主题： Investing

Don’t pass up something that’s attractive today because you think you will find something way more attractive tomorrow. The sillier the market’s behavior, the greater the opportunity for the businesslike investor. The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble…. We want to buy them when they’re on the operating table.

On balance, we will do more business when people are pessimistic. Not because we like pessimism, but because it makes for prices that are much more attractive. If you all have filling stations to sell in South Bend, I want to do business with whomever is most negative about filling stations. And that’s where I’m going to make the best buy. Times are really good and times are really bad, over a period of time. We don’t quit selling candy in July just because it isn’t Christmas.

Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices. If you think something is worth a dollar, don’t pay 99 cents for it. Buy it at 60 cents so there is a margin of safety. Don’t drive up to a bridge that says capacity 10,000 pounds with a 9,900 pound truck and drive across it. Go down the road and find one that says 20,000 pounds.

Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.

We never buy something with a price target in mind. We never buy something at 30 saying if it goes to 40 we’ll sell it, or 50 or 60 or 100. The way to look at a business is, is this going to keep producing more and more money over time? And if the answer to that is yes, you don’t need to ask any more questions.

I bought my first stock when I was 11. I don’t know why I waited so long, I was interested much earlier. But it took me until I was 11 to get the 120 bucks to buy it. I bought three shares of Cities Service, preferred at 38. It went to 27—you remember these things. My sister bought three shares with me. She couldn’t stand the idea that I was going to get rich and she wasn’t. We would walk to school and she kept reminding me as the stock went down. When it got back up to 40, I sold it. We each made $5 on our three shares. It went to 200 and something afterward. It doesn’t pay to talk to your sister about your stocks on the way to school.

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. First, widespread fear is your friend as an investor, because it serves up bargain purchases. Second, personal fear is your enemy. It will also be unwarranted. Investors who avoid high and unnecessary costs and simply sit for an extended period with a collection of large, conservatively-financed American businesses will almost certainly do well.

Fear spreads instantaneously. Confidence comes back through the door one at a time. I try to buy a dollar for 60 cents, and if I think I can get that, then I don’t worry too much about when. A perfect example of this is British Columbia Power. In 1962, when it was being nationalized, everyone knew that the provincial government was going to pay at least X dollars and you could buy it for X minus, say, five. As it turns out, the government paid a lot more.

Imagine if you owned a grocery store and you had a manic-depressive partner who one day would offer to sell you his share of the business for a dollar. Then the next day because the sun was shining for no reason at all wouldn’t sell it for any price. That’s what the market is like and why you can’t buy and sell on its terms. You have to buy and sell when you want to.

I learned enough about investing by the time I was in my early 20s to take care of me the rest of my life.…But I learned a lot more about human behavior as I went through life. I did not learn that by reading a book by Ben Graham or something where I was going to learn about investments. I mean, learning about human behavior, I think, really, 90 percent of is by experience. I don’t think you find a lot of books that teach you about that.