The 2018 Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders is 14 pages of the usual goodness, but I wanted to skip right to the end and all the best stuff. Over pages 13 and 14 Buffett goes through a brief history of the United States and its successes. In doing so he touches on many themes that are essential elements of this website. Namely:
- Optimists are sometimes short-term losers, but are long-term winners. See, Why I am an Optimist.
- The government debt doom and gloomers sell an interesting, but mostly misleading narrative that has been disastrously wrong. See, Why the USA isn’t Going Bankrupt.
- Gold is, as Charles Barkley would say, a “turrrible” hedge. See, Is Gold a Good Portfolio Hedge?
- High fees (Buffett uses an example of a 1% fee) will kill your investment performance. See, How High Fees Destroy Portfolios.
- American businesses are the heart of the success story of America, but they have not done it alone.
Okay, that’s more than three things. Actually, Buffett refers to it all as one thing – “The American Tailwind”. Whatever it is, it’s lots of good stuff so go have a read and have a nice weekend.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.