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Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

latimes.com

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Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#201

Post by JumpCrisscross »

koakuma-chan wrote: post #36

I just asked ChatGPT what Warren Buffett's strategy is, and it said buying undervalued companies and holding for a long time. Is that true? I thought it's not a good idea to buy loser companies.

> I just asked ChatGPT

Please don’t do this.

> what Warren Buffett's strategy is, and it said buying undervalued companies and holding for a long time

No. It’s cheap leverage applied to low-volatility assets bought for a fair price [1]. (Munger got him off the ‘cigarette butt’ strategy of buying on the cheap.)

[1] https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w19681/w196...

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#202

Post by JumpCrisscross »

bayarearefugee wrote: post #9
mothballed wrote: post #4

I can't help but wonder if Buffett's dividend focused strategy will continue to be a successful approach in the future. Buffett is no slouch, but seems to have fallen behind relatively unsophisticated investors like Musk and Zuckerburg as time went on and they focused on valuation more than returns/profit.

Buffet's strategy assumes a rational market, so I wouldn't expect it to work as well in an environment where stock market valuations are increasingly vibes-based and often wildly inflated by circumstances that should be illegal (like selling X to xAI to generate a voodoo valuation). Arguably the entire market is heavily overvalued now, though, so while his strategies are probably no longer optimal, they'll probably c…

> Buffet's strategy assumes a rational market

The public stuff, sure, in the short term. The wholly-owned stuff, however, is pure private equity: their cash flows should cash flow irrespective of financing conditions.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#203

Post by JumpCrisscross »

sailfast wrote: post #172
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poor people should properly budget and cook at home to avoid staying poor If you can afford to eat McDonald's nobody cares (well it's not healthy either but that's a different matter that doesn't really have to do with being poor or not)

You don’t have time to do those things if you are poor and working 2-3 jobs. Properly budgeting and analyzing costs takes a lot of time, and unexpected expenses and cost of living increases destroy your budget a lot more than McDonald’s.

> You don’t have time to do those things if you are poor and working 2-3 jobs

I know multiple folks who did this. Poor people aren’t mentally deficient. (Often they’re sturdier than those of us who grew up comfortably enough.)

> unexpected expenses and cost of living increases destroy your budget a lot more than McDonald’s

This is correct. But it’s true for most Americans when we consider medical debt.

Budgeting and analyzing spending and risk is still sensible.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#205

Post by sethev »

We should never idolize a person (in my opinion). Here are some things Buffet has done that I admire (notice that phrasing):

  - He consistently communicated with shareholders of Berkshire in a straight-forward and transparent way in his letters and annual reports. If you read these documents, I believe that you will have a solid understanding of how he built Berkshire.
  - He maintained a disciplined approach to investing and managing risk over 60+ years.
  - He still lives in the same home he bought when he was 28 years old.
Our society has become moralistic. It's so much more useful to identify behaviors to learn from - either to emulate or to avoid - than to debate whether various public figures are good or bad people.

That said, it makes me a little sad that we've read the last of his annual letters.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#206

Post by gbacon »

yndoendo wrote: post #52
walthamstow wrote: post #10

Driving 7 minutes to work and stopping at a drive-thru to pick up McDonalds breakfast every day. The man is a true American hero.

Sorry, a person who life is built around greed is no hero.

If he built his life around greed, you must have numerous examples, so give specific instances to support this charge. No handwaving.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#207

Post by zmgsabst »

csb6 wrote: post #167
walthamstow wrote: post #10

Driving 7 minutes to work and stopping at a drive-thru to pick up McDonalds breakfast every day. The man is a true American hero.

Being genuine here - what is heroic about those two things?

I think they meant hero in the sense of archetype rather than heroic.

But I agree with the person suggesting not diluting the word.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#208

Post by JumpCrisscross »

BrenBarn wrote: post #195
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that's giving it away (some after death), not specifically using it to address wealth inequality Because the money isn’t being spent on your pet issue it’s being mis-spent?

I was responding to a comment that defended Buffet by saying he "argued for changing complex and unfair taxation". I'm saying if you have billions that could be spent on taking tangible action to change such taxation, simply "arguing for" changing it is not very impressive.

> if you have billions that could be spent on taking tangible action to change such taxation

Do you have evidence he didn’t try? He’s been a prolific (albeit measured) donor to candidates who have pushed for this [1].

From what I can tell, Buffett enjoyed making money. He outsourced his philanthropy to Bill & Melinda Gates. Their focus has tended to be global poverty.

[1] https://www.opensecrets.org/search?order=desc&q=warren+buffe...

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#209

Post by bawolff »

gsinclair wrote: post #189
tehjoker wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He owns a lot of companies and keeps his distance from their reputations. Companies make money and stay on top by doing awful things. Think about coca cola and plastic pollution. Buffett has to own that when he has a controlling stake.

What’s the counter-factual here? Coca Cola not allowed to exist? Plastic not a permissible material for soft drink bottles? Nobody allowed to drink soft drink? Companies forced to clean the streets? I dislike plastic pollution as much as you do, but your elected representatives have more responsibility here than Buffett.

Imagine what a world we would live in if people held themselves to the same standard they hold billionaires to. After all, coca-cola would change their ways pretty quickly if people stopped buying things over the issue.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#210

Post by gbacon »

BrenBarn wrote: post #146
lr4444lr wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect Buffett greatly on a professional level, and think it's the height of arrogance to believe any one of us personally has the moral right to decide which level of lawful activity becomes turpitudinous greed. THAT SAID... My uncle (he's 98) had a passing acquaintance with Buffett during their overlap at Penn, and in the one econ class they shared, he remarked having heard Buffett say in almost salivating eager…

With $150 billion dollars he could have done a lot more than "argue for" changing taxation. If he had spent that money actively fighting for a better system, maybe that'd be worth something. To sit back on your billions and say "aw shucks, this really shouldn't be possible" is not much of an effort. Edit: Some people seem to be misunderstanding me. I'm saying if he thought taxation was unequal or thought wealth inequ…

Do you believe that wealth was cash sitting in a bank account?
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