Comments from Buffett and Munger

Below are some of the notable comments from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at the 2009 Berkshire Hathaway and Wesco annual meetings:

Warren Buffett
“If you have a 150 IQ, sell 30 points to someone else. You need to be smart, but not a genius. What’s most important is inner peace; you have to be able to think for yourself. It’s not a complicated game.”
(more at the Motley Fool)


Charlie Munger
Munger, who is seven years older than Buffett: “Sometimes I feel my sole function is to show shareholders that they’ll get another good seven years out of Warren.”

"Wall Street found every which way to make money short of robbery. A lot of it was a bunch of sleazy crooks, but if it worked, no one cares."

"Financial engineering needs to be held to the same high standards as mechanical engineering."

"Our best years were recession years. If you wait for the recovery, it's too late. Am I willing to invest long-term money at these prices? Sure. I'd invest long-term money in Wells Fargo. I'd invest long-term money in Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). I don't know if it's right or not [in the short term] but you're entitled to hear my opinion."

On what to expect from the stock market: "To expect a lot is irrational. You're likely to be happier and gain felicity by aiming low."

On how to avoid 50% losses in the future: "It's in the nature of stock markets to go way down from time to time. There's no system to avoid bad markets. You can't do it unless you try to time the market, which is a seriously dumb thing to do. Conservative investing with steady savings without expecting miracles is the way to go."

On stockbrokers: "Most stockbrokers are a disaster waiting to happen. If anyone ever promises you miracles, show them the door."


(more at the Motley Fool)

1 comment:

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