I have seen plenty of Buffettology on Twitter and in other places over the past few years. Its time to clear the air and understand that there wasn't one but 3 different Warren Buffett's that existed throughout his career 📚📚
Time for a thread: 3 Different Buffett's 🧵🧵🧵
One of the biggest mistakes that you as an investor can make is to forget the basic and the most important mental model an investor can have: Numeracy. Being fluent with numbers and respecting the context in which Buffett made his returns.
At the beginning of his career, let's call this Warren Buffett 1 i.e. Between 1957-1968. This was the time when he was working with small sums of money. He was extremely valuation conscious and guess what. How many stocks did he buy and sell between this period?
In this period, he bought and sold nearly 400 stocks. He bought Geico and sold it within 18months, he bought Marshals wealth at a PE of 3 times and he bought Commonwealth at a PE of 5times and sold it at a 60% gain. His returns were mind-boggling too during this time period
No Wonder he said, “The highest rates of return I’ve ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers… I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.” Look at the performance once
