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From the bottom of the first page in the report: Overall Gain – 1964-2019 .................................................... Berkshire: 2,744,062% S&P: 19,78
by danfoxley 7y ago
From the bottom of the first page in the report:
Overall Gain – 1964-2019 .................................................... Berkshire: 2,744,062%
S&P: 19,784%
Huh? 2 million percent vs. 19k ?
- sethev 7y agoYeah, people who invested any money in Berkshire in 1964 are very rich now (if they didn't sell). People who invested in S&P in 1964 are not as rich.
- kragen 7y agoYes, that is correct. Berkshire stock is worth 27440 times as much, in nominal dollars, as it was in 1964. Meanwhile, a hypothetical no-load S&P index fund would be worth 198 times as much, again in nominal dollars. That is why Warren Buffett became the world's richest person (for a while; later he hired Bill Gates to help him give his money away) and his shareholder letter is on the front page of HN. If you hadn't heard of him before, congratulations! You're one of today's lucky ten thousand!
- roenxi 7y agoAlthough interestingly heir performance in the last 10 years has roughly matched/slightly lagged the S&P index. Tough game managing that much money.
- robocat 7y ago10 years ago they were avoiding tech stocks, and I think they mostly still do. Perhaps matching S&P without investing in some of the biggest gains is quite a notable outcome?