Berkshire 2000 AR - Comments from Charlie Munger

[CanadianMunger]

I'm re-reading Buffett's letter to shareholders.  Towards the end of the 2000 letter Buffett comments:

 

I’m enclosing a report generously supplied by Outstanding Investor Digest of Charlie’s remarks at

last May’s Wesco annual meeting. Charlie thinks about business economics and investment matters better than

anyone I know, and I’ve learned a lot over the years by listening to him. Reading his comments will improve your

understanding of Berkshire

 

Anyone have a copy of this?

 

Thanks,

 

-CM

 

 

[Buckeye]

Canadian Munger-

 

It is interesting that you bought this up.  I am reading the letters through Max Olson's book and came across this last night:

 

From the beginning of the 1990 report, Buffett says: "For information on Wesco's business, I urge you to read Charlie Munger's letter, which starts on page 56.  His letter also contains the clearest and most insightful discussion of the banking industry that I have seen."

 

That's quite an endorsement!

 

I know this isn't what you are looking for here, but thought it might be something that you or others may be interested in reading.

 

I have not yet read it but look forward to reading it.

 

Buckeye

[boilermaker75]

Buckeye,

 

I just started reading Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders on my kindle today. It was only $3.99 so as a value investor I could not pass it up!

 

Boiler

[Buckeye]

It has been something I have been meaning to do for a while.  I like how Buffett has been saying from the 70's that the returns are likely to shrink in the future.  Here it is 40 years later and he is still saying it.

 

 

[Kiltacular]

From the beginning of the 1990 report, Buffett says: "For information on Wesco's business, I urge you to read Charlie Munger's letter, which starts on page 56.  His letter also contains the clearest and most insightful discussion of the banking industry that I have seen."

 

For those interested, I believe the link below includes the Wesco letter to which Buffett refers.  Unsurprisingly, a very good read:

 

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/949558/Wesco-Financial-1990-Letter

[oddballstocks]

From the beginning of the 1990 report, Buffett says: "For information on Wesco's business, I urge you to read Charlie Munger's letter, which starts on page 56.  His letter also contains the clearest and most insightful discussion of the banking industry that I have seen."

 

For those interested, I believe the link below includes the Wesco letter to which Buffett refers.  Unsurprisingly, a very good read:

 

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/949558/Wesco-Financial-1990-Letter

 

The numbers in the letter are a banker's dream.  He talks about their "low" rate on their loan portfolio, in the mid 9s, and how they're getting a 17% tax equivalent return from their muni bond portfolio.

[boilermaker75]

It has been something I have been meaning to do for a while.  I like how Buffett has been saying from the 70's that the returns are likely to shrink in the future.  Here it is 40 years later and he is still saying it.

 

That was the first thing I noticed when I started to read them yesterday.

[racemize]

For those interested, I do have compilation pdfs for all of Buffett/berkshire (1957-current) and all of wesco letters (1983-2009).  Just fyi, I generally have a lot of these compilation pdfs (e.g., MKL, FFH, oaktree memos, lancashire, etc.), if you are interested in other ones.

[usdtor05]

If you could post the Munger letters that would be awesome thank you

[WhoIsWarren]

For those interested, I do have compilation pdfs for all of Buffett/berkshire (1957-current) and all of wesco letters (1983-2009).

 

racemize -- please post both!

(I'm dying to read the Munger thesis on banking).

[racemize]

In the past, Sanjeev has been concerned about compilation pdfs like these, for copyright reasons.  I'm happy to post them up if they are ok, otherwise, just PM me.

 

Here's my list of compilations, which I try to keep up to date:

 

Arlington (I need a source who has up-to-date letters on this, only have a few)

Brookfield

Buffett (across all vehicles)

Burry (don't have them all, just what I could get)

Chou

Fairfax

FRMO

Goodhaven

Lancashire

Leucadia

Markel

Wesco

Oaktree

Tweedy Brown essays

[racemize]

wow, you guys are making me feel very popular.  I don't think I've ever gotten this many PMs.

 

Edit: If I missed your PM, it is because I've gotten so many.  I think I have responded to everyone so far, so if you are still missing a response, remind me again.

[Tim Eriksen]

I'm re-reading Buffett's letter to shareholders.  Towards the end of the 2000 letter Buffett comments:

 

I’m enclosing a report generously supplied by Outstanding Investor Digest of Charlie’s remarks at

last May’s Wesco annual meeting. Charlie thinks about business economics and investment matters better than

anyone I know, and I’ve learned a lot over the years by listening to him. Reading his comments will improve your

understanding of Berkshire

 

Anyone have a copy of this?

 

Thanks,

 

-CM

a quick google search brought up multiple copies.  Tilsonfunds has the OID pages while valueplays.net has Tilson's notes from the meeting.

http://www.tilsonfunds.com/Mungerwritings2001.pdf

http://www.valueplays.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Best-of-Charlie-Munger-1994-2011.pdf

 

 

[racemize]

I'm re-reading Buffett's letter to shareholders.  Towards the end of the 2000 letter Buffett comments:

 

I’m enclosing a report generously supplied by Outstanding Investor Digest of Charlie’s remarks at

last May’s Wesco annual meeting. Charlie thinks about business economics and investment matters better than

anyone I know, and I’ve learned a lot over the years by listening to him. Reading his comments will improve your

understanding of Berkshire

 

Anyone have a copy of this?

 

Thanks,

 

-CM

a quick google search brought up multiple copies.  Tilsonfunds has the OID pages while valueplays.net has Tilson's notes from the meeting.

http://www.tilsonfunds.com/Mungerwritings2001.pdf

http://www.valueplays.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Best-of-Charlie-Munger-1994-2011.pdf

 

I'm going to update my Munger compilation to include all of these, and add bookmarks.  For those of you I already sent them to, it will be updated and the same link will work.  I'll post when it is updated.

[racemize]

OK, so bad news everyone, the link stop working when I updated it.

 

Good news is I have a new compilation that has a ton of stuff in it.  So you'll have to PM me again.  Sorry.

[CanadianMunger]

a quick google search brought up multiple copies.  Tilsonfunds has the OID pages while valueplays.net has Tilson's notes from the meeting.

http://www.tilsonfunds.com/Mungerwritings2001.pdf

http://www.valueplays.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Best-of-Charlie-Munger-1994-2011.pdf

 

Thank you.

 

-CM

[rmitz]

It has been something I have been meaning to do for a while.  I like how Buffett has been saying from the 70's that the returns are likely to shrink in the future.  Here it is 40 years later and he is still saying it.

 

That was the first thing I noticed when I started to read them yesterday.

 

To be fair, they have.  The downward slope was just rather more gentle than he expected.

[vikx01]

Or as WEB once said "What's the secret of a great marriage? It's not looks, nor intelligence, nor money -- it's low expectations."