Tag: Buffettology

Investing

New Articles Posted This Week

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Have you been to the Gaking Finance resources page yet? It has sections for articles, books, links, and videos. I have been adding new content almost every day. For example, I have added some fantastic investing resources to the articles page this week:

  • 3 Country ETFs to Consider
  • Beware of Concentration Risk in Country ETFs
  • Busting the Frontier-Market Myths
  • Chart: Where Is Global Growth Happening?
  • Creating Alpha With Smart Beta in the US: Focus on Quality
  • Emerging Markets Are Not All Created Equal
  • Owner Earnings: Warren Buffett’s Favorite Formula

This library will keep growing, so keep checking back for more.

Book Reviews · Investing

Book Review: Buffettology & The New Buffettology

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BuffetologyBuffettology: The Previously Unexplained Techniques That Have Made Warren Buffett the World’s Most Famous Investor

There are plenty of books about Warren Buffett available at any bookstore or library. What makes this one unique is that it is not written from the perspective of Warren Buffett’s cult following. After her divorce with Warren Buffett’s son, Mary Buffett capitalized on a rare opportunity to publish insider information about one of the richest people in the world and his investment strategies.

Rather than quote Warren Buffett’s shareholder letters to death like most authors, Mary sticks to the details of Warren’s investments, how he made each choice and how it worked out. She provides a lot of quantitative data that is useful for reverse-engineering Warren Buffett’s portfolio.

Information from this book definitely helped me refine a few aspects of my investing philosophy and my screening process. Mary is concise and unemotional, making this a quick and productive read.

The New BuffettologyThe New Buffettology

This sequel to Buffettology updates Mary Buffett’s analysis of Warren Buffett’s investing strategies from the first book. It is a fine addition to the library of materials available about Warren Buffett, adding new investment decisions from his history that I had not previously read about. It also brings readers of the 1997 Buffettology up to speed on developments getting into the 21st century, when the bubble of the 1990s burst, hurting many portfolios, but creating new opportunities for patient value investors.

Investing

How I Estimate Intrinsic Value

Douglass Gaking1 Comment

Value investing is based on the premise that the market is irrational, and that stock prices therefore do not always match the actual value, or intrinsic value, of the security they represent. Value investors like Warren Buffett try to calculate a company’s intrinsic value to see if its stock is currently selling at a discount or a premium, and by how much. Continue reading “How I Estimate Intrinsic Value” →

Book Reviews

Book Review: Buffett’s Bites

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Buffett's BitesThis book introduces the reader to the letters that Warren Buffett writes to his shareholders in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report. Buffett also includes a “Shareholder’s Manual” in the report, which Rittenhouse uses material from as well. This is a great introduction to fundamental concepts of value investing, the strategy which Buffett has used to build a personal net worth of over $70 billion.

Warren Buffett is more than a successful investor and business owner, he is a role model for all of us. One of the core values of his life has been stewardship. He finds business that are run by great people who truly care about their craft, invests in them or purchases their company, and then continues to let them manage and do their great work while he stays out of the way. He feels deeply committed to his shareholders, and strives to give them great returns and more than enough information about the company, as well as other sage advice.

Rittenhouse is obviously a big believer in Buffett. She writes passionately about him and his work, and she writes so much like him that at times you forget whether you are reading his words or hers. This quick read is well worth the time for any investor, even if the extent of your investment is only a few mutual funds for your retirement. Value investing isn’t only a stock market strategy, it can be a model for all the economics of life.