Hello Hello!
During the weekend, I surfed the website of $BRK.B (Berkshire Hathaway Inc) and I came across the annual Letters to Shareholders from the legendary Warren Buffett. One particular letter to shareholders really inspired me - Letters to Shareholders for Year 2008.
KEEP CASH
Bearing in mind that back in year 2008, it was the year of 2007/2008 financial crisis (the subprime meltdown). In his Letter to Shareholders 2008, Buffett said that:-
“To fund these large purchases, I had to sell portions of some holdings that I would have preferred to keep (primarily Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and ConocoPhillips). However, I have pledged – to you, the rating agencies and myself – to always run Berkshire with more than ample cash. We never want to count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrow’s obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night’s sleep for the chance of extra profits.”
We can see from the above that Buffett was not being conservative during that time but he always had had a margin of safety in cash to deploy when he thinks the time is right. The history of Berkshire has proven that he was right. During the market meltdown and recession of that period Buffett was buying, using cash to help make a spate of great deals. He gobbled up preferred shares in company like Goldman Sachs and made the largest ever acquisition in the $26.7 billion acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
However, lately Buffett struggled to find reasonable deals and acquisitions in order to deploy his huge pile of cash. But it does not really matter, does it? He once said:-
“The trick in investing is just to sit there and watch pitch after pitch go by and wait for the one right in your sweet spot. And if people are yelling, ‘Swing, you bum!,’ ignore them.”
“What’s nice about investing is you don’t have to swing at pitches. You can watch pitches come in one inch above or one inch below your navel and you don’t have to swing. No umpire is going to call you out.You can wait for the pitch you want.”
He is right. But, not everyone wants to wait for the right swing.
PERFORMANCE
As of today, this month our portfolio is down 3.57% due to a lot of market volatility. Overall, my portfolio performance currently is still on the uptrend since its inception in May 2020.
Stay safe.
MNMLH
21.02.2022
TAKE NOTICE that the above memo is by no means a recommendation or a solicitation or expression of views to influence you to buy or sell any stocks. The above memo is just my sharing on what I am doing with my portfolio and my thoughts along my investment journey since May 2020 for my future records and reflection usage.
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