Monday, January 10, 2011

H2 CY10 - The Turtle is in the shell



The picture describes our stand in the last half year. We sat on the pile of cash, waiting and waiting. There were no major mispricings in the securities, so we decided not to play the relative-fool game. As Buffett says, we dont get paid for activity - we get paid to be right!

Usually the securities are very efficiently priced, and no-brainers dont come very often. Munger says that good investing is all about extreme patience, combined with, extreme decisiveness . He advises to sit on the ass and wait for the things to turn to your level, combined with ability to take quick and big decisions. Most of Berkshire's growth is a product of this philosophy, whereby they were able to take few great decisions and bet heavily when odds were in their favour.

Waiting will have its own consequences, whereby I may commit the mistakes-of-omission, ie missing out at some times! But I think its OK to err on the side of conservatism as long as we dont lose any capital. Overall, i believe, this strategy will produce good results over long periods, although they may not as great as for past few years!

Considering that, I will leave this letter short. We are waiting for the right pitch to come at our prices and we are ready with ammunition.