ElstonG

For those interested in global health or “money-balling” philanthropy — ie., trying to maximize how much good your dollar can do — you might like GiveWell and/or their recommendations for top charities. They are mostly focused on global health interventions that in expectation save lives, for example, bednets in malaria-infested areas, and suggest you can save a life in expectation for something like $5,000 (I haven’t checked recently as they update their models over time). GiveWell itself is essentially a research shop that looks into the most effective charities (by their lights/philosophy of what’s impactful) but you can also give directly to the charities they recommend, like Against Malaria Foundation, etc. A related charity I have been following recently is the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) which works on lead reduction. In the US, we all heard about lead levels in Flint, Michigan a couple of years ago, which were much too high, but many are surprised to learn how much worse the problem is globally, where lead poisoning accounts for something like 1% of the global health burden, and something like 1/3 children are exposed to dangerously high lead levels (which impacts things like impulse control and intelligence). Interventions are pretty tractable too — many governments just don’t have the tools to test for lead levels but once they do, they’re obviously incentivized to ban/remove such products (e.g. it’s still used in spices for coloring in some places).

I’m sure this has been shared at some point on the forum but I couldn’t quickly find a relevant post, but I’m looking for a pretty definitive ranking of WEB’s best investments of all time to date by total return, with relative figures. I thought someone on this forum might quickly know where to point me for something like this that already exists (not asking anyone to recreate this).

Here it is! (Reminded me to rewatch one of my favorite late show live appearances, which I’m not saying is better, but still rocks, so sharing so others can enjoy:

Very sad day, though I take some comfort in him graduating from living legend to part of the "eminent dead" that he always preferred learning from and spending time with, and that many will continue learning from his recorded wisdom and wit for many years to come.

Would love to read Todd's essay if anyone ever finds an excerpt/link to it. I don't need another copy of the full book so probably wouldn't buy it just for that (but will definitely grab from a library once available!).

Good critical POV / summary of the Liberty universe and its relative underperformance of late from a one time “believer”: https://yetanothervalueblog.substack.com/p/liberty-day-2022-its-time-for-a-change

Just to add to the chorus: this book is fantastic. It's really enjoyable to go year by year with Buffett and Berkshire, and as a relative novice I learned a ton about accounting and general business principles. 700+ pages and I could've read many more.

Thanks, gfp, that was a helpful/clear overview of the downsides.

(Newb question) Can anyone explain in a bit more detail why going over 10% ownership causes enough “hassle” relative to return expectations that it’s rational to avoid doing so in most cases? Ted references this in the interview and of course WEB has before as well, but given the smaller pool of investments that make a difference for Berkshire (due to size and other constraints), it seems weird to me that they’d defer allocating more money to a business that meets their criteria just to avoid various filings and some amount of bureaucratic headache. I know avoidance of bureaucracy is part of BRK’s culture and I applaud that, I am just trying to understand what would make > 10% ownership so annoying as to be willing to pass up what must be hundreds of millions in expected returns.

Thank you for sharing! I like many others have deep-Googled Ted and read basically everything that can be found so this is like Xmas in May.

This is pay-walled / you need to be a subscriber (I couldn't quickly find an open-source link) but there's a new profile of Greg Abel in the Des Moines Register today: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/04/24/midamerican-energy-holdings-greg-abel-chosen-ceo-berkshire-hathaway-warren-buffett/7295994001/ Update: I believe this is the same article (they start the same way) without a paywall in USA Today.

Apologies if there are threads about this already but I couldn't quickly find any. I'm curious for the community's opinions on the best business magazine(s) today for use by investors. For example, is Fortune better than Forbes? Are any of them still good? I am curious for actual magazines, rather than newspapers, since I already have a good sense of the best options there. I was inspired to ask from a 1997 (I think) clip of the Berkshire AGM where Charlie answered a question about recommended texts with something like (complete paraphrase from memory): ~"I've found business magazines [rather than particular books] to be the best resource for learning about a whole host of businesses." My impression is the quality of all the major ones has gone down since then, but if I'm wrong, I'd love to subscribe to a one or more based on community recommendations.

New topic but I’m curious if anyone has looked closely at / has opinions on Malone/Maffei’s executive compensation approach especially pertaining to stock option grants, which seem heavily employed across entities (especially for Maffei). I know WEB has decried stock option grants under certain conditions (e.g., if priced unrealistically or without a carrying cost / retained-earnings factor) but I am not expert enough to gauge confidently whether the Liberty companies have structured these in a more tolerable / shareholder friendly way.

There isn't a Liberty-sponsored mother ship security, but you could look at Gabelli's Media Mogul Fund (MOGLX) which is comprised of Malone's media org stocks. I have personally not looked at that fund closely and prefer to just create my own portfolio(s) so I can allocate where I feel the most conviction (or for example create a portfolio that matches Malone and/or Maffei's personal holding %'s across the universe of companies).

I’m curious how many invest with an explicit goal of maximizing expected contributions to charity, and thought I’d start a thread to share ideas or related thoughts. Personally, my primary motivations are financial self-sufficiency and simple enjoyment, but my secondary motivation is to accumulate capital beyond my and my family's needs that can be allocated to cost-effective charities (ie., those that do the most good per dollar) during my lifetime. I am a fan of the effective altruism (“EA”) community and approach when it comes to the latter (disclosure that I work for an organization that gives large amounts of money to EA-related charities and can be considered EA-affiliated). The main challenge I have is balancing the tradeoff of giving money away now, which cuts into my rather meager capital base, vs. waiting and letting it compound over time. While WEB opted for the latter, I obviously do not expect to be a WEB-level capital allocator, so that option seems less obvious when you consider arguments that a life can be saved in expectation today for ~$4,000 via donations to GiveWell top charities for example, or Peter Singer’s drowning person thought experiment. I’m interested in whether others have takes on “now vs. later” philosophies, or specific charities they recommend and consider high-impact (my personal favorite is GiveWell, which allocates across several global health charities). For those inclined, I think charity allocation strategy and debates can be as fun as general investment strategy and debates.