I'll be sharing the main takeaways of all Warren Buffet's shareholder letters, in 5 year periods.
Below, 1957-1961:
1957
- Warren's biggest position was at 10/15%, but he wanted it to be at 20%.
- He said he would expect for fair price to buy more.
- Takeaway: Do not overpay
1958
- Undervalued stocks can also suffer during downturns
- He makes no attempts to forecast
- Liquidity is important
- Biggest position accounted for 20/25% of total assets
1959
- Paraphrasing a bit, he decided to stay on his course of 'overconservatism' rather than adopting a 'New Era' mentality.
1960
- "4 years is too short of a period to draw conclusions"
- An investment play is mentioned, where a mapping company was being mispriced, to his view.
- He looked willing to buy undervaluation when 'corporate action' could turn the ship.
July 1961
- He began writing 2 letters per year
- Partnerships merged
- 4M in AUM
Jan 1962
- Indexes are ferocious competitors
- What's cheap can go cheaper
- "You will not be right simply because a large number of people momentarily agree with you"
- No predictions
- 21% in the biggest position