4 ms·

i can't remember a single year in which he was the best performing manager. You actually nailed it with that statement - his performance is measured on decades

i can't remember a single year in which he was the best performing manager. You actually nailed it with that statement - his performance is measured on decades, not year to year.

kingkongrevenge 18y ago
The funny thing about buffet is this aw-shucks wise old stock picker grandpa image he has cultivated. He's a ruthless insider with somewhat unsavory friends in the insurance business, with questionable accounting histories. The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company.
- bokonist 18y ago
  I'm curious, whare your sources for this statement? Any books or articles in particular?
- condor 18y ago
  its no dirty secret, google finance makes it pretty clear "Sector: Financial > Industry: Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)". It's possible there's questionable accounting in the history, but 30+ years into it, I'm surprised nothing major's come up seeing how large and public a target he and berkshire are and how many other accounting cheats have been netted.
  - kingkongrevenge 18y ago
    It kinda has come up a few times if you care to google. The thing is, I don't think much ILLEGAL has gone on. Just ... questionable. Nothing strictly wrong with that, but it sort of flies in the face of all the nauseating buffet fawning. Tax avoidance is almost the bread and butter of international property and casualty. They help multi-nationals repatriate earnings in low tax countries. Nothing ILLEGAL about that... just something the sycophants probably don't realize.
- bumbledraven 18y ago
  The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company. Hardly a secret - it's the first line of business listed in the first sentence in every year's annual report (see http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf for example): "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a holding company owning subsidiaries that engage in a number of diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, services and retailing. "
quasimojo 18y ago
his performance is measured on decades who cares? who owns a single equity for decades? some fictional granny investor in pasadena? look at your own trading history...i bet you never held a single equity more than four years. note that i am distinguishing index funds and etfs here. berkA is a single equity
- jwilliams 18y ago
  The period that you measure someone's market performance is independent of how long they actually hold a single equity. Do you measure a day trader's performance over a single day? Either way - it's a moot point - (Just like the investment funds you excluded) BRK doesn't need to turn over an equity to increase their value, whatever the time period. They could never sell anything and still give increased returns to their investors.
- dmv 18y ago
  Citation that people don't hold equities for more than four years? I have held equities for more than four years. Most of my portfolio, actually. Daytrading and churning positions are for people with more time to devote to the market than I care to. But maybe I am fictional, as my grandmother gave me one of her BRKb shares in 2002 (which I still own).

i can't remember a single year in which he was the best performing manager. You actually nailed it with that statement - his performance is measured on decades, not year to year.

kingkongrevenge 18y ago

The funny thing about buffet is this aw-shucks wise old stock picker grandpa image he has cultivated. He's a ruthless insider with somewhat unsavory friends in the insurance business, with questionable accounting histories. The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company.

bokonist 18y ago
I'm curious, whare your sources for this statement? Any books or articles in particular?
condor 18y ago
its no dirty secret, google finance makes it pretty clear "Sector: Financial > Industry: Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)". It's possible there's questionable accounting in the history, but 30+ years into it, I'm surprised nothing major's come up seeing how large and public a target he and berkshire are and how many other accounting cheats have been netted.
- kingkongrevenge 18y ago
  It kinda has come up a few times if you care to google. The thing is, I don't think much ILLEGAL has gone on. Just ... questionable. Nothing strictly wrong with that, but it sort of flies in the face of all the nauseating buffet fawning. Tax avoidance is almost the bread and butter of international property and casualty. They help multi-nationals repatriate earnings in low tax countries. Nothing ILLEGAL about that... just something the sycophants probably don't realize.
bumbledraven 18y ago
The dirty secret about berkshire is that it's predominantly an insurance company. Hardly a secret - it's the first line of business listed in the first sentence in every year's annual report (see http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2007ar/2007ar.pdf for example): "Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a holding company owning subsidiaries that engage in a number of diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, services and retailing. "

quasimojo 18y ago

his performance is measured on decades who cares? who owns a single equity for decades? some fictional granny investor in pasadena? look at your own trading history...i bet you never held a single equity more than four years. note that i am distinguishing index funds and etfs here. berkA is a single equity

jwilliams 18y ago
The period that you measure someone's market performance is independent of how long they actually hold a single equity. Do you measure a day trader's performance over a single day? Either way - it's a moot point - (Just like the investment funds you excluded) BRK doesn't need to turn over an equity to increase their value, whatever the time period. They could never sell anything and still give increased returns to their investors.
dmv 18y ago
Citation that people don't hold equities for more than four years? I have held equities for more than four years. Most of my portfolio, actually. Daytrading and churning positions are for people with more time to devote to the market than I care to. But maybe I am fictional, as my grandmother gave me one of her BRKb shares in 2002 (which I still own).