Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something • Hacker News Board

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#21

Post by xiphias2 » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:25 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #2

I have no idea how money works. I have a 401k, it's got more in it than the median 60 year old in the united states, and I'm 20 years from that. And I am terrified of how little I know about how it exists or survives. I read these articles and get a sense of overwhelming urgency that, without any explicit indication, I should do something with my nest egg to make it safer to survive a crash. And then I keep reading,…

If you want to diversify in a non correlated assets, you can put a part of your money from stocks into commodities, like gold/silver/Bitcoin (housing market is highly correlated with the stock market, so it's not a good diversification).

All asset (and storage) types have their advantages / problems, you should read about it of course.

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#22

Post by riffraff » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:26 PM UTC

lowdose wrote: post #17

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm lost. Could you be more specific about this supposed heist?

Buffett, 87, has since 2006 made more than $30.9 billion in donations to the charities, including roughly $24.5 billion to the Gates Foundation.

right, now if he spends $1B per year, he only has money for the next 80 years, and will run out when he's 190, that would suck.

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#23

Post by bungie4 » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:26 PM UTC

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #14

lowdose wrote: post #10

Maybe somebody should tell Warren Buffet his BFF Bill Gates took 80% of his money by convincing him "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." Warren is advocating to anybody willing to listen that they too should fork over all there monies like someone severely traumatized by Stockholm syndrome. Number 1 convinced number 2 he was way…

I'm lost. Could you be more specific about this supposed heist?

Mr. Buffet pledged 80% of estate to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with many, many other wealthy people for the betterment of mankind.

By all accounts, The Gates Foundation is delivering on their promise by reducing child mortality, womens rights, life expectency, health care and education to the underprivileged of the world.

Heist indeed.

Sauce: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#24

Post by lowdose » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:28 PM UTC

bungie4 wrote: post #23

chosenbreed37 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm lost. Could you be more specific about this supposed heist?

Mr. Buffet pledged 80% of estate to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with many, many other wealthy people for the betterment of mankind. By all accounts, The Gates Foundation is delivering on their promise by reducing child mortality, womens rights, life expectency, health care and education to the underprivileged of the world. Heist indeed. Sauce: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

I'm not implying Bill Gates is bad but he is performing a myth like Santa Claus. It is even better when you have twice the amount of Santa Claus money.

Bill Gates "When you have money in hand,only you forget who are you .But when you do not have any money in your hand, the whole world forget who you are.It's life."

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#25

Post by igravious » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

mywittyname wrote: post #15

hacknat wrote: post #11

It’s important to remember that the stock market != the economy. You know who would be the first to say that? Warren Buffet. Warren Buffet is actually a big believer in not making macro economic predictions. It just so happens that if you pick stocks like he does (based on fundamentals and a certain proprietary “discount”) you’ll probably avoid having your investments tagged in a recession. Stocks in the Great Recess…

Additionally, the article doesn't really discuss how much cash he's holding relative to previous years. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BRK.B/berkshire-ha...

Yeah, as always, context!

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#26

Post by arbuge » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

He is not making any macro statement about the economy. If anything it's a statement about large cap stock valuations. Warren Buffett likes to pick value-priced stocks, and there just aren't that many of them around anymore after 10 years of easy money. Especially if you look at large companies, most of which are priced to perfection. There may certainly still be bargains in the smaller company space, but those don't move the needle for a giant like Berkshire Hathaway.

Expensive stocks may be one sign of an upcoming crash, but they are by no means a sufficient condition. Stocks can stay expensive for many years, and the conditions that led to them being expensive (easy money) actually look like they'll be around for quite a while yet. There are other possible indicators like the inverted yield curve, but again, one can never say for sure. Oil prices for example are depressed, and that is not what is typically seen before a recession:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-08-27/oil-pr...

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#27

Post by skolos » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:32 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #2

I have no idea how money works. I have a 401k, it's got more in it than the median 60 year old in the united states, and I'm 20 years from that. And I am terrified of how little I know about how it exists or survives. I read these articles and get a sense of overwhelming urgency that, without any explicit indication, I should do something with my nest egg to make it safer to survive a crash. And then I keep reading,…

Good answers to your question. If you want see more meet supporting them, take a look at https://www.investingrus.com/blog/safest-bet

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#28

Post by r00fus » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:33 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #2

I have no idea how money works. I have a 401k, it's got more in it than the median 60 year old in the united states, and I'm 20 years from that. And I am terrified of how little I know about how it exists or survives. I read these articles and get a sense of overwhelming urgency that, without any explicit indication, I should do something with my nest egg to make it safer to survive a crash. And then I keep reading,…

I think the recommendation is perhaps to rebalance your 401k portfolio to be less aggressive and less reliant on stocks.

Mine in part index fund/part bonds and I move around the % based on the market sentiment.

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#29

Post by duxup » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:33 PM UTC

I always got the impression that if Warren wanted to say something, he would. As for his cash on hand that could be relative to any number of things.

Re: Maybe Warren Buffett Is Warning Us About Something

#30

Post by chii » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 1:34 PM UTC

lethologica wrote: post #7

digitalsushi wrote: post #2

I have no idea how money works. I have a 401k, it's got more in it than the median 60 year old in the united states, and I'm 20 years from that. And I am terrified of how little I know about how it exists or survives. I read these articles and get a sense of overwhelming urgency that, without any explicit indication, I should do something with my nest egg to make it safer to survive a crash. And then I keep reading,…

Educate yourself. You don't need to know the intricacies of how markets operate, but a little financial understanding is, I believe, a must for everyone. Also, be aware that even when you do educate yourself and you do everything you think is in your power to 'safe guard' your nest egg, that there are are still a billion and one ways that it can all be wiped out tomorrow. Micro managing you're finances if you don't k…

so to sum it up, don't do anything, and hope? Because even if you attempt to educate yourself, it'd be like trying to learn to do your own surgery. Not impossible, but...

What i want to really know is what people with a lot of money actually do - and when i say a lot, i meant a lot. networth in excess of 8-9 digits. What do they invest in? What diversification measures do they do? Which country? And finally, how they dodge taxes (as they inevitably seem to be able to - so if you can't defeat 'em, join 'em?)