Original link: https://ljf.com/2023/08/25/1307/
2000 Speech at the Shareholders’ Meeting of Sike Finance
We’ve been in business for decades with very few turnovers. Compared with other companies, we are very stable in terms of personnel. We rarely change players, not because we’re weak or stupid, but because we get the right people from the start.
All managers who are good at employing people are prone to make the same mistake: when it is time to change people, they hesitate and change people too slowly.
Regarding reinsurance, our attitude is very clear, try to buy as little as possible, but sell more.
You are worried about Sike’s performance fluctuations. Many people think that performance fluctuations are a shortcoming, but I think it is an obvious advantage to dare to bear performance fluctuations.
I abhor the treatment of derivatives by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, especially Interest Rate Swaps.
In fact, Berkshire is not difficult to learn. One of the important reasons why people find Berkshire difficult to learn is that Berkshire is different. Because Berkshire is different, people don’t want to be like Berkshire. Berkshire is not a conformist company. Our management method is different from ordinary companies. We have no budgets, no goals, no quarterly reports. Our personnel system is different from other companies. Our investment management method is also different from that of ordinary companies, and our investment is more concentrated.
We don’t just talk about investment, but also talk about many other things. My answer should have general guiding significance for your life. I’m talking about the art of living.
Learning Berkshire is also learning how to behave and how to live.
This is how business is done. Whoever goes first will suffer first, and whoever makes it first will take the lead. The latecomer will not only have to suffer all the hardships again, but also face the difficulties of those who have already taken the lead. Netjet Airways. We are suffering now, and later competitors will suffer more than us.
Warren and I have never made a lot of money guessing where the Fed is going or where interest rates are going.
As a regulatory tool, the role of the interest rate itself is limited.
Warren often borrows a metaphor from Mark Twain. Mark Twain said that a cat sat on the stove and burned its butt, and it never dared to sit on the stove again, no matter whether it was hot or cold, it did not dare to sit on it. Japanese banking is exactly like this cat. They were hurt so badly in the last crisis that they are afraid to make loans anymore. Japanese consumers have also suffered severe psychological trauma.
Chinese and Japanese are very different. Compared with the Japanese, the Chinese are more gamblers and speculative.
Although various new technologies and new inventions are conducive to promoting the progress of social civilization, they may not be a good thing for stock investors.
Do you feel unbalanced when you see others making money faster and more than you? Isn’t this making yourself guilty? Comparing with others is incomparable. No matter what you do, every mountain is higher than another mountain, and the strong are even stronger. Tiger Woods still loses a lot.
If you want to live a happy life and invest successfully, you must be very clear that some things must not be allowed to happen, such as premature death and unhappiness in marriage.
This article is transferred from: https://ljf.com/2023/08/25/1307/
This site is only for collection, and the copyright belongs to the original author.