The Pilgrimage (prelude)

Attending the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting was a dream come true. First up, has to give a BIG THANKS to Xin Hong who helped arranged to sent the shareholder credential all the way from Singapore, back to Omaha, then to London, Ontario. Him doing so much for me helped me make up my mind on whether to go or not. What a wonderful man, 言行一致。

I bought 1 Brk B share last wed after selling some stock holdings. Can't believe that i sold off my BAC shares at 8 and today it closes at 13!!! About 60% increase!!! Haha. Once again proving the theory that if lw sells, you buy, if lw buy, SHORT THE STOCK. This has been a reliable strategy over the last 2 years.

Looking back over the last 6 years, i recalled my first introduction to the financial market was in JC 2 (year 2003) when Mr. Choy talks about the bond market. I found it interesting enough to read the textbook on how interest rates was determined and how it affects the economy.

My next big step was when Jie Chao called me and asked if i wanted to "learn a way to make over 20% in return". It was late in 2004 and i thought if something is too good to be true, it probably is. However, what he recommended was actually a book. The book was The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham. The first read was excruciating, took me 2 months to plough through it. In my beloved Sungei Gedong Camp, I managed to read about 1 - 2 books a week. After reading at least 10- 20 books relating to investing, and now i'm ashamed to say tons on "how to get rich" (not to mention the kiyosaki series), i find that Value Investing as practised by Warren Buffett is the ONLY sensible way to get rich. Thanks Jie Chao, for introducing 2 books that fundamentally changed the way i think and behave, the later being dao de jing.

In terms of investing, there's only 3 books that form the basis of I know about investing, everything else are simply an extension to these books.
1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
2. Common Stock Uncommon Profit by Phillip Fisher
3. Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel

What i've learnt most from is Warren Buffett's letters to shareholders. This includes (1) letters of Berkshire Hathaway - how it grows from a struggling texile company to today's Behemoth both on Wall Street and Main Street, and (2) his early partnership letters, which reads more like a hedge fund and is instructive on asset allocation , and his super early view on concentrated portfolio (e.g. i think 40% allocated to American Express in 1964).

What i've learnt also helped me tremendously in school. Value investing is like my main frame to organise knowledge, information and know how. Most courses taught in SMU would fall onto one of the branches. E.g. What makes a good biz, how to value biz, mechanics of market and how it behaves. This allowed me to find greater meaning in what I studied, and since i love what i study (can't say that for BGS though...), it is easier to devote the time and effort to do it.