Kevin Carpenter

Catch up on all of this week’s Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway news! kingswell.io/p/the-berkshir…

If you don’t work hard at trying to remain rational and you’re constantly floating along caring terribly about what other people think, you’re almost sure to be carried to folly by the folly of the crowd. And…there will always be folly of the crowd.” - Charlie Munger @kejca

BUFFETT: Some businesses are a lot easier to understand than others. Charlie and I don't like difficult problems. We'd rather multiply by 3 than by pi. MUNGER: You don't have to hire out your thinking if you keep it simple.

Warren Buffett: "The best moat you can have is your own talent. Inflation can't take it from you. Taxes can't take it from you." "Develop the habits of success [by looking] around you at the people who you admire."

Charlie Munger: "We almost didn't buy [See's Candies]. We made a wonderful decision b/c we were just barely smart enough to make a no-brainer." "We all start out stupid — and we all have a hard time staying sensible. You have to keep working at it. Berkshire would be a wreck…

Warren Buffett: "I will say this about investing — everything you learn is cumulative. What I learned at 20 is useful to me now. What I learned at 25 is useful to me now." "Knowing what to leave out is just as important as knowing what to focus on."

Chevron’s $53 billion acquisition of Hess can finally proceed after today’s arbitration win over Exxon Mobil. (h/t @BeckyQuick) Berkshire Hathaway owns 6.8% of Chevron, making it the fifth-largest position in its massive stock portfolio.

Warren Buffett: "We don't pay any attention to what people say about Coca-Cola stock or Gillette stock ... You really should not make decisions on securities based on what other people think. If you're doing that, you should think about doing something else."

Charlie Munger: "I don't think you can just give good advice to the young and just have it automatically sprout like Jack's beanstalk. A lot of people are just natural non-sprouters." 🤣 "Warren puts it in a more pithy way. He says, 'We make silk purses out of silk.'"

NEW: I put together a list of all the "uncommon sense" I learned from a careful rewatch of Berkshire Hathaway's 1998 annual shareholders meeting. kingswell.io/p/uncommon-sen…

Warren Buffett: "[Ben Graham] taught me not to pay any attention to stock market fluctuations — except when they were working in my favor." "If I knew the facts on [a stock] and it went down, I bought more of it — because I looked at it as a business."

Charlie Munger: "You don't need perfect. If you're 96% sure, that's all you're entitled to in many cases." "I see these people doing this due diligence and the weaker they are as thinkers, the more due diligence they do. It's just a way of allaying inner insecurity."

Warren Buffett: "It really isn't so much having a lot of brilliant decisions. It's just not really having some terrible ones." "Some singles and doubles will produce a lot of runs before you get through."

Warren Buffett: "We have no company-wide compensation plan. We wouldn't dream of having some compensation consultant come in and screw it up." "We've had terrific luck over the years in retaining the managers that we wanted to retain. I think largely it's because…

Each Friday, I publish a roundup of the latest Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway news. Today's edition is out now! kingswell.io/p/the-berkshir…