John Neff on Investing
The trick is to try to buy where limitations are still in place and when the old board is still in charge. Then one buys cheaply – one might even buy only the buildings at 60% of the real value. That’s something we understand very well at PSG. Yet one needs patience, because at these businesses the change towards being more commercially-minded happ
... See moreCarié Maas • Jannie Mouton: And then they fired me
FIGURE 11-8: HISTORICAL ODDS OF STOCK MARKET CRASH WITHIN ONE YEAR This trader must make a call—buy or sell. Then the market will crash or it will not. So there are four basic scenarios to consider. First, there are the two cases in which he turns out to have made the right bet: The trader buys and the market rises. In this case, it’s business as u
... See moreNate Silver • The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't
IAA would show up wearing suits and riding in limos. I showed up wearing cowboy boots and driving a rental car. Some owners were wooed by the flash of IAA. Some were put off by it. For other owners, it came down to the bottom line—who would pay more? I had the advantage there. IAA bought companies the Wall Street way—based on pretax or after-tax ea
... See moreWillis Johnson • Junk to Gold: From Salvage to the World’S Largest Online Auto Auction
The way to win [in the markets] is to work, work, work, work and hope to have a few insights. How many insights do you need? Well, I'd argue: that you don't need many in a lifetime. If you look at Berkshire Hathaway and all of its accumulated billions, the top ten insights account for most of it.