Investing & Diversification: When Less is More

Dear Mr. Market: download

In many of our letters to you we discuss the ups and downs of the stock market. In doing so, we often times will share basic knowledge and investing reminders to our readers to help guide them. Without question, even a rookie investor will have learned the simple advice of diversifying their portfolio. “Do not put all your eggs in one basket!”

While that “advice” is intuitive and seems to make sense, it’s mainly regurgitated by every financial advisor because of one alarming reason. Yes, on one hand it’s with the intent of managing risk but part of the dark reality is because most people (pros included) don’t know what they’re doing. This last sentence may sound harsh but our job is to be candid and also share ideas and truths that you may need to know yet not always hear elsewhere.

If you stop reading this article right now do yourself a favor and at least spend seven minutes when you have more time. The seven minutes we want you to spend are watching the following clip of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Click here to view it and learn their basic belief that most investors over diversify and are simply “protecting themselves from ignorance”. Continue reading

Manic Market

Dear Mr. Market:51Xur1KZWKL

For some of our newer readers it might serve us well to remind everyone of who you are and what this “Mr. Market” character is all about. If you haven’t read Benjamin Graham’s book, The Intelligent Investor, you need to. Even though it was written in 1949, much of what Graham wrote is still applicable today and it’s simply one of the best books on the stock market ever written. Warren Buffett himself loves the book and says that it changed his life. Here’s a summary from Buffett and his description of our very own “Mr. Market”: Continue reading

Warren Buffett’s Baby

Buffett2Dear Mr. Market:

This past weekend, the investment world descended on Omaha, Nebraska; best known perhaps as the hometown of one of the most successful investors in the world. Warren Buffett, also known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, will be hosting investors at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. The schedule is filled with presentations, shopping & dining experiences, and social interactions that will be the highlight for many individual investors.

The investment community has been fascinated with Warren Buffett for his colorful comments and impressive track record. He has proven to be a in a class all by himself looking for good companies at an attractive price and has never been scared to be a contrarian. Flipping through the pages of the 2014 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report, we can’t help but notice that many of the principles Buffett applies to prospective investments are now making his own company look very attractive.

The class ‘B’ shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) currently trade at $141.21 per share while the ‘A’ shares trade for an impressive $213,400 per share! Through the first four months of the year BRK.B is down -5.93% while the S&P 500 is up 1.3%. Buffett has been quoted as saying, “price is what you pay, value is what you get.” Last year (2014) the S&P 500 delivered an impressive 13% and BRK.B doubled that, rewarding investors with a 26% return for the year. Continue reading