Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Business and investing wisdom from Warren Buffett

1) Never lose money.
2) Never forget rule 1.
3) Do what you enjoy doing and do it well time after time.
4) Stay simple.
5) Look for business that are hard to replicate, that has a moat around it and expanding. The moat can comes in various forms - location, service, distribution, cost structure, logistics, patents, monopoly, branding and so on.
6) Always stick to your circle of competency. In simple english, it says do what you understand.
7) In value investing, if it doesn't works the way you run things, you should get out of there till it is time to come back into play. You should never join the other side of how others play the game.
8) Have a vision and make shape out of the unknowns as much as you can through logical means. This last one is not from Buffett but Li Ka Shing.

8 comments:

sm@ll.fry said...

Hey if its not too personal, can I know which stock broker you are using?

I trying to decide which one offers the best in terms of services and fees.

Berkshire said...

Hi Fishman,

Coincidently, I have the same broker as Webctm, Alvin Tan from kayhian. You may email him at ylng@uobkayhian.com and request for him to send you all the needed forms from SG and USA trading account and the opening of CDP account to your home.

He is extremely friendly and provides superb service.

Berkshire said...

Also if you decide to invest part of your CPF on stocks, it is better to subcribe to the CPF trading account with UOB bank because the commissions are cheaper than DBS by at least $5 per trade. It makes a hell of a difference to your returns in the long run.

sm@ll.fry said...

WOw! Hey thanks for responding guys.

But don't mind that I ask. Is the charges the same for all stock brokers?

And do you really need a broker in the first place? As in can one make trade online on his/her own, and save on the brokering fee?

Sorry I'm learning here so quite a few things would like to know!

Berkshire said...

I think most brokerages should be the same, i ain't too sure. It is better if you can check out from their online site and compare. But personally besides considering the commission, to get a well serving broker who answer to your needs is very important and if a brokering company can have all brokers like Alvin attitude, you can be sure this company will be the leading business in their field.

Yes, you need a broker in order to trade. You cannot trade by yourself unless you are doing a direct marriage deal between a person you can find personally to buy from him or her.

sm@ll.fry said...

haha thanks webctm for the clear up.

You know I just called UOB Kay Hian and cleared up a few doubts and understood a few things better.

Just to share, I also went into OCBC securities and POEMS. Interestingly, fees about the same, but POEMS charge a higher commision of 0.28%. The more turn off thing is that OCBC securities and POEMS require an upfront deposit 5k and 1k respectively.

lazy to check out other securities/trading/brokerage firms. Guess they about the same bah. Will be contacting this Mr Alvin Tan soon. Wish me luck!

Berkshire said...

Oh, yes, that is the right email. Wish you luck on your future investments. But always be aware of the temptations which are always present in the equity market. As and when, i still fall prey to it sometimes.

QUALITY STOCKS UNDER 5 DOLLARS said...

Excellent stuff on warren buffett.