Buffett: Financial companies are more difficult to analyze than other companies. They can report whatever earnings they want – it’s an easy game to play. For banks, earnings depend on loans and the reserves set aside. It’s easy to change and manipulate the reserves. With a company like WD-40 or a brick company, the financials […]
Tag: Charlie Munger
Buffett Business School Advice
Question: Advice on business school? BUFFETT: Business schools not long ago used to teach a lot of nonsense about investing. MUNGER: They’re improving. BUFFETT: From a low base? MUNGER: Yes. BUFFETT: Business schools teach one fad after another in finance. It’s hard to resist. Going against the “received wisdom” of your bosses and elders is […]
Charlie Munger Quotes
Investing All intelligent investing is value investing; then acquire more than you are paying for. Investing is where you find a few great companies and then sit on your ass. Source: BRK Annual Meeting 2000 I said, “We know the edge of our competency better than most.” That’s a very worthwhile thing. It’s not a […]
Quotes on shorting stocks
Charlie and I have agreed on around 100 stocks over the years that we thought were shorts or promotions. Had we acted on them, we might have lost all of our money, every though we were right just about every time. A bubble plays on human nature. Nobody knows when it’s going to pop, or […]
Why it is tough to short stocks
Buffett: Companies with a large short interest very often have been revealed as frauds or semi- frauds – not the one my friend runs. Over the years, I’ve probably had 100 ideas of things to short and I would have eventually been right [on almost all of them]. But [because it’s so hard to get […]
An IPO is like a negotiated transaction
Buffett: An IPO is like a negotiated transaction – the seller chooses when to come public – and it’s unlikely to be a time that’s favorable to you. So, by scanning 100 IPOs, you’re way less likely to find anything interesting than scanning an average group of 100 stocks. The seller of a $100,000 house […]