Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Bill Gross' Latest Newsletter

(pimco.com)

Don't Care

I haven’t gone to a cocktail party in over 10 years. Granted, perpetually watching Seinfeld reruns on Friday and Saturday nights makes for a dull boy, but the alternative is excruciating. Uh, which would I prefer – solitary confinement or water boarding? I lean strongly in the direction of a warm bed and peace as opposed to a glass full of tinkling ice cubes and a room resonating with high-decibel blather. I suppose the parties wouldn’t be so bad if there was something original to be said, or if “you” had a genuine interest in “me” as opposed to “you,” but let’s face it folks, no one does. The only reason any of us really cares about cocktail conversations is to quickly redirect someone else’s stories into autobiographies that we assume to be instant bestsellers if only in print. If not, if the doe-eyed listener seems simply fascinated by what you’re saying, you can bet there’s a requested personal favor coming when you finally shut up. “Say Bill, I was wondering if you knew somebody at…that could…” Yeah right! But, as my chart shows, 90 seconds into a typical conversation, no one gives a damn about you and your problems – maybe those shoes and that dreadful eye shadow you’re wearing, but not anything audible coming out of your mouth.

Read the entire letter

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Read Warren Buffett's Letter to Shareholders

(berkshirehathaway.com)

To read the annual letter go here.

Warren Buffett: "When It's Raining Gold, Reach For a Bucket"

(CNBC.com) Warren Buffett has a new nugget of pithy advice for investors in his new letter to Berkshire shareholders: "When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."

Buffett recalls that last year's letter called corporate and municipal bonds "ridiculously cheap" compared to U.S. Treasuries. And we says Berkshire did "back" that view by making some purchases, but "I should have done far more. Big opportunities come infrequently."

Read the entire article

Grantham’s ‘Horrifically Early’ Calls Challenge GMO

(Bloomberg) Jeremy Grantham warned in January 2000 that U.S. equities were “more overpriced than at any time in the last 70 years due to the massive overpricing of technology and especially dot-com stocks.”

By the end of 2002, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index had fallen 40 percent and technology shares were down 73 percent. The forecast didn’t help his firm, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo Co., because he’d been bearish since 1997. Assets declined 45 percent in the late 1990s as customers sought out better- performing mutual funds that liked the technology stocks Grantham disdained

Read the entire article

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A Parable by Charles Munger

(slate.com) In the early 1700s, Europeans discovered in the Pacific Ocean a large, unpopulated island with a temperate climate, rich in all nature's bounty except coal, oil, and natural gas. Reflecting its lack of civilization, they named this island "Basicland."

The Europeans rapidly repopulated Basicland, creating a new nation. They installed a system of government like that of the early United States. There was much encouragement of trade, and no internal tariff or other impediment to such trade. Property rights were greatly respected and strongly enforced. The banking system was simple. It adapted to a national ethos that sought to provide a sound currency, efficient trade, and ample loans for credit-worthy businesses while strongly discouraging loans to the incompetent or for ordinary daily purchases.

Read Munger's entire piece here