Everyone thinks life is one upward, smooth trajectory. They think of Cinderella in her big castle and forget that she spent decades scrubbing floors, being beaten, and locked in a cold room. Between “Once upon a time” and “Happily ever after” a lot happens. Not all of it is good. – Joshua Kennon
At 31 years old, Charlie Munger was divorced, broke, and burying his 9 year old son, who had died from cancer. By the time he was 69 years old, he had become one of the richest 400 people in the world, been married to his second wife for 35+ years, had eight wonderful children, countless…
I’ve written about my Creed fragrance addiction in the past – we’re up to something like 17 bottles, most of which have been purchased at Hall’s Department Store in Kansas City. In the past couple of years alone, I’ve probably spent $4,000 or $5,000 on myself, not including any Creed that I’ve purchased as…
One of my sisters went to a Comic-Con event and brought me a Legend of Zelda pixel art magnet. I love it.
The experience of Johnson & Johnson owners over the past decade is informative in understanding the role valuation and growth plays in determining total return outcome. Let’s take a closer look.
Last night, I realized that I needed to take a trip to the local Charles Schwab & Company branch office to turn over a framed Berkshire Hathaway Class B certificate that we had on the office wall for a few years as decor because the stock split 50-1 and the transfer agent had been continually…
One technique I find helps a lot of investors act more rationally is one I developed during my late teenage years. I would convert all companies I was analyzing to $100 per share to make comparison of the figures and yields easier. In essence, this allowed me to ask the question, “How much profit am I buying for every $100 I put into this company?” If I paid a high multiple for a particular business, it forced me to justify the higher valuation by writing down my reasons for my belief.
I thought it might be useful to show you how I’d analyze an investment portfolio and calculate a reasonable estimate of not only expected growth in capital but the overall economic characteristics of the holdings.
I often hear people throw around words like “moral” and “immoral”. What does this mean? Does morality change or is morality something that is always true and unshifting through the sands of time? Words mean something so I have to identify what it is to be “moral”. That means we need to frame the parameters.…
There is an apocryphal story about Warren Buffett that I always found useful. [mainbodyad]Years ago, when he was supposedly touring Heart Castle, the gargantuan San Simeon, California estate of American newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the tour guide spent hours highlighting the enormous scale and no-expense-spared luxuries. He talked about how much money was spent…