[...]... government, even high-yield—and then, when they became less attractive, moved out again Some of these newly acquired companies are profiled in the chapters that follow, along with a discussion of how the characteristics of those companies ref lect the tenets of the Warren Buffett Way However, since many of these companies were privately held before Buffett bought them, the specifics of their financial data were... father and I’m not the genius Buffett is It is important to use this book to learn, but don’t use this book to be like Warren Buffett You can’t be Warren Buffett and, if you try, you will suffer Use this book to understand Buffett s ideas and then take those ideas and integrate them into your own approach to investing It is only from your own ideas that you create greatness The insights in this book. .. analysis He was always very proud he picked Warren Buffett as an “A” before Buffett had won his much-deserved fame and acclaim The relationship between Warren Buffett and my father survived my father’s occasional lapses when he would mistakenly call Mr Buffett “Howard.” This is an unusual story that has never been told and perhaps says much about both my father and Warren Buffett My father was a small... wonderful book There is little I will say about Mr Buffett since that is the subject of this book and Robert Hagstrom covers that ground with grace and insight It’s well known that my father was an important inf luence on Warren Buffett and, as Mr Hagstrom writes, my father’s inf luence figured more prominently in Buffett s thinking in recent years For his part, as my father became acquainted with Warren Buffett, ... with little reason, then plummet just as quickly People who have turned to investing for their children’s education and their own retirement are constantly frightened There appears to be neither rhyme nor reason to the market, only folly Far above the market madness stand the wisdom and counsel of Warren Buffett In an environment that seems to favor the speculator over the investor, Buffett s investment... comparison My father genuinely liked Warren Buffett and was honored that Buffett embraced some of his ideas My father died at 96—exactly three months before I received an unexpected letter asking if I would write about my father and Warren Buffett This introduction has helped me to connect some dots and provide some closure regarding my father and Mr Buffett For readers of The Warren Buf fett Way, I hope... scarce, Buffett decided to end the investment partnership When the partnership disbanded, investors received their proportional interests Some of them, at Buffett s recommendation, sought out money manager Bill Ruane, his old classmate at Columbia Ruane agreed to manage their money, and thus was born the Sequoia Fund Others, including Buffett, invested their partnership revenues in Berkshire Hathaway By... Hathaway and so participate in the economics of these outstanding businesses The second choice is to take the Buffett approach to investing, expand your circle of competence by studying intently the business models of the companies participating in the New Economy landscape, and march ahead I believe that the fundamental principles that have so long guided Buffett s decisions are uncompromised, and they... linked the words “Omaha,” Buffett, ” and “Howard” as a related series long before he met Warren Buffett Later, as Warren s career began to build and his star rose, it was Introduction xxi still fully two decades before my father could fully disentangle Buffett and Omaha, from “Howard.” That annoyed my father because he couldn’t control his mind and because he was fond of Warren Buffett and valued their... my father most admired Moving forward unfettered by the past restraints, utterance, convention, or pride Buffett, to my father’s way of thinking, embodied some of the qualities immortalized by Kipling Unfortunately, there will always be a small percent of society, but a large absolute number, of small-minded envious miscreants who can’t create a life of their own Instead they love to throw mud The purpose . Profits THE WAR R E N BUFFETT WAY THE WAR R EN BUFFETT WAY Second Edition ROBERT G. HAGSTROM John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2005 by Robert G. Hagstrom. All rights reserved. Published. per share, more than 30 percent, far surpass- ing the returns of the overall market over the comparable period. There is a chain of thinking for value investors that begins with Benjamin Graham,. through Warren Buffett and his contemporaries, to the next generation of practitioners such as Robert Hagstrom. Buffett, Graham’s best-known disciple, frequently advises investors to study Graham’s