dabuff

I think the bottom line is to not blindly clone and only buy what you would have a conviction to hold otherwise (after all the 13F only comes out each quarter, and you could be caught with your pants down if the guru has sold the entire stake out in the interim).

Has anyone worked out what his current stock holding allocations are?

Has anyone read Fifer's other book, The Enlightened CEO?

If I recall correctly from the mechanical investing studies EV/EBITDA > EV/EBIT > P/E. Bottom line if you choose such a basket strategy you'll be well served by any of the above.

The ones I have open at the moment: Sapiens Cable Cowboy The Patient will See you Now Dynamic Hedging Hooke's Security Analysis Davis Dynasty

"BS earnings" of course being how Charlie Munger references EBITDA (and in similar terms, Klarman does the same in "Margin of Safety"). However, it seems EV/EBITDA outperforms other valuation multiples, including P/E and P/B in multiple books and studies (Acquirer's Multiple, What Works on Wall Street, and much more). What do you all make of this? Is EV/EBITDA a good ratio across many stocks because the inputs are easily comparable across industries? Should it be reserved to basket/mechanical investing? Or is Munger simply encouraging us to be more judicious in our evaluation of companies beyond simply reducing it to a single number?

From a consumer's perspective, say I have a nice V/MA or even AXP credit card offering me a 1-3% cash back on purchases (or even waiving foreign transaction fees when I'm traveling). Not to mention some of the fringe benefits like rental insurance, buyer's protection, etc. Why in the world would I use a P2P service that offers none of these perks, requires that I pay immediately, and risks my accounting/routing numbers being hacked? However from a merchant's perspective P2P is great if you can shave off the 2.9% +0.30. Those "basis points" add up.

Google alerts are great: google.com/alerts

Hello everyone, I know this may be a contentious topic, but I'm wondering you all think is the value of an MBA for someone aiming to break into investment management. I personally understand that for learning the art of investment itself, one must get his hands wet...actually investing. And from what I can gather, the best value would be a degree from one of the top 5 B-schools. At the same time, it seems that much of the "value" is from a signaling effect from the school brand name/connections made at the school, rather than the learning therein). For every Buffett with an MBA, there is a Munger without one, so I can see both sides of the argument. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

The book Hidden Champions by Hermann Simon explains much of this in a wonderful way.

Here's the article about Todd Combs: http://www.omaha.com/money/investors-earn-handsome-paychecks-by-handling-buffett-s-business/article_bb1fc40f-e6f9-549d-be2f-be1ef4c0da03.html

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn't read all the time -- none, zero." Warren Buffett reads spends about 80% of his day reading. Lou Simpson reads 5-8 hours per day. Todd Combs reportedly read up to 1000 pages per day after Warren Buffett told his business class to read 500 pages per day of 10K's, 10Qs and the like (though in a recent interview with Buffett, he ?misremembered it as 100 pages/day). I have a few questions for the community: How much do you all read each day? What proportion of SEC filings vs books, etc.? How does it take you read a 10K or 10Q? Do you have any lifehacks on getting through stacks of 10K's and 10Q's? Most importantly, in the spirit of the Pareto principle, which parts of the SEC fillings do you value the most? Buffett has said that if he could have any superpower, he would speedread. But it seems comprehension drastically decreases. Has anyone had success?

"Be greedy when others are fearful." - Buffett Does anyone use the CBOE VIX to time stock/index purchases? It would be interesting to see how a dollar-cost averaging method of buying into an index fund would fare if it were to buy more at times when "fear" is high.

Looks like Warren is taking one out of the T&T playbook: http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-buys-phillips-66-2015-8

How do you all like this new biography of Musk compared to the other ones already out there? Possibly it's a situation where one mustn't choose, but rather simply read both (a la Lowenstein and Schroeder).

Pabrai once said that when he gets stock tips, he wants to hear about stocks worth 20 and selling at 10 or less, not 11, not 16, but 10 at the max.

These guys seem to know what they're doing (evidence-based charity): http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities

Are there any avenues for selling European-style options in American stocks? (a la Buffett selling European-style puts on the indices).

Does anyone sell puts instead of using limit orders to get into stocks?

Much appreciated if you could share the database with me too, Gamecock. Thank you.

So what do you all make of the quality of the free service feeds - Google finance vs Yahoo vs Morningstar vs MSN in terms of accuracy?

It is one of the highest-yield books you can read on management. If you run a business yourself, you'll actually be able to implement some of these changes immediately. It is one of those books that pays for itself many times over.

I read a story by Robert Rodriguez in which he asked Charlie Munger how he could be a better investment professional. His answer was, ‘Read history, read history, read history.’ What books on history have you all found useful? I've found Business Adventures to be good (and it is recommended by Buffett and Gates)

I am struck by the genius of Ajit Jain's work at Berkshire, but find it hard much about the man's techniques. What are some good resources/books to learn about his process, as well as the insurance industry in generall? Thank you in advance for the recommendations.

It would be great to hear about his productivity tricks (in a LifeHacker sort of way) - what does his typical schedule look like - aside from the mid-afternoon nap? How fast does he read? Does he have any tips on reading quicker? I've heard him say he reads about 100 pages/day. And what advice would he have someone who would like to break into the management industry from another profession?