University of Berkshire Hathaway: 30 Years of Lessons Learned from Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger at the Annual Shareholders Meeting

by Daniel Pecaut

he discovered how powerful a cash generator a great brand could be.

Berkshire was in the position of seeing every decent deal in America as the nation’s “buyer of last resort.”

Berkshire vs. S&P 500 (or 884,319% vs. 12,717%)

Berkshire has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 during negative years. The S&P had 11 down years in the 52-year period. The cumulative loss for those 11 years amounted to 251.4%. Comparatively, Berkshire Hathaway had only two losing years during the same period and had a cumulative gain of 117.8%

More than two-thirds of Berkshire’s outperformance over the S&P was earned during down years.

the best investment you can make is in yourself.

“When you build a bridge, you insist it can carry 30,000 pounds, but you only drive 10,000-pound trucks across it.”

it’s a political phenomena, not an economic one. As long as politicians lack self-restraint, they will print a lot of money at some point.

significant inflation is inevitable due to our government’s quick-fix attitude.

prays every day to be humble.

rather be with a guy with an IQ of 130 who thinks it is 128 than a guy with an IQ of 190 who thinks it is 240. The latter will get you into a lot of trouble.

“Everyone talks about the big money made in real estate, but they forget to talk about the big money lost in real estate.”

“You can leverage up to your eyeballs, but you may not make it across the river.”

“If investors only had to study the past, the richest people would be librarians.”

“Business schools are good at keeping their eyes half shut,”

If you are going to be a lifelong buyer of food, you welcome falling prices and deplore price increases. So should it be with investments.

“Do what you enjoy the most. Work for people you admire. You can’t miss if you do that.”

When asked how he spends a day, Buffett responded that he tap dances into work (obviously, he’s following his own career advice), reads a lot, talks on the phone a bit, and that’s about it.

“Captain of my fate? Hell, I don’t even pull an oar!”

For the man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

“the failure rate of all great civilizations is 100%.”

when ignorance is combined with borrowed money, you get interesting outcomes.

“Volatility is no measure of risk to us.”

“It’s extraordinary how resistant some are to learning.” “Especially when it’s in their own interest to do so,”

“Most men would rather die than think. Many have.”

Diversification makes no sense for someone who knows what they are doing.

“Much of what is taught in corporate finance classes is twaddle.”

Buffett said how one comes out in this lottery is far more important than anything else to one’s future.

The pond you choose is far more important than how well you swim.