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Warren Buffett - Investing Principles, Intrinsic value, Opportunity Costs, Compounding, Leadership & Character
01:12:52|Buffett opens with a thought experiment for the students. If you could buy ten percent of one classmate's lifetime earnings, who would you pick? Not the one with the best grades, he argues, but the one whose character you'd bet on. That leads into the three qualities he hires for: intelligence, energy, and integrity, and why the third makes the other two dangerous when it's missing.The Q&A runs wide. He explains the circle of competence using the two thousand American car companies that didn't survive, and the airplane makers whose combined earnings since Kitty Hawk added up to less than nothing. He defines intrinsic value as simply the cash a business will hand you between now and judgment day, discounted properly, and traces the idea back to Aesop.He's candid about his failures: buying Berkshire Hathaway itself, the cigar butt years, the US Air preferred, and the filling station stake he calculates has cost him billions in foregone compounding. But the costliest mistakes, he insists, never show up in any accounting. They're the opportunities he understood and sat on anyway.Also covered: why the Dow went nowhere for seventeen years while the economy kept improving, why the Fed's brake works better than its gas pedal, how he instructs his trustees to give the money away, and the story of Rose Blumkin, who walked out of Russia in 1921, couldn't read or write, and built the largest home furnishings store in the world.
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2. Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1978
26:00||Season 2, Ep. 2Warren Buffett's 1978 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, the first written after merging with Diversified Retailing Company. He explains why return on equity, not earnings per share, is the real measure of a good year, and lays out his case for buying small pieces of great businesses through the stock market, highlighted by a deep dive into SAFECO Corporation and his argument for "passive participation in excellent management." He also covers the strong insurance underwriting results led by National Indemnity, the struggling textile operation, the Illinois National Bank, and Associated Retail Stores under Ben Rosner. A must-listen for fans of Warren Buffett, value investing, and Berkshire Hathaway's early history.1. Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1977
18:54||Season 2, Ep. 1Warren Buffett's 1977 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, the first of his famous annual letters, read in full. In it, Buffett explains why return on equity, not earnings per share, is the real measure of a company's performance, and lays out his timeless four-part test for buying a stock: a business you understand, with strong long-term prospects, run by honest and able people, at an attractive price. He walks through Berkshire's booming insurance operation, the struggling textile mills, the Illinois National Bank, and the growth of See's Candies under Blue Chip Stamps. A foundational listen for anyone interested in Warren Buffett, value investing, Berkshire Hathaway history, and long-term business thinking.21. Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1969/1970 - Winding down the partnership
37:08||Season 1, Ep. 21The final chapter of the Buffett Partnership, told through five letters from 1969 and 1970 as Warren Buffett wound the partnership down and returned capital to his partners. He explains why he's retiring — bargains gone, the market too speculative, his own motivation shifted — and personally recommends Bill Ruane as an alternative money manager. He walks partners through their choices: take cash, or keep their proportional stakes in his two controlled companies, Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing, which he clearly intends to hold for the long term. The episode closes with his candid case for tax-free bonds over stocks at that moment, and a plain-spoken primer on how to buy them.20. Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1968 Full Year
17:53||Season 1, Ep. 20Warren Buffett's 1968 annual letter, capping his best year ever — up 58.8% against the Dow's 7.7%, a result he waves off as "a freak, like picking up thirteen spades in a bridge game." He skewers the era's collapsing "go-go" funds and the mania for minute-by-minute money management, breaks down where the year's gains came from across his four categories, and delivers the line "Price is what you pay; value is what you get" while updating his controlled companies Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing. He warns that good ideas are now at an all-time low, and closes with a nostalgic look back at the partnership's twelve-year rise from $105,000 to over $104 million.19. Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1968 H1
08:00||Season 1, Ep. 19Warren Buffett's mid-1968 letter to partners. The partnership rose 16% while the Dow was essentially flat. He updates his growing family of controlled businesses — Berkshire Hathaway, National Indemnity, Hochschild Kohn, and Associated Cotton Shops — and their capable operators. But the heart of the letter is his warning about "The Present Environment": a speculative "chain-letter" mania fueled by "bold, imaginative accounting," which he predicts history will look back on as a bubble. He admits his own results have indirectly benefited from the frenzy even as it dries up genuine bargains, and points partners to Adam Smith's The Money Game for a portrait of the era.18. Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1967 Full Year
12:18||Season 1, Ep. 18Warren Buffett's 1967 annual letter. The partnership gained 35.9% against the Dow's 19.0%, yet Buffett is uneasy: in a runaway speculative market where nearly every fund beat the Dow and some doubled, he warns that "we continue to eat oatmeal" rather than chase the frenzy. He breaks down a lopsided year — his worst-ever result in work-outs, a huge 72% gain in undervalued generals driven by his American Express stake (now being sold down), and steady progress in his controlled companies, where he folds in new acquisitions National Indemnity and Associated Cotton Shops. He also addresses the fallout from October's lowered goals, reassuring partners the partnership is "definitely not" winding down.