Thursday, April 30, 2009

Omaha, Somewhere in Middle America

Sitting in a hotel room in Lincoln, Nebraska getting ready to speak at an Omaha Public Library at noon about how securities regulations affect both industry professionals and investors. Hoping for a good turnout, but one never knows. On Saturday, the turnout at the Berkshire-Hathaway annual shareholder meeting is expected to be about 35,000, or about 5,000 more than the White Sox usually draw even when still in playoff contention. If you want to learn about investing and perhaps pick up some good information related to the exam, check out Buffett's shareholder letters, starting with 2008. You'll find them at: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html If you open the 2008 letter, you'll see an amazing track record stretching back to 1965 (the year after I was born) and showing a percentage gain of 362,319% for Berkshire-Hathaway vs. the S & P 500's 4,276% gain. In other words, although few people can beat the S & P 500, the few who do can trounce the thing. And, those who invest simply in the S & P 500 index funds can also expect to do pretty well. I'll let you read the 22-page masterpiece that discusses Berkshire's business model, its recent forays into municipal bond insurance, and how it expects to do in 2009 after having its worst year ever in 2008.

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