It seems like you think the “market is ruled by fear right now”. I don’t see the fear and I don’t know how you come to this conclusion. I don’t see any analyst or major news … shouting “dump you shares”, “don’t buy anything”, “it is the end of the world”. In fact, everywhere I look, “experts” are sure the economy is fine, oil price is a bubble (it will go back to $40) and shouting “buy, buy, buy”.
Ionically, everyone think they are a contrarian, and this is a good time to buy. ???
I will just wait, and I think the best is still yet to come.
If people think filling up their cars are bad, wait a few month for the winter, and they will be shocked. consumer spending will decline, unemployment up, more foreclosure, more banks failure.
The quicker we get rid of the excess, the faster we can recover.
Rolling on the floor laughing.
Buffet does not live in the same world I live in. Give me a break. Most of what he does is in a world I don’t even have access to.
I mean, how many people with that kind of capital, information, and connections sit on the internet reading CNN conjecture?
I agree with Mr. Deluth, give us some useful information. How about collating and verifying information on peak oil? (as he suggested), or the actual viability of ethonol (Minus subsidies), or the state of the housing market. How about a clear explanation of how the inflation rate is calculated, (I would love to know just what is in their basket, because it obviously isn’t the same things I buy.) or what counts as employed or unemployed.
Ok, I’d settle for a talkback question those of us with less then several million$ to invest can have an opinion on.
I am looking to retire in 9 months . Due to the extreme market volitility over the past several months I have just 3% of my savings in the market and the other 97% in the stable value fund. I bailed out of the market last Nov. ,07 when maxing out my savings the market began a period of frequent downturns . I saw several of my co-workers of whom were planning to retire around the same time as I will lose much of their portfolios in those downturns . It pays to follow current events instead of following the
” crowd ” . Berkshire Hathaway by far is to me the safest investment in times such as we ar in today . I will roll my savings over to the discount brokerage that holds my ira when I retire . I currently own 5 shares of brk.b . I will purchase more shares and buy some of the companies within berkshire hathaway like proctor and gamble , coca cola , doublemint gum , mars candies ; the list goes on that would be places where my money would be safe with Warren buffett and berkshire hathaway.
During past few years of adversity, I have had plenty time to read Warren Buffet’s Essays.
Like majority of his followers, I could not fail to notice to sacredness of his investment style in terms of principles of money.
However, one stark fact that struck after few years of following him, is that Warren Buffet, goal of investment is solely for the purpose of generating long term returns. In money principles, his mantra is faultless.
But I differ from Warren Buffet in few respects:
1. His investment in Oil in China. He made his billions quickly in few years.
But then he is not like one of those investors who invest in oil exploration
or alternative energy solutions, because these investments do not have
“guaranteed returns”.
2. He sets monetary goals for his managers. After in depth research, I came to
conclusion, that the methods applied by his managers to accomplish monetary goals,
though legal, are not always ethical.
Even though in principle, I would love to follow Warren Buffet, I think there are far more venture capitalists around, who make risky investments in newer technologies, newer products, even newer hypothesis, that really make a difference ordinary peoples life. And I would love to see such newer investments see the light of the day.
As opposed to an investment in Coke which over the years could provide 100000% return as per Warren Buffet’s investment strategies (which by the way over the decades has contributed so much to American obesity), I would prefer to invest in maybe a technology or research that could find solution to let us say Alzheimer, polio, diabetes, coronary disease, organ regeneration, and at extreme may be space exploration (private or NASA).
It is very easy to see that now is the right time to put new money into the market. The problem is that anyone who followed the conventional advice of staying in the market rather than worrying about highs and lows has lost a good chunk of old money.
Yes, I do. I value his knowledge of stocks and the economy. He has a lot more than me to lose. So, for now I tag along. So far it has been a comfort.
Yes, I follow Buffett’s moves. He is a deep value investor, only buying when things are ridiculously cheap, and selling when they reach fair value. A good example is his 8x return on his investment in PetroChina http://www.cnbc.com/id/21366355 . This is a good strategy to achieve above-average returns with below-average risks.
Because he’s so visible, he’s been much studied. I’ve heard him described as a great stock-picker, but not so great a market-timer. This seems accurate.
I could care less what the man thinks, I can think for myself. I think we have not hit bottem yet, glad for it too, as painfull as it will be, it should make us stronger in the end.
if buffett jumps off a bridge that doesn’t mean we should either. he has an elite amount of security and wealth beneath him. i have a 200 ft. fall into a dirty East River.
“Buffet is signaling that this is not a time for investors to be overly cautious.” Paul, you are too funny! I don’t think Buffet made a single investment decision without being “overly cautious.”
If you want to do your readers a real service stop trying to move them either into or out of the market. You are too often just a little bit too late or a little bit too early. About all one can draw from your article is that if they want to “get into this market” they should PERHAPS buy Berkshire, period, nothing else.
If you want to be a help, try to dig, and I mean really dig, into one of the current really important subjects and give us some direction. For example you could tackle “peak oil” or the “toxic loans” that banks are still holding off balance sheets, or how many more home owners are going to default and how long will this go on, or how far is the U.S. dollar going to drop and will foreign holders ever get to the point of dumping dollars? You can sort out the good and bad research on these subjects and give us a scoop. Then let us decide when it is time to start buying this “falling knife” market.
To be fair, you should also mention that Buffett backs all of his deals with derivatives and also has a huge team of people that monitor each and every nook and cranny of his business! I don’t think it is quite fair to compare that kind of enterprise to the average investor! Just because I loan a buddy a $100 for the week doesn’t really put me in the same class as JP Morgan.
It is valuable to follow Buffett’s moves, and I do. However, he is playing a much different game than the “average” investor (and by “average” I mean “people not worth $60 billion”). His expertise in buying companies that have unrealized value is awe-inspiring, however the “normal” investor doesn’t have the same advantage of buying power. On the contrary, our disadvantage actually is a great advantage, as Buffett has pointed out on many occasions- we can profit off very small-cap and “micro” cap stocks. It doesn’t make sense for Warren to buy a company worth $25 million because even if the company significantly outperforms the market, it is merely a fraction of a percent of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings, and therefore cannot be grossly profitable.