hopspreads

Small position in ZTS

WKL

Really? Time horizon and risk tolerance. A 25-year-old has 40 years of compounding runway, a 95-year-old doesn't. That changes the math on what you should optimize for. A retiree drawing down capital has different constraints than someone who won't touch the money for decades.

Thanks all, genuinely useful responses. The opportunity cost framing is the right one. My actual goal is to beat the index, which is why I'm in individual stocks at all. Whether I have the skill to do that consistently is still an open question. I've matched the index over the past 5 years with meaningfully less volatility, which I take as a mild positive signal. Of course, four years is nowhere near enough to distinguish skill from luck. All in all, I'm ready to take on that risk, as the rewards of even slight outperformance over decades are significant, although the opposite is also true. I have half my portfolio in individual picks and the other half in index ETFs as a hedge against my own stupidity.

Is BRK actually a good pick for someone in their 20s? I get the appeal -- capital allocation discipline, huge downside protection and lots of optionality in case of a downturn. But at $1T, the alpha that made early shareholders rich seems structurally capped. Wouldn't a 25-year-old with 40 years of runway be better off in smaller compounders -- the kind of business Berkshire itself used to be?

So you believe the CFA is a worthwhile time investment ? I'm hoping to land a quant role as I'm currently studying statistics. I find risk management roles to be quite interesting

It takes a remarkable amount of grit to keep going after 15 years of underperformance—hats off to your perseverance! What would you say was the most important lesson you learned during those early years?

I got interested in financial markets through an Instagram guru who touted Forex trading as an easy way to make money. Safe to say, it wasn’t. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing was what first put me on the right path. From there, the WEB rabbit hole got me hooked. I bought my first index fund ETF at 22, Berkshire at 24, and Fairfax at 25. I haven’t sold a share since.

Curious to know the average age of forum participants—just wondering! For context, I'm a 27-year-old college student.

I've also heard good things about Brett. He seem's to be a good self-marketer. I don't know much about the accounting services industry though. Seems highly fragmented, w/ lots of boutique shops. Will have to spent some time reading through their annual reports.

lol

I’m wondering if you know of any CEOs who are value investors / who use a value investing approach in how they manage their companies. Have you come across any examples of less-known leaders who apply these principles in their decision-making for the business?