Alice Schroeder: Buffett Message Is ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’

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3 I have also had the opportunity to listen to Alice speak and she intimated that a great deal of  Warrens investment prowress was a result of inside information and that she would reveal all in her next book the great wizard would be revealed to be just a mortal.[/qoute]

 

alice's penchant for pseudo-psychoanalysis should never be mistaken for having any talent at it. web misjudged her, unfortunately. he should have tried getting to know her better before choosing her to write his biography. i think he gave too much weight to abilities solely as a knowledgable analyst who distinguished herself from the others by having an approach to her work that focused on intrinsic value as opposed to the short term earnings momentum vs expectations model that many others seem to use

[vinod1]

 

 

3 I have also had the opportunity to listen to Alice speak and she intimated that a great deal of  Warrens investment prowress was a result of inside information and that she would reveal all in her next book the great wizard would be revealed to be just a mortal.

 

 

I listened to several of her speeches. If I remember correctly what she said is that, Warren got what would be considered insider info nowadays but was not considered insider information at that time. This is basically nothing more than taking directly with managers, etc. Her point regarding being a mere mortal is that he works so incredibly hard, even the gathering of "insider" information, going to insurance commission's office and looking up old records, and all that kind of leg work that very few people did at that time and that is the key to his performance. Her point being it is not like Buffett spends a few hours and just by genius of his insights makes all the money. She wants to highlight the fact that others do not really appreciate the amount of effort he puts in.

 

She goes on to say that seeing how much effort Buffett puts into his investments, she was discouraged in trying to invest her own money that way, nothing that she cannot compete with someone like this.

 

She might have some "MAlice" towards Buffett but I still think she thinks of his as one of the greatest investors of all time. 

 

Vinod

[Parsad]

you know as I go along I try to figure out why warren does certain stuff. for example, help women. I figure he doesn't really need to do this for female companionship. Females Will find you if you have money. 

 

I think he helps women because he realizes that in  the field of business journalism and finance that they "have been" somewhat disadvantaged compared to men. He took notice of Rose Blumkin. Put carol loomis (who would have made it anyway) on the map. He helped kate graham. He helps a lot of female financial journalists. He goes on pbs every year. Buffett is a champion of the underdog. Maybe that's why he helped AS. Because he knew she was in a tough racket trying to be a female analyst doing things the right way on WS. Everything warren does has a purpose and meaning behind it.

 

I would think that is pretty accurate Peter.  Not too many well-known female analysts, and she was pretty smart and had a very good idea how to value Berkshire.  Cheers!

[zarley]

I listened to several of her speeches. If I remember correctly what she said is that, Warren got what would be considered insider info nowadays but was not considered insider information at that time. This is basically nothing more than taking directly with managers, etc. Her point regarding being a mere mortal is that he works so incredibly hard, even the gathering of "insider" information, going to insurance commission's office and looking up old records, and all that kind of leg work that very few people did at that time and that is the key to his performance. Her point being it is not like Buffett spends a few hours and just by genius of his insights makes all the money. She wants to highlight the fact that others do not really appreciate the amount of effort he puts in.

 

She goes on to say that seeing how much effort Buffett puts into his investments, she was discouraged in trying to invest her own money that way, nothing that she cannot compete with someone like this.

 

This was one of my key take aways from The Snowball.  Buffett is incredibly smart.  Buffett seems to have a photographic memory for numbers.  Buffett is a learning machine, and reads voraciously.  Buffett is consumed with investing/running BRK.  So, mere mortal, be humble in your aspirations for investing like Buffett.  Alice makes the point directly at some point near the end of the book, but I forget exactly where. 

 

I liked The Snowball (warts and all) but think most of what Alice writes on her blog and for Bloomberg is nonsense aimed at  riling up readers/commentors.  It's the nature of the financial "journalism" these days.  Whatever gets eyeballs is fit to print, even if the author knows it's twaddle.

 

 

[ubuy2wron]

 

 

3 I have also had the opportunity to listen to Alice speak and she intimated that a great deal of  Warrens investment prowress was a result of inside information and that she would reveal all in her next book the great wizard would be revealed to be just a mortal.

 

 

I listened to several of her speeches. If I remember correctly what she said is that, Warren got what would be considered insider info nowadays but was not considered insider information at that time. This is basically nothing more than taking directly with managers, etc. Her point regarding being a mere mortal is that he works so incredibly hard, even the gathering of "insider" information, going to insurance commission's office and looking up old records, and all that kind of leg work that very few people did at that time and that is the key to his performance. Her point being it is not like Buffett spends a few hours and just by genius of his insights makes all the money. She wants to highlight the fact that others do not really appreciate the amount of effort he puts in.

 

She goes on to say that seeing how much effort Buffett puts into his investments, she was discouraged in trying to invest her own money that way, nothing that she cannot compete with someone like this.

 

She might have some "MAlice" towards Buffett but I still think she thinks of his as one of the greatest investors of all time. 

 

Vinod

 

I do not want to libel Malice. She did say that it was not illegal insider info at the time but again the implication was that he could not recreate his performance in the new highly regulated world.  In response to the post that commented about the quality of what passes for financial journalism these days I must agree. Much of the new media is in a mad dash to the bottom as far as quality is concerned . There is an awfull lot that is pure entertainment. I guess I should not complain too much however as they are businesses and The National Enquirer has made more money for shareholders than the New York Times.