Warren Buffett – Partnership Letters

Buffett Partnership Letters: 1968 & 1969

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March 20, 2013

During 1969, the Partnership transitioned into Berkshire Hathaway. Therefore this concludes our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters. Please see our previous articles in this series. Control, Hurdle Rate, Compounding, When To Sell “…controlled companies (which represent slightly over one-third of net assets at the beginning of the year)…we cannot make the same sort […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1967 Part 2

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March 2, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. For any business, tapping the right client base and keeping those clients happy is crucial. To do so, Buffett believed in the establishment of mutually agreed upon objectives, and keeping his clients abreast of any changes in […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1967 Part 1

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February 13, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Creativity, Trackrecord “…although I consider myself to be primarily in the quantitative school…the really sensational ideas I have had over the years have been heavily weighted toward the qualitative side where I have had a ‘high-probability insight.’ […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1966 Part 2

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January 29, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Duration “An even more dramatic example of the conflict between short term performance and the maximization of long term results occurred in 1966. Another party, previously completely unknown to me, issued a tender offer which foreclosed opportunities […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1966 Part 1

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January 24, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Conservatism, Volatility “Proponents of institutional investing frequently cite its conservative nature. If ‘conservatism’ is interpreted to mean ‘productive of results varying only slightly from average experience,’ I believe the characterization is proper…However, I believe that conservatism is […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 4

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January 19, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. AUM, Trackrecord, Sizing “…I believe that we have done somewhat better during the past few years with the capital we have had in the Partnership than we would have done if we had been working with a […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 3

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January 14, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Control, Volatility “When such a controlling interest is acquired, the assets and earnings power of the business become the immediate predominant factors in value. When a small minority interest in a company is held, earning power and […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 2

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January 10, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Trackrecord, Compounding, Duration, Special Situations, Time Management “A disadvantage of this business is that it does not possess momentum to any significant degree. If General Motors accounts for 54% of domestic new car registrations in 1965, it […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1965 Part 1

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January 5, 2013

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. The 1965 letter is a treasure trove of insightful portfolio management commentary from Warren Buffett. This is the Buffett for purists – the bright, candid young investor, encountering intellectual dilemmas, thinking aloud about creative solutions, and putting […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1964 Part 3

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December 17, 2012

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Historical Performance Analysis, Process Over Outcome, Psychology “…the workouts (along with controls) saved the day in 1962, and if we had been light in this category that year, our final results would have been much poorer, although […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1964 Part 2

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December 4, 2012

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Cash “If a 20% or 30% drop in the market value of your equity holding (such as BPL) is going to produce emotional or financial distress, you should simply avoid common stock type investments. In the words […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1964 Part 1

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December 1, 2012

Continuation of our series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Given the recent discussions/debates around taxes and potentially shifting tax rates, we thought it appropriate to share some historical Buffett wisdom on the topic. Tax “We do not play any games to either accelerated or […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1963 Part 4

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September 12, 2012

Continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Compounding, Capital Preservation “Since the whole subject of compounding has such as crass ring to it, I will attempt to introduce a little class into this discussion by turning to the art world. Francis I […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1963 Part 3

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August 30, 2012

Continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Topics covered include: When To Buy, When To Sell, Activism, Catalyst, AUM When To Buy, Activism, Catalyst, Control “…controls develop from the general category. They results from situations where a cheap security does nothing price-wise […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1963 Part 2

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August 17, 2012

Continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Topics covered include: Benchmark, Hurdle Rate, Expected Return, Volatility, & Team Management.   Benchmark, Hurdle Rate “At plus 14% versus plus 10% for the Dow, this six months has been a less satisfactory period than […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1963 Part 1

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August 10, 2012

Continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters, please see our previous articles for more details. Clients, Leverage, Subscriptions, Redemptions “We accept advance payments from partners and prospective partners at 6% interest from date of receipt until the end of the year…Similarly, we allow partners to withdraw up to 20% of […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1962 Part 3

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July 20, 2012

This is a continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters. Please see our previous articles for more details. A slightly off tangent and random fact, in 1962, Buffett into new office space stocked with – hold on to your knickers – “an ample supply of Pepsi on hand.”   Team […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1962 Part 2

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July 16, 2012

This is a continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters. Please see our previous articles for more details. Slightly off tangent random fact: in 1962, Buffett into new office space stocked with – hold on to your knickers – “an ample supply of Pepsi on hand.”   Volatility “It should […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1962 Part 1

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July 8, 2012

This is a continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters. Please see our previous articles for more details. There are 3 separate letters detailing the occurrences of 1962: July 6, 1962 – interim (mid-year) letter December 24, 1962 – brief update with preliminary tax instructions January 18, 1963 – annual […]

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Buffett Partnership Letters: 1961 Part 4

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June 23, 2012

This post is a continuation in a series on portfolio management and the Buffett Partnership Letters. Please refer to the initial post in this series for more details. For those interested in Warren Buffett’s portfolio management style, I highly recommend the reading of the second 1961 letter in its entirety, and to check out our […]

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