What Is the Best Investment That You've Ever Made?

[Thrifty3000]

2 hours ago, Xerxes said:

Those of you with 7-figure in one name (an actual business). Remember the dogecoin millionaire.

 

At least you are owning really businesses, where the size of the investment is just a function of your comfort.
 

And not some crazy folktale coin.  
 

https://decrypt.co/153563/dogecoin-millionaire-bags-3-million-to-50000-dollars-has-not-lost-faith?amp=1

Yeah, last I checked Dogecoin still hasn't paid a dividend. And, neither have Beanie Babies or tulips for that matter. Not my kind of asset.

[Charlie]

Approximately 500% on Berkshire Hathaway shares.

Buffett said he would be doing share repurchases and Munger said the shares were cheap.

It doesn´t get much simpler than this.

[John Hjorth]

34 minutes ago, Charlie said:

Approximately 500% on Berkshire Hathaway shares.

Buffett said he would be doing share repurchases and Munger said the shares were cheap.

It doesn´t get much simpler than this.

 

[backtothebeach]

HODLing Berkshire, through stock, ITM calls, short OTM puts and short ITM puts, for 10+ years.

[Libs]

On February 4, 2014, Educatedidiot made this brilliant post. I got me interested in XPEL, which became a mega-bagger (I think 15X.)  A 7- figure score. If he is still around- thank you!

 

 

 

[LC]

15 minutes ago, Libs said:

On February 4, 2014, Educatedidiot made this brilliant post. I got me interested in XPEL, which became a mega-bagger (I think 15X.)  A 7- figure score. If he is still around- thank you!

 

 

 

 

Jeeze. I was like, the 4th post in that thread, and I sold way before 15x returns. You can lead a dumb horse to water and even if you force him to drink, he's still dumb

[jks327]

Best investment I ever made was in myself, in my late 20's.  Decided to stop laying around all day, started eating organic, cut out added sugar.  Lost over 80lbs and started putting them back on as muscle.  Today at 36 in the best shape of my life, nothing else would be possible without having done this work!

[Spooky]

I'm up 5x on the first tranche of Constellation Software shares I acquired.

 

Best investment however is probably Larry Cunningham's collection of essays from Warren Buffett. Nuggets of gold on every page. I wouldn't be where I am now without it. Close second would be Phil Fisher's common stocks uncommon profits.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Spooky

[ValueArb]

Preview Systems back in 2001. They announced they were shutting their doors and returning all excess cash to shareholders which they expected to be about $3.25 and the stock price dropped to $2.90. At that point I had rarely invested in individual stocks and I was reading Buffett's shareholder letters and Securities Analysis for the first time. I kept thinking it couldn't be true, that I must be missing some sort of substantial risk and went over their financials with a fine tooth comb but couldn't come up with any other than they would have to be a total fraud. I finally said, "what would Buffett do" and ended up diving in.

 

From my (admittedly weak) memory, I bought a ton at $2.90, and 2 months later it paid out something like $3, and I ended up getting close to $3.90 in total over the next 3 years. So only about a 35% gain, but for 60 day holding period. But its much bigger payoff was convincing me to start value investing where I doubled my portfolio several times over the next 6 years from pure stock picking. 

[treasurehunt]

One of my best was buying Robert Shiller's book Irrational Exuberance right after it came out in March 2000. I don't recall who or what turned me on to the book; it might have been a post by benkea or dealraker or someone like that on the old Yahoo Berkshire board. Anyway, I was working at Qualcomm at the time, surrounded by folks who were "conservatively" counting on their stock options doubling in value in the next year. After reading the book, I sold my vested options and also most of the high flying tech stocks that I owned. I did not catch the high, but avoided most of the pain of the next couple of years (I kept my Lucent stock, which turned out to be less than brilliant).

 

I had started nibbling on Berkshire B shares in Feb 2000, and selling my tech positions enabled me to increase my position in Berkshire considerably. So the ROI on the $19.56 I spent on the book was spectacular.

[james22]

^ That's great.

[vinod1]

I bought $1000 of EGAN and and $1000 of VIAD sometime in 1999. I had no idea what those companies did, just read an article online and bought them. The value jumped to $7000 at dot com peak and then became worthless. 

 

That started my investment journey as I was trying to figure out if I am an idiot for buying those stocks (I am) or if there is someway to actually invest systematically.

 

The first time I picked up an investment book, it was like fish to water for me. Next two years I would not be able to sleep well on Friday nights. I was too excited about the investment books I got from library that I used to wake up by 3 or 4 AM. I must have gone through the library finance book section twice over. Did not understand a lot of it but I just kept reading. 

 

If not for these stocks, I might not have become interested in investing. 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by vinod1

[Blugolds11]

3 hours ago, vinod1 said:

I bought $1000 of EGAN and and $1000 of VIAD sometime in 1999. I had no idea what those companies did, just read an article online and bought them. The value jumped to $7000 at dot com peak and then became worthless. 

 

That started my investment journey as I was trying to figure out if I am an idiot for buying those stocks (I am) or if there is someway to actually invest systematically.

 

The first time I picked up an investment book, it was like fish to water for me. Next two years I would not be able to sleep well on Friday nights. I was too excited about the investment books I got from library that I used to wake up by 3 or 4 AM. I must have gone through the library finance book section twice over. Did not understand a lot of it but I just kept reading. 

 

If not for these stocks, I might not have become interested in investing. 

 

 

My first foray was a penny stock LOL pure pump and dump and I was one of the marks. Very very low dollar amount at the time but also at the time…it was enough to sting. Watched that sucker go to zero and figured I better figure out how to “play the game”. 

 

Very similar story as to the research. Your return was better by going to the library, I had a local Goodwill that would basically turnover the shelves every Tuesday back in the day, 10 books for $1.99. I bought every book on investing/business/finance I could, including textbooks on business/management/accounting and in there was a book about Buffett. Some of the stuff was over my head of course at the time but I couldnt get enough. I wouldnt say that “investment” has created any 10 baggers for me, but it got me into BRK much earlier than I would have otherwise and gave me conviction to make it a much larger position than I would have been comfortable with back then. What it also gave me was the a better understanding and ability to detect BS as it relates to money/investing and contributed to red flags popping up on a couple occasions when others I knew were investing significant money (for them at the time) into things I knew were bogus but they had a “hot tip” or “good feeling” about. It defined investing for me and allowed me to differentiate between investing, speculation, and outright gambling. #1 rule is dont lose money right? So I guess if I look at it that way, although I didnt 10x my port, I also didnt blow it up like some I knew and didnt continue down the path I was on before my Goodwill education, in that regard the return was phenomenal.  

[RedLion]

1 hour ago, Blugolds11 said:

My first foray was a penny stock LOL pure pump and dump and I was one of the marks. Very very low dollar amount at the time but also at the time…it was enough to sting. Watched that sucker go to zero and figured I better figure out how to “play the game”. 

 

I had a similar experience with a company called Electronic Gamecard. It wasn't a pump and dump, it was a net-net where the CEO actually ran off with the cash IIRC and essentially got away with it. Now that I think of it, I want to find out what ever happened. 

[tede02]

Buying GGG in February of 2009. I could see it was fundamentally a great business. Got lucky on the timing. Has been a 10-bagger. But the best part about it is I bought a bunch of it for some of my close family members and a few of my early clients at the same time. Most of them still hold it. My dad kicks himself in the ass for selling half of his position along the way up. I had to sell my shares in 2020 to get a real estate deal done which sucks because I missed the most recent leg up. Started to rebuild a position during the market chopiness this year. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by tede02

[Cigarbutt]

On 12/14/2023 at 11:11 PM, treasurehunt said:

One of my best was buying Robert Shiller's book Irrational Exuberance right after it came out in March 2000. 

...but avoided most of the pain of the next couple of years 

... So the ROI on the $19.56 I spent on the book was spectacular.

Interesting. From my end, very different circumstances but some similarities in outcome (relevant to this thread?).

i bought the book used in 2006...the second edition that came out in 2005...with an updated version including a second chapter on the real estate bu**le in the US (circled in blue below). Graph included for fun and Mr. Shiller looked at this from the real price angle.

[ValueArb]

16 hours ago, tede02 said:

Buying GGG in February of 2009. I could see it was fundamentally a great business. Got lucky on the timing. Has been a 10-bagger. But the best part about it is I bought a bunch of it for some of my close family members and a few of my early clients at the same time. Most of them still hold it. My dad kicks himself in the ass for selling half of his position along the way up. I had to sell my shares in 2020 to get a real estate deal done which sucks because I missed the most recent leg up. Started to rebuild a position during the market chopiness this year. 

 

I really thought he was going to beat Canelo, but he had three shots at it and couldn't get it done. 

[dpetrescu]

My best investment has been after I stepped away from being a Buffett clone to uncovering hidden gems in my own professional field.

 

A long time ago I found a great company and invested in it. And I had such great conviction in it. The error was in not going all in (Soros and the juggular). Years later I realized this, I overcame my regret - and went all in, made this one company the vast majority of my portfolio and threw out the other junk.

 

Worked amazingly. That might be the biggest challenge with investing (as anything of value in life) -  lessons and rewards are best understood over a great portion of time passed - in decades.

[Libs]

9 hours ago, dpetrescu said:

My best investment has been after I stepped away from being a Buffett clone to uncovering hidden gems in my own professional field.

 

A long time ago I found a great company and invested in it. And I had such great conviction in it. The error was in not going all in (Soros and the juggular). Years later I realized this, I overcame my regret - and went all in, made this one company the vast majority of my portfolio and threw out the other junk.

 

Worked amazingly. That might be the biggest challenge with investing (as anything of value in life) -  lessons and rewards are best understood over a great portion of time passed - in decades.

Which company?

[bargainman]

Probably when I bought Hansen before it became monster drink.  Dumbest investment was selling 1/3 after it had tripled to "get my investment back"

[bargainman]

56 minutes ago, bargainman said:

Probably when I bought Hansen before it became monster drink.  Dumbest investment was selling 1/3 after it had tripled to "get my investment back"

Actually, I take this back, my best investment was choosing the career I did, and the company I work for.  

[BG2008]

Okay, I hope this would be interesting. It was buying the Peter Lynch Book One Up on Wall Street 

 

I don't consider myself that bright. I'm a hard asset guy. People who met me in person know that I'm kind of a burly guy who's better at REITs and physical stuff. 

 

The book was $7 or $10 

 

But Peter Lynch talked about how rock pits are good businesses, it just kind of stood out. It was a very simple concept. Cost $10 a ton, cost $10 to truck it 30 miles etc. 

 

In 2015, Patriot spins off the RE business which became FRP Holdings. I bought the stock at $30. Made it a 26% position and a huge position in my PA and told my family to buy it. Blackstone buys the warehouse for $359mm. The EV that I paid was $340mm but they still owned the MF and the rock pits and other cats and dogs. We made a double. 

 

I also raised outside capital because of this idea. 

 

Fast forward to 2020, Covid hits and FRP Holdings was trading at $40 but The Maren leased 45% of their units during Q2 of 2020. Holy Shit! They leased 45% when people were not allowed to view it? WTF? Made it an 18% position and raised some more capital. 

 

In total, realized gains for my family and investors are likely closer to $2mm. Unrealized gains from the second investment in 2020 is around $4mm. These are gains from my own accounts and capital that I manage for others.  The gains alone are double digit % of my current asset that I manage. 

 

All of this from a book that Peter Lynch wrote about containing some little nuggets about rock pits. 

 

Investing is funny like that. You get an insight that is timeless, i.e. rock pits are good business. 

 

You get to know the assets, the management, the capital allocation, and the business. You can recycle the idea and come back.  

 

 

 

 

[rohitc99]

2 minutes ago, BG2008 said:

Okay, I hope this would be interesting. It was buying the Peter Lynch Book One Up on Wall Street 

 

I don't consider myself that bright. I'm a hard asset guy. People who met me in person know that I'm kind of a burly guy who's better at REITs and physical stuff. 

 

The book was $7 or $10 

 

But Peter Lynch talked about how rock pits are good businesses, it just kind of stood out. It was a very simple concept. Cost $10 a ton, cost $10 to truck it 30 miles etc. 

 

In 2015, Patriot spins off the RE business which became FRP Holdings. I bought the stock at $30. Made it a 26% position and a huge position in my PA and told my family to buy it. Blackstone buys the warehouse for $359mm. The EV that I paid was $340mm but they still owned the MF and the rock pits and other cats and dogs. We made a double. 

 

I also raised outside capital because of this idea. 

 

Fast forward to 2020, Covid hits and FRP Holdings was trading at $40 but The Maren leased 45% of their units during Q2 of 2020. Holy Shit! They leased 45% when people were not allowed to view it? WTF? Made it an 18% position and raised some more capital. 

 

In total, realized gains for my family and investors are likely closer to $2mm. Unrealized gains from the second investment in 2020 is around $4mm. These are gains from my own accounts and capital that I manage for others.  The gains alone are double digit % of my current asset that I manage. 

 

All of this from a book that Peter Lynch wrote about containing some little nuggets about rock pits. 

 

Investing is funny like that. You get an insight that is timeless, i.e. rock pits are good business. 

 

You get to know the assets, the management, the capital allocation, and the business. You can recycle the idea and come back.  

 

 

 

 

+1

[dpetrescu]

2 hours ago, Libs said:

Which company?

Simpson (SSD). It’s pretty much all I talk about on here . So I hate to be a broken record. I use their products in my field so I feel I have a good understanding of it. Its had a good run up and share price is very expensive today. 

[KPO]

31 minutes ago, dpetrescu said:

Simpson (SSD). It’s pretty much all I talk about on here . So I hate to be a broken record. I use their products in my field so I feel I have a good understanding of it. Its had a good run up and share price is very expensive today. 

Sounds like Berkshire’s MiTek business, which is a good little business.