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Posts Tagged ‘warren buffett’

The other day I picked up a copy of  the September 2010 issue of the Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money Magazine. The cover story was a series of articles profiling four money managers that the mag was dubbing as the World’s Greatest Investors.

I really like and respect Smart Money. they are great competitors when it comes to personal finance journalism.  However, this particular cover story struck a chord with me because of  a book that I recently completed called The Warren Buffetts next Door: The Worlds Greatest Investors You’ve Never Heard of and what You Can Learn From them. My book , which is being published by John Wiley & Sons  in November, profiles ten great individual investors who have eye-popping  portfolio returns.

Naturally I dug into Smart Money’s cover story eager to find out who these amazing investors were.  It came as no surprise to me that Warren Buffett led the package.  No one in his right mind would dispute Buffett’s status as the greatest living investor on the planet.  his $45 billion net worth (click for details) is proof enough for me.

But who else was on Smart Money’s elite cover story  list? There were profiles of three other great mutual fund managers, Thyra Zerhusen, the German born  manager of Aston/Optimum Mid -Cap Equity fund,  David Herro, co-manager of Oakmark International fund and Susan Byrne, the veteran value stock bottom fisher who runs Gamco’s Westwood Equity Fund.

All of these money managers are highly paid professionals—no doubt millionaires—with impressive resumes.  what have these esteemed professionals done for the shareholders of their mutual funds lately? why did Smart Money single them out?

In the case of Ms. Zerhusen her  fund, which has $1.7 billion under management, has produced a whopping 9% average annual return for the past ten years investing in mid-caps like H&R Block (HRB) and Akamai (AKAM).

David Herro, has beaten 99% of his mutual fund peers and has delivered (are you sitting down?) an eye-popping 8% return per year on average for the last decade!

The world is David’s oyster by the way. he has the ability to invest in  the big cap stocks in many overseas markets, including Brazil and China. But David appears to avoid ten-bagger types like Baidu (BIDU) and Vale (VALE). he has kept most of his shareholders’ $5.2 billion in capital in staid  Western European markets.

Last but not least, SM profiled Susan Byrne a money manager who’s division of GAMCO oversees $10.6 billion. her “flagship” Gamco Westwood Equity fund has beaten the S&P by one percentage point on average for the past 15 years with a life-changing average annual return of 8%. (Nevermind its 0.25% per year 12b-1 fee)

Sheesh.  I know that in the world of institutional money management beating a market index over a long period of time by a few basis points  is cause for celebration and justification for million dollar-plus bonuses.  and I do applaud the heroes above for not losing investor money.

Still, as someone with a 401(k) tied up in big mutual funds,  all I can say is: God help us all!

To me and thousands of individual investors, championing middling performance by professional money managers leads us all down the road to financial ruin. These kinds of returns are little comfort for a generation of Americans who now face retirement with broken nest-eggs.

Eight or nine percent per year is not going to be enough to repair the gaping hole in retirement accounts left by the ugly bear market of 2007 and 2008.  Many investors are realizing that if they leave their financial future with pros like these they won’t have nearly enough to live on during the golden years. nobody wants to work until he or she is 95, either.

I believe that people need to invest in themselves, take the time to learn how to be better investors and take control of their hard earned capital.  Every tool and resource necessary for outstanding investing is now just a few clicks away. most of us spend a ton of time and effort on our day jobs and leave the money management to others. too often that doesn’t work.

Michael Koza is 51 year-old civil engineer from Sacramento who I profiled in my book (and in the current issue of Forbes magazine). in 2001 Koza  seized control of his investment account from a know-nothing broker at Morgan Stanley.  his investment account was wilting and his wife Maria said, enough is enough. So he hunkered down and taught himself to be a great value investor.

He made plenty of mistakes along the way and continues to spend hours at it each day. However, since 2001 he has turned $100,000 into more than $3 million. his average annual return since February 2001, according to Marketocracy.com is in excess of 30%.

Mike is a risk taker with nerves of steel. he bought financial stocks like Genworth (GNW) and Radian (RDN) during the depths of the market meltdown.  But Mike carefully calculated the risks he was taking with his own money. he knew these stocks were trading well below worst-case scenario prices. (Check out the video below for more on Koza’s approach to stocks.)

There are more details on  Koza’s and other great individual investor strategies in my book.  However,  on Friday I will publish of few of Mike’s current favorite stocks picks on this blog.

This blog will be devoted to sharing with you the wisdom and stock ideas of Warren Buffetts next Door like Mike Koza.  I hope you will check in periodically. My hope is that it will help you become a better investor and ultimately enable you to achieve your financial goals.

Shameless click below:

The World’s Greatest Investors – God Help Us!

We are in the process of developing our stock market forum www.investideas.net. we would appreciate any kind insights from both experienced and novice traders alike.

So far, we have already created discussions threads on stocks in Singapore, HK and the US. we also have discussions on Commodities, Currencies, Options, Market Gurus eg. Jim Rogers, Warren Buffett, Jesse Livermore etc as well as various Investment Styles eg. TA, Value Investing, CANSLIM etc.

If you all can provide us with more inputs, we will try our best to make this forum unique. we want to create a place where quality investment ideas can be exchanged in an open, friendly and honest manner.

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Forex is gaining a lot of traction nowadays….. gotta have a blurb about that. I gotta tell you something though. I have never invested live money in the markets. here's why.

The only people who actually make real money in the markets are the ones who know how to follow the movements of the big players on wall street, and or know who those people are. They are the ones that realize that a certain few individuals sway the markets and artificially inflate and deflate things for their own gains. the true traders know what's going on before any of that happens, and ride the wave with the "big boys"

This accounts for maybe 1% of the ENTIRE trading community. My business partner and long time friend was one of those for over a decade. He quit because his conscience got hold of him..

he was tired of stealing people's pensions, 401k, retirement, etc from people.. he traded in the millions per day. he didn't manage people's money directly, but,…. who's money do you think he was stealing? the other 99% of the people who daytrade for a hobby, or look to their financial advisers (who make commission regardless of whether you gain or lose money) to become profitable.

So…. given that, i have never traded in the actual market.

most people who are NOT that 1% or even in the top 5% CANNOT make enough profit to curb inflation. that's fact… i'm sure i'm not telling you anything new though…. hell you probably fundamentally disagree with me, which is ok too. i don't expect you to agree with me.

oh…. and be forewarned…. they are pushing to have a "bank holiday" soon, which is PROBABLY going to cause a run on banks, and is PROBABLY going to make this whole a little deeper that we're standing in..

it's going to make the market go down down down… basically the idea of the bank holiday is that NO ONE is going to be able to add or take out money from the banks for a few days…. they want to gain interest on what they have since they've been losing so much..

but.. people will run the banks dry and will hurt the economy further..

lets pray they don't go through with it…

i wish you luck on your website by the way…. i mean that truly..

by the way, look into affiliate programs to generate money with it…. you can do that easier than getting advertisers. there are lots of forex and trading platform sites that will give you commissions for people you get signed up, or potentially a cut of everything they make using the platform…….

What do you want to see in a good stock market forum?

Price is what you pay. value is what you get.

– Warren Buffett

Every investor dreams of becoming as successful as Warren Buffett, to be the richest person in the world. But rarely do these investors follow their icon’s mantras conversed through television interviews, books, periodic journals, etc. It is worthwhile to pay heed to Buffett’s stock investing tips. this knowledge on value investing will help drive investors to make sound investment decisions.

1: Invest in quality businesses, not in stock symbols

If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.

Most investors don’t analyse the businesses they invest in. they simply follow the symbols or brands of successful corporate houses. the best example is the Reliance Power IPO. when the IPO of Reliance Power was announced, many investors rushed to subscribe to it with the reason that it had the brand name ‘Reliance’. However, the stock was overvalued at the time of IPO and investors made a considerable loss after the stock was listed on the stock exchange.

When considering IPOs, one needs to do considerable research about the concerned company, it’s past performance, how the IPO money will be utilised, details about the company management, and when the operations will commence so that company starts generating profits.
As, Buffett states, ‘An investor needs to buy the stock as if he is buying the whole company down the road’. Investors are also expected to be acquainted with the following before buying the company stock:

• what are the company’s products?

• How consistent is its products’ sales?

• How receptive is the company to change in consumer trends?

• Who are its competitors? what distinguishes it from them? what is the company’s USP?

• what would be the most worrying thing (risk) about owning such a company’s stock?

2: Don’t invest for 10 minutes if you’re not prepared to invest for 10 years

Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.

Investors get panicky when they track share prices continuously. Share prices are quite volatile in the short-term. However staying invested in a value company will pay you rich rewards over a long-term period, unlike short-term investments that are prone to constant price fluctuations.
Note: A smart investor needs to also think before selling an investment that may be in a loss due to certain economic factors but has tremendous potential to rise in future.

3: Scan thousands of stocks and look for screaming bargains

It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.

A smart investor needs to identify stocks of a company that have great potential to grow in years to come. Most investors buy a stock when it is extremely high because it’s in demand. the key is to identify stocks which have potential to grow and are available at a cheap or reasonable price.
Such acumen can be achieved by scanning the company’s annual financial reports, understanding its vision and mission statements, its business cycle and business process, long term plans, etc.

Essentially, it means taking some time out to carefully understand and analyse the company and its business. Investors also need to keep updates of their selected companies and sector news on a regular basis. Information about a company is readily available through secondary sources such as journals, economic newspapers, television, etc. Many a time such secondary sources are sufficient for analysing and arriving at a decision for investment.

4: Interpret how well money is being utilised by the company’s management

Beware of geeks bearing formulas.

The money available to the company’s management is called capital. the capital comprises the equity and long-term debt of the company. the success of any business depends on how well its management uses its capital. such an analysis can be made with the help of 2 ratios: Return on
Equity (ROE) and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE).

ROE: It measures a company’s profitability by revealing how much net profit a company generates through shareholders’ equity.
Return on Equity = Net profit / Shareholder’s equity

ROCE: It indicates the efficiency and profitability of a company’s invested capital; calculated as:

ROCE = EBIT/ Total assets – Current liabilities

EBIT = Earnings before interest and tax deductions

A smart investor must interpret the company’s financial statements and understand the quality of return on his investment.

One needs to search and invest in companies with good returns on capital invested while employing little or no debt. this means that ROE and ROCE should essentially be the same.

5: Stay away from so-called ‘glitter’ stocks

Rule no 1: Never lose money. Rule no 2: Never forget rule no.1.

There are thousands of stocks traded each day on Sensex and Nifty. A smart investor has to find the best out of the available investment options. there are stocks that have high trading volume, extreme movements in their price (either up or down), or are constantly in news.
A smart investor should examine whether the stock-in-news has some real value or is just glittering at the moment.

For example, remember the Satyam fiasco? the stock was glittering for many years and was a hot pick among investors and analysts alike until its accounting fraud surfaced in 2008 when Ramalinga Raju (the company’s mentor) confessed to the crime. the company tampered its annual reports and fooled investors for years, all the time being ‘A-listed’ on national stock exchanges.

Although the episode is behind us now, it is wise to do your homework before investing in each and every company. you would also be wise to diversify your investments across sectors and asset classes, which will give you the needed cushion from loss from any one investment.

6: Wait for a fat pitch then decide what to do with it

Value is what you get.

Wait…wait…wait until everything is in your favour while buying a stock. these are the stocks with the highest chance of being successful and making you money year after year. To be able to do this effectively, one needs to master the below steps as suggested by Buffett.
As mentioned earlier, invest in stocks that are not glittering on investment magazines or recommended by stock analysts/editors on popular television channels. Perform your own research then make vital investment decisions.

After identifying great businesses to invest in at a fair price, buy a “meaningful amount of stocks in them”. That means hold only a limited number of companies in your portfolio; holding excess stocks results in lower returns on your overall portfolio and spending more time to keep track of the same. this may also add considerable risk as it is not feasible for an individual to diligently observe all companies in his/her portfolio.

Ideally, one should limit the number of stocks in his/her portfolio to 10-15. this way, there is an advantage of your portfolio not being cluttered.

Buffett elaborates about knowledge and confidence. according to him, one must require the knowledge of selecting the right stocks by careful research and also build confidence in one’s decisions. Market will test your patience to reach the expected returns. So, you need to stay firm with your investment decisions during volatile trading sessions. Do a good amount of homework and keep faith in your research and decisions.

7: Calculate how much money you will make…

…not whether the stock is undervalued or overvalued, according to some academic model such as the discounted cash flow.

Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.

A smart investor needs to keep an eye on expected returns from particular stocks in the long term and calculate the entry and exit prices of invested companies. this requires thorough research and analysis of the company’s available data. Buffett recommends being one’s own analyst to profit from investing in stocks.

8: Remove the weeds and water the flowers — not the other way around

Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
One of the best practices according to Buffett is to sell loss-making stocks during a bull run and buy the winner stocks during a bear hug.

The amount realised by discarding loss-making stocks can be utilised to invest in stocks with future growth potential and there by achieving better returns.

9: become a conscious investor

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

Most of the time investors make little progress due to insensible investment decisions. Their decisions are based on emotion, hope and wishful thinking without carrying out proper research and analysis.

It’s necessary for a smart investor to think logically while investing and performing research. you need to keep on asking yourself why you want to invest in a particular company and eliminate decision-making based purely on intuition, emotion and herd mentality.

Due diligence before investing in a particular company saves you from the worry of your money being tied-up in companies and businesses that you have little or no knowledge about.
So follow the sound advice provided by Warren Buffett — avoid the noise and glitter, do your own research, and constantly update your knowledge and stock-picking skills.

In short, be a smart investor!

~*~ HeRe I aM ~*~: 9 investment lessons to learn from Warren Buffett

I just finished listening to an audio book – The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. it is a biography of Warren Buffet who is one of my heroes. The audio book is 37 hour long and is very addictive. I could not stop listening to the audio book until it was finished.

Buffett is an extraordinary human being. one learns a lot from his biography. however, since I usually don’t listen to audio books, I don’t remember most of what I heard:-) after being in awe for 37 hours. following are a few random things I remember:

1. Buffett never acquired a company with a hostile takeover.

2. one should always have “margin of safety” when making investments. What that means is that one should not make investments where there is a risk of losing money if things don’t go according to the plan.

3. it is not a good idea to be on company boards where one doesn’t have any influence on the CEO.

4. Praise the individual and criticize the category. Buffett followed Dale Carnegie principles for human relations.

5. Charlie Munger played a critical role in changing how Buffett thought about investments.

6. Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre.

7. Allies are essential.

8. Commitments are so sacred that by nature they should be rare.

9. Grandstanding rarely gets anything done.

10. one should think independently.

11. Work for people you admire and do business with people you like.

12. Protect your reputation at any cost.

13. The best way to solve a problem is to invert. for example, if you want to buy something think about why the other party is selling.

14. Society plays a big role in one’s success. If bill Gates were born in Bangladesh, he would not have been successful. Buffett calls being born in the right society which gives you opportunities to succeed as winning the ovary lottery.

15. 2008 was not the first time when the government help bail out private banks. The fed intervened to bail out LTCM in 1998.

16. be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.

17. History does not tell you the future.

18. Doing a job just because it looks good on your resume is like saving sex for old age. Do a job that you like.

19. when you are buying a stock, you are buying a piece of the business.

20. The most important factor that made Buffett successful is Focus. And, bill Gates has the same opinion about the importance of Focus.

21. Stay within your circle of competence when making decisions.

22. Invest in business which have Sustainable Competitive Advantage or a “moat” around them.

This is in no way the complete list. Just a teaser to encourage you to read the book:-)

CDOQ-Chander’s Diary of Observations and Questions: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

By Deal Journal

The belief that one can beat the market is the core operating principle of Wall Street. it is the philosophical grease that keeps all the machines of Wall Street humming.

Why are Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett lionized as heroes? of course, they made some people a lot of money. more significantly, they affirmed the core belief. they seem to prove that you can beat the market.

Which brings us to the curious case of Bill Miller, fund guru. Until recently, Miller has been treated as another hero of active investing in a class with Lynch and Buffett. His recent performance, however, has been so atrocious that not only is his status endangered. but he also may be the best example that, over time, it is practically impossible to beat the market.

In a previous column, I discussed Miller’s current difficulties and the impact they may have on Legg Mason. My intention isn’t to pile on. Rather, I want to explore what it means to go from being one of the best investors to one of the worst.

Best and worst are, of course, a matter of definition. Time frame matters a lot. For 15 consecutive years from 1991-2005, Miller

“The Warren Buffett way outlines his career and presents examples of how his investment techniques and methods evolved and the important individuals in that process. It also details the key investment decisions that produced his unmatched record of performance.”

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ebooks free download: The Warren Buffett Way

The Snowball – Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, by Alice Schroeder.

A few days ago I started reading this, and I have to say I really don’t want to stop reading it (all 800ish pages). I sort of expected an boring story about a person in something that is imagined to be a rather unexciting industry (investing).

Seriously I couldn’t have been more wrong.

This book is an amazing insight at the life of one of the greatest, most most amazingly brilliant people that history has seen, and it’s funny, sad, exciting – a whole range of unexpectedness. in case you don’t know, here we have a comprehensive look at the life of the most wealthy men in the world – Warren Buffett. During 2008 he was crowned king the worlds wealthiest man holding a worth of $62,000,000,000.

$62 FREAKING-BILLION!!!!!!!

OK, let’s take a closer look at that…

If I earn $10,000,000 every year (which isn’t too unpleasant) it would take to earn as much as this man. WOW. if I had started hording $10,000,000 per year since 1AD I would be about one third of having the wealth that this man has. Mind blowing.

OK now… I’ve calmed myself down enough to finish with this book review.

It’s hard to say just how great this is, what I can say is if you don’t have your book yet go order it right now

What really impressed me about this man is how he came from nowhere, he didn’t start with his parents fortune, in fact he actually started selling golf balls and delivering papers around town. Plus he didn’t even invent something new, what he did do was study harder, gain more skills, and work harder than anyone else before him. It just makes what this man has created more impressive.

The dedication and work ethic of this man is one of the most stand-out, take home lessons you will get from this if you really desire a truly amazing life you better be ready and willing to work your butt off.

What really stood out to me from this book? More than i have time to list here however what really spoke to me was…

1. if you wish to be successful knowledge is key, never EVER stop Learning.

2. Delaying gratification, in other words to what it takes now to have what you want later.

3. if you want long term success (and is there any other type) then you always need to stay completely honest, integrity is your biggest asset.

4. the next biggest assets will be the relationships you build, don’t ever forget that.

5. where you come from really doesn’t matter at all, where you begin doesn’t affect where you finish in life.

So I guess I should wind up this article. in closing I firmly recommend you study the Snowball. if you want to build a massively successful business then knowledge is going to be your main weapon, there are not many that have even come close have even approached close to Warren’s triumph, and I think he is one of the greatest to learn from.

The Snowball Warren Buffett and the Business of Life – Book Review

I understand you make money off dividends, but when someone like Warren Buffet says he likes to buy and hold forever, how does his net worth go up so much, besides it being an asset…I mean from a liquid perspective if he doesn’t sell his stocks, and ignoring dividends, how else do you make money? Is his all from Berkshire?

How do you make money on stocks if you never sell them? Like with Warren Buffett, besides the dividends??

For Public Speaking I am doing an informative speech on Warren Buffet the investor, and Warren Buffett the philanthropist. I already have some of the facts like Buffett became rich from Berkshire and that he plans to donate a lot of money to the bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
But are there any interesting facts you guys would mind sharing with me or an idea to make my speech stand out from the rest. I am the only one speaking on Buffett in this class, but others are doing him during different classes.

How can I make a Warren Buffet speech interesting?

By SCOTT PATTERSON

The man considered by many to be the greatest investor of all time just had his worst year ever.

But the results released Saturday for Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., also demonstrate how recently, and over time, the investor has positioned his far-flung empire to weather the financial storm.

Associated Press

Mr. Buffett, in his annual letter, read closely by shareholders and nonshareholders alike, reported Berkshire in 2008 lost 9.6% in book value per share, a common metric Berkshire uses to track performance. that marks the biggest decline since mr. Buffett took over in 1965, when it was a family-run East Coast textile maker.

Mr. Buffett conceded he “did some dumb things.” among them: scooping up shares of oil giant ConocoPhillips when oil prices were near a high and investing $244 million in a pair of Irish banks that hit trouble, resulting in an 89% loss.

Berkshire shares fell nearly as much as the rest of the market last year, indicating that investors are worried about the company’s ability to keep growing. in 2008, Berkshire’s Class A stock fell 32%. This year, the shares are down nearly 19%, slightly better than the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Yet many analysts were pleased that the decline in book value per share wasn’t steeper. and mr. Buffett’s results also show he has made moves that have paid off and should continue to do so even if economic woes persist, as he predicts.

He limited his exposure to complex and potentially costly derivatives in his reinsurance unit, General Re Corp. he has $24.3 billion in cash that can be used to find bargains in a distressed market. and he’s made several investments in preferred stock of firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that pay out steady income of 10% or more.

“He’s done a great job to prepare for this,” said Paul Howard, an analyst at Langen McAlenney, a Hartford, Conn., research group, who rates Berkshire a “buy.” “He’s got good businesses that are generating a lot of cash, and he’s going to continue to put that money to work.”

Berkshire’s substantial insurance holdings haven’t needed to take the massive write-downs on toxic subprime securities that have plagued much of the financial industry in the past two years. One reason is mr. Buffett’s longstanding dislike of complex derivatives, which he famously called “financial weapons of mass destruction” in his 2002 shareholder letter and which he railed on again in his latest letter. he pushed General Re, the large reinsurance company Berkshire acquired in 1998, to disentangle itself from a vast web of derivatives — financial instruments tied to the value of other securities, such as stocks or bonds — over the course of five years, winding down its book of 23,218 derivatives contracts at a loss of about $400 million, he said in the letter. the losses may have been far more substantial if General Re had held onto to the contracts, mr. Howard said.

“Upon leaving, our feelings about the business mirrored a line in a country song: ‘I liked you better before I got to know you so well,’” mr. Buffett wrote, referring to General Re’s derivatives book.

Separately, Berkshire took a loss of $5.1 billion in the fourth quarter on several derivatives contracts entered into in recent years. the contracts, essentially insurance policies against long-term declines in U.S. and foreign stocks, expire in 15 or 20 years. Berkshire will have to pay out if the indexes are below where they stood when the deals were struck. the derivatives, whose current estimated value has to be reflected on Berkshire’s books, are one reason the company reported a grim fourth quarter on Saturday — its fifth year-over-year quarterly decline.

The $117 million quarterly gain it eked out in the quarter marked a 96% drop from last year’s $2.95 billion in fourth-quarter net income.

Beyond commenting on Berkshire, mr. Buffett shared his views on the broader economy and financial systems. he doesn’t expect the economy to improve soon but did expect better times, eventually.

“Our country has faced far worse travails in the past,” he said. “Without fail, however, we’ve overcome them.” he declined to draw a correlation between stocks and economics, saying that while he was certain the economy would be “in shambles for 2009,” that “does not tell us whether the stock market will rise or fall.” he credited the government for stepping in with massive assistance last year, saying the intervention was “essential” to avoiding a total breakdown. But he cautioned there could be “unwelcome aftereffects,” such as inflation.

He contended the “investment world has gone from underpricing risk to overpricing it,” which he said is reflected by investor appetite for Treasury bonds. Future historians will comment on the Internet bubble of the 1990s and the housing bubble of the early 2000s, he said, but “the U.S. Treasury-bond bubble of late 2008 may be regarded as almost equally extraordinary.”

Write to Scott Patterson at scott.patterson@wsj.com

Printed in the Wall Street Journal, page C3

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Reports Worst Year Ever