Charlie Stromeyer Jr

What You Can - And Can't - Learn from Warren Buffett

The Fitzman, you make a great point about the energy problems facing America.

Disclosure: I endorse Pickens plan, and would like to purchase shares of Berkshire but am wary about the prospects for insurance companies in the current environment.

What You Can - And Can't - Learn from Warren Buffett

goldenhinde, like Warren Buffett, I also support some kind of estate tax and Barack Obama, but I realize that individuals such as Buffett and I can economically afford such views.

Another good reason NOT to read Vahan Janjigian's book above: It was endorsed by the CNBC fool Larry Kudlow. Also, I prefer academic papers over books because the papers are less biased (and thus more accurate) and the papers are usually shorter than books.

Disclosure: I have contributed my own money to Obama for America.

What You Can - And Can't - Learn from Warren Buffett

Here is the best (academic) analysis of Buffett's portfolio from 1976-2006 and this paper shows on page 28 that Buffett's gain-to-loss ratio (which measures the ratio of positive returns to negative returns) is 66.77 compared with just 8.32 for the S&P 500:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/p...

Also, this paper finds that large cap growth stocks have been the number one choice for Buffett during the period.

What You Can - And Can't - Learn from Warren Buffett

Thanks for this helpful review, Rick. Do you happen to know if it is true as someone once told me that Warren Buffett has had a total of 99% winners and thus 1% losers among all his equity investments over his entire career?