I spent much of the weekend building enormous spreadsheets analyzing the S&P 500 from 1960 through 2010, including building scenarios such as no dividend reinvestment, dividends fully reinvested, pricing the index in barrels of crude oil adjusted for inflation, pricing the index in spot gold prices adjusted for inflation, comparing equity premiums to long-term government bond yields, then doing the same backing out the fluctuation in CPI, and so much more.  It was a lot of very intensive, … [Read more...]

There is an apocryphal story about Warren Buffett that I always found useful.   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 on each item and the cost of maintaining the mansion and grounds.  At one point, Buffett is said to have yelled out to the … [Read more...]

I am in the middle of something big.  Huge.  Plus, I still have to talk about our yearly performance for the sporting goods business.  But I haven't been getting to bed until about 7 a.m. for the past few days, followed by rounds of sleep only to return to more meetings.  I'll be back, ladies and gentlemen, I promise.  I've already responded to several of your direct contact form messages and I hope to finish the rest soon. Talk to you sooner rather than later =)  This is huge, folks … [Read more...]