, he said: "A long–employed worker faces a different equation. When innovation and the market system interact to produce efficiencies, many workers may be rendered unnecessary, their talents obsolete.
Some can find decent employment elsewhere; for others, that is not an option.

When low–cost competition drove shoe production to Asia, our once–prosperous Dexter operation folded, putting 1,600 employees in a small Maine town out of work. Many were past the point in life at which they could learn another trade. We lost our entire investment, which we could afford, but many workers lost a livelihood they could not replace.

The same scenario unfolded in slow–motion at our original New England textile operation, which struggled for 20 years before expiring. Many older workers at our New Bedford plant, as a poignant example, spoke Portuguese and knew little, if any, English. They had no Plan B.

The answer in such disruptions is not the restraining or outlawing of actions that increase productivity. Americans would not be living nearly as well as we do if we had mandated that 11 million people should forever be employed in farming.

The solution, rather, is a variety of safety nets aimed at providing a decent life for those who are willing to work but find their specific talents judged of small value because of market forces. (I personally favor a reformed and expanded Earned Income Tax Credit that would try to make sure America works for those willing to work.)

The price of achieving ever–increasing prosperity for the great majority of Americans should not be penury for the unfortunate."

[winston]

On stocks, he said:

Overtime, with the above growth dynamic in mind, stocks go up.

"In America, gains from winning investments have always far more than offset the losses from clunkers.

(During the 20th Century, the Dow Jones Industrial Average — an index fund of sorts — soared from 66 to 11,497, with its component companies all the while paying ever–increasing dividends."