In an interview with the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance, Buffett jokingly said that Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, like themselves and Munger back then, had a lot in common in their behavioral styles, personalities and investment philosophies. Wall Street News also found that the age gap between the two is almost the same as Buffett and Munger (7 years old).
Boosted by the outstanding performance of the two, Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares reached a record high of $266,013 on March 3. Class A shares have risen by more than 30% since last year, and the market value has exceeded 400 billion US dollars by the end of 2016, joining the "400 billion club" including Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet and Microsoft.
Is investing in the "uncle and nephew" of the helmsman the secret of Berkshire's success? What qualities do Buffett and Munger appreciate? Do Todd and Ted have the same job search process as ordinary people? What is it like to work for Buffett?
Pictured : Ted Weschler; Pictured right: Todd Combs
Trait 1: Good at reading, and seeking answers
According to Buffett, Munger once called himself a "book with legs", and Buffett himself kept his book in his hands all day long. . He was pleasantly surprised to find that the two members love will be the only person who can match himself and Munger in terms of reading volume.
Ted Weschler said that he spends most of his day reading, in addition to reading newspapers and trade journals, he also contributes half of his daily reading to non-financial information.
For example, in addition to reading serious mainstream industry media such as the German Handelsblatt, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal every day, he also reads the local tabloids when he travels or works, and insists on browsing the more popular daily newspapers every day. Publication USA Today. Weschler believes that non-financial information can reveal more market conditions, and he is also willing to compare the way USA Today and the New York Times handle different news in order to understand public opinion outside the financial elite.
And Todd Combs is more like a bookworm or a scholar. He gets up at 7 or 8 in the morning every day, sits in the office and reads until 7 or 8 in the evening, and reads for another 1 to 2 hours before going to bed. It can be said that reading is basically 12 hours a day, except for sleeping, exercising and spending time with family members.
Even more miraculously, as one of Berkshire Hathaway's heavily relied investment managers, Combs only takes three or four calls a week, trying to minimize outside interference with his reading plan. In order to save time, his communication with his assistant basically relies on writing. The assistant will organize the things he likes and need to see every day, and then he will put the notes or notes into the central file system, and the assistant will deal with it immediately. In this way, the way you come and go is often very efficient.
In addition to reading dozens of industry publications every day, Combs will also read a lot of financial reports and the company's SEC compliance documents, in line with the work plan of selecting 250 listed companies to track each quarter. He also employs a seasoned analyst to help scour his portfolio companies, and strives to reach out to clients, suppliers and former employees of his portfolio to get a full picture of the target company, both public and unknown.
Daily reading lists for both Weschler and Combs are attached at the end of the article.
Picture Left: Todd Combs; Picture Right: Ted Weschler; Trait
2: Good personality, loves fitness, can make money
Buffett and Munger could not be dealt with in a few dinners, and they were invited to "get on board".
In addition, maintaining fitness habits seems to have become the unspoken rule of Wall Street's elite circle. Combs' favorite sport is tennis, and Weschler runs almost every day. Buffett joked that the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance may not be able to run the two investment managers in the 5,000-meter run attached to the annual shareholders meeting on May 7.
But what Buffett appreciates most is definitely the ability to make money. He did not hesitate to mention in the interview that the premise for anyone who wants to be elected to the Berkshire Hathaway family, in addition to perfectly integrating the existing investment philosophy, must be able to "hold money" and "make more money".
Judging from the public records, Combs and Weschler both had excellent investment performance in their previous jobs, and after joining Berkshire, they also helped the investment business expand into fields such as technology and aviation, injecting fresh breath into Berkshire. inspiration.
The secret to making money - a natural "crisis smell"
Before working for Buffett in 2011, Todd Combs had been the investment manager of the hedge fund Castle Point since 2005, with assets under management of $400 million, when he was only 34 years old. The SEC 13F filings from December 2007 to June 2010 (before Combs was officially spotted and hired by Buffett) show that Combs miraculously cleared its positions in AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns ahead of schedule during the height of the financial crisis. , Citigroup, Washington Mutual, Countrywide Financial, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae all long positions.
The foresight and vigilance of being able to sniff out a crisis in advance is what Buffett likes. He said in a 2007 letter to shareholders that Berkshire hires investment managers who must be able to "understand and avoid risks", including unprecedented or unresolved crises.
The secret to making money is that Ted Weschler, who has long held value stocks
and is older, participated in the creation of Quad-C, a Virginia private equity fund, before working for Buffett in 2012, with good results. Later, he started a new hedge fund, Peninsula Capital Advisors, in 1999, and by 2011, the total return was as high as 1236%.
His secret: long-term positions in value-oriented corporate stocks, tracking not only the usual Dow and S&P 500 but also Berkshire Hathaway's Class B stocks. Class B shares rose 146% between 1999 and 2011, a tenth of Weschler's return.
By the end of June 2011, when Weschler was explicitly hired by Buffett, his hedge fund only bought nine stocks. Weschler said that he has been studying Buffett's shareholder annual letter carefully since 1979, and he has not missed any details. He is a senior "fan brother" of Buffett.
After the two were brought under Buffett's command, the initial investment capital in charge of each was 2 billion to 3 billion US dollars, but now it has grown to at least 10 billion US dollars, indicating that the two people's earning ability is quite appreciated by Buffett. Buffett also said emotionally in the interview: He and Munger do not regret the decision to hire two people at all, and think it is one of the best choices.
Trait 3: Self-recommendation, but also to understand restraint
It can be said that Todd Combs and Ted Weschler both entered Buffett's vision through "introduction", and the two did not deliberately look for Berkshire's job opportunities at first. That set the pair apart from more than 600 job applicants.
Todd Combs had breakfast with Munger by chance and successfully conquered the old man within 4 hours. A few weeks later, Munger volunteered to call Combs to talk again, and the constructive conversation continued for months. Until one day, Munger offered to introduce Combs to Buffett, and strongly advocated that the Berkshire work would suit Combs' appetite. Combs got hired after calling Buffett and flying to Omaha for an interview.
Ted Weschler's job search story is even more legendary. In 2010 and 2011, he bid anonymously and got the opportunity to have lunch with Buffett. The total bid price was as high as 5.252722 million US dollars, which is no less generous than the current star chasers. In order to gain more conversation opportunities, Weschler asked to have dinner with Buffett instead, and let the old man choose his favorite local restaurant in Omaha.
Weschler described the meeting with Buffett as "love at first sight" and "love at first sight." He also agreed with Buffett and shared with Buffett the details of the high return on investment. Although the outside world does not know whether Weschler took advantage of two valuable opportunities to apply for a job, Buffett said in 2011 that he would like to hire Weschler just not knowing whether he agrees or not, because the young man has made enough money in the original hedge fund.
It can be seen that in order to be favored by "stock gods", in addition to being successful enough in the investment world, you also need to show enough confidence in this success. And it is good at stimulating a human psychological instinct: what is often not available is the best.
Buffett's favorite daily reading list
We may not be able to embark on the road to the top of the "world's best" investment like Todd Combs and Ted Weschle, but as ordinary investors and financial enthusiasts, we can also draw on their daily sources. , and strive to achieve "smart ears and eyesight".
Ted Weschler's checklist:
Handelsblatt, Germany, English edition
, Financial Times,
Wall Street Journal,
New York Times
, USA Today,
Todd Combs' checklist:
SEC compliance filings
Corporate quarterly and annual reports (key Is to learn to filter useful information)
mainstream industry publications (newspapers, magazines, journals)
Todd Combs
was born in Florida, a typical American, graduated from Florida State University majoring in finance and multinational business operations. He later obtained a master's degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Florida State University.
After graduation, he became an auditor in Florida. Soon, he jumped to the American Advance Insurance Company, responsible for setting the company's auto insurance tax rate.
Advance Insurance is actually the biggest competitor of Berkshire's GEICO auto insurance company.
In 2005 he joined Castle Point. This is a value-oriented long-short fund registered in Connecticut, which mainly invests in financial services companies. Todd was managing $395 million in assets at the time.
Before joining Berkshire, he was already considered by some of his peers as one of the best investors in financial services. Especially good at writing "letter to shareholders". The circle believes that this person is very much like Mr. Buffett.
In this fund, Todd mainly invests in companies that are less volatile than the broader market. The best performance of the fund was in 2006 and 2007, with growth of 14% and 19% respectively; in 2008, it lost 5.7% due to the financial tsunami, and in 2009, it achieved a growth of 6.2%.
In 2010, Todd Combs joined Berkshire, replacing 74-year-old Lou Simpson in charge of Berkshire's securities investment business. Todd Combs was also appointed as a director by JPMorgan in September 2016.
Largest investment facilitated by Todd Combs.
In early 2016, Berkshire acquired Precision Castparts, an aircraft parts manufacturer based in Portland, Oregon, for $32 billion. accessories manufacturer.
This suggestion was suggested by Todd Combs, because Buffett himself knew nothing about the company.
Todd Combs started buying Berkshire's shares in 2012, and since then by the end of Q1 2015, he has held more than 3% of the shares (note that half of Berkshire's related pension funds are Nominally held, investors can figure it out for themselves, why?), worth $882 million.
In early July 2015, the company's CEO flew to Omaha to visit Todd Combs, allowing Buffett to cut directly into the acquisition talks, make a decision in half an hour, and then begin the process.
Two of Mr. Buffett's investment giants, and one is the second Mr. T of TT, Ted Weschler
He's a seasoned veteran, joining Berkshire a year after Todd Combs. Mr. Liu Jianwei, a famous Buffett research scholar, once wrote "Buffett's Mantle Successor", you can refer to it!
As far as I know, at the beginning, the two received an investment of 1 billion US dollars each, and then with the growth of performance, it rose to 5 billion, and then 9 billion, and now it should be more than 10 billion US dollars!
Buffett's management model for TT is that they generally don't ask questions, but they take time every month to look at their positions.
In fact, there are many stories around Mr. Buffett. In fact, there are very few introduced to China! I hope that more value investors will actively explore and recommend it!
A few years ago, I spent a lot of time promoting on Tencent Weibo, but unfortunately the effect was almost ineffective, which is a pity!
Tencent Weibo account name "Buffett Knows Everything"
Berkshire currently has two absolute leaders
and will split into three leaders in the future, plus two investment experts!
These two masters, the future leaders in the direct sense, will be Howard Buffett, the eldest son of Mr. Buffett!
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