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» Kirk - Buffett to Serve as Arnold's Sr. Economic Advisor!

Go Arnold!

-- posted by Kirk

» SteveT - Re: Buffett to Serve as Arnold's Sr. Economic Advisor!

I thought it was a joke but it is not.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...
Elections - AP Gubernatorial
Buffett to Be Aide in Schwarzenegger Race

LOS ANGELES - Arnold Schwarzenegger has hired Warren Buffett (news - web sites) as his senior financial and economic adviser in his bid to replace Gray Davis if the governor loses the recall vote, the Republican actor's campaign announced Wednesday.

Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is a billionaire investor legendary for his financial prowess. He is also a Democrat.

"What he will be doing is assembling other prominent business leaders and economists and setting up a team to address the issues facing California," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh.

Buffett said in a statement: "I have known Arnold for years and know he'll be a great governor. It is critical to the rest of the nation that California's economic crisis be solved, and I think Arnold will get that job done."

By buying at low prices into well-known, solid companies, Buffett built Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway into a huge conglomerate. In his investments, he generally avoids high-tech companies, arguing he cannot tell which will be usurped by advances in technology.

Schwarzenegger is among scores of candidates vying to replace Davis if the governor loses an Oct. 7 special recall election.

-- posted by SteveT

» Kirk - Schwarzenegger Taps Buffett as Economic Advisor

By Glenn R. Simpson, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican candidate for governor of California, has signed up investing legend Warren Buffett (news - web sites) as an economic advisor.

Mr. Schwarzenegger signed up Mr. Buffett, a longtime friend, after a round of personal wooing in recent days, two people familiar close to the Schwarzenegger campaign said. Both Mr. Buffett, the billionaire chief executive of Berkshire- Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB), and the Schwarzenegger campaign had no immediate comment. The campaign says it is planning an announcement of interest to the financial community.

The backing of Mr. Buffett the billionaire could be a major boost to the credibility of Mr. Schwarzenegger the action-film star, who thus far hasn't taken many positions and whose capacity to govern the huge state has been ridiculed.

"If Warren Buffett thinks Arnold Schwarzenegger has the chops to run the world's sixth-largest economy, I would take that as quite an endorsement," said political analyst Bill Whalen of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Mr. Buffett is often identified with Democratic causes -- he contributed to the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) -- but is believed to be politically middle of the road.

-By Glenn R. Simpson; The Wall Street Journal; 202-862-9227

-- posted by Kirk

» KLR - Re: Schwarzenegger Taps Buffett as Economic Advisor

Schwarzenegger is a fractional owner of a NetJet plane, and once said he would "mutilate himself" before going back to owning his own plane.

A source who spoke directly to Buffett said Schwarzenegger first called to get Buffett's support a few days ago and then called back yesterday for another favor.

Our source says Buffett quipped, "I assumed Arnold was calling to ask me to be his personal trainer, but instead I was asked to be an economic adviser."

Maybe after the recall, Warren.

-- posted by KLR

» Q_out - Still Number 2

1. Bill Gates $46.0 Billion

2. Warren Buffett $36.0 Billion

3. Paul Allen $22.0 Billion

4. Helen Walton $20.5 Billion

5. S. Robson Walton $20.5 Billion

6. John Walton $20.5 Billion

7. Jim Walton $20.5 Billion

8. Alice Walton $20.5 Billion

9. Larry Ellison $18.0 Billion

10. Michael Dell $13.0 Billion

<img src="/files/mysites/qout/bhoestarts.gif" width=53 height=34 align="left">
Q_out

-- posted by Q_out

» Kirk - Price for a cherry consensus

Here is an interesting article that makes a good case for ONLY adding new money to the stock market AFTER it has had a 15% pullback. It reminds me of how I first started to buy individual stocks... after they want on "sale."

http://biz.yahoo.com/ms/031015/97720_1.h...

So the "buy low and hold" strategy has, over the past 63 years, produced long-term stock market returns far superior to the "buy high and hold" strategy. There's nothing too controversial in that; everyone agrees that buying low is better than buying high if you're planning to hold onto your stocks for a long time.

This reminds me of what Buffett does... looks for securites he thinks have great value AND are out of favor. THEN he buys them. The article talks about the whole market while Buffett does it for market sectors he likes and understands. Those that subscribe to my newsletter know I do much the same with the stocks and sectors I buy. I enhance my returns by selling "some" of my position when the market likes my stocks or sector ETFs and I buy back or "add to my position" when the market doesn't like my stocks. Rather than holding, this has me selling as the market rises and buying AFTER it corrects. What is intersting is my strategy would enhance the returns this article speaks of. My method of telling me when to sell is "asset allocation."

  Date       Kirk    S&P500   Delta
2003 YTD    +58.4%   20.7%    37.7%  as of 10/14/2003 
 

                                Kirk   S&P500+  NASDAQ 
4.75+ Yrs 12/31/98 to 10/10/03 141.0%  ( 9.2%) (11.8%)
Annualized Annual Return        20.2%  ( 2.0%) ( 2.6%) 
 

9/30/98 Inception Value:   $100,000
9/30/03 5 yrs later value: $345,395 up 245.4%
S&P500 between 9/30/98 and 9/30/03: up   4.6%
With dividends reinvested. All Numbers unaudited. 
Click for a free issue of my newsletter .

-- posted by Kirk

» Kirk - Buffett Sees Little to Invest In

Reuters
Buffett Sees Little to Invest In
Sunday October 26, 4:32 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/031026/financial...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett (News) sees very few attractive investments at the moment, and is sitting tight on a $24 billion war chest.

The billionaire investor and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway said in an interview with Barron's that he is not impressed with the current opportunities in stocks, Treasury bonds or junk debt.

"We've got more cash than ideas. The question is whether that will prevail for an unduly long time," he told Barron's.

In fact, Berkshire sold $9 billion of long-term Treasury bonds this year, and Buffett said buying at current levels is not a wise move, according to the report, which appeared in the Oct. 27 edition of the newspaper.

Buffett expressed regret about not selling shares of big companies like Coca-Cola Co. and Gillette Co. when those stocks crested in the late 1990s.

He added that such sales would have been complicated by the fact that he sat on both companies' boards at the time, raising possible red flags about insider trading.

He said he erred in not buying shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. years ago, because he viewed the stock as overvalued. That miscalculation cost Berkshire $8 billion, he told Barron's.

Buffett was upbeat about the insurance businesses that make up the most important part of his company. Those units include auto insurer Geico and global reinsurer General Re Corp.

He also complimented rival car insurers Progressive Corp. and Mercury General Corp., praising Progressive's strong systems and Mercury's CEO George Joseph, according to Barron's.

-- posted by Kirk

» Normxxx - Re: Price for a cherry consensus

I also sometimes wait for a pullback to invest new money, but only if the current s.d. of the SPX (NOT VIX) is high. I don't have hard and fast rules for what is a high s.d. or how much of a pullback to wait for (I usually use the run of the mill short term timing strategies for that). If the s.d. is low, as at present, I just go ahead and invest.

-- posted by Normxxx

» Kirk - Re: Re: Price for a cherry consensus

I too look to buy on pullbacks. I took some (5%)profits in CACS at $9.90 and used SOME of those to buy into a small fiberoptics company this AM I've had my eye on. Like CACS, it had a pullback so I bought it rather than buying my CACS shares back at $9.30 this AM to get a bit more diversity. So far, I'd have made a bit more to have bought the CACS back (up more right now) but that is often the price to diversify. (These were NOT newsletter buys and sells.)

-- posted by Kirk

» Normxxx - Re: Re: Re: Price for a cherry consensus

And in the long run, you can usually quantify the advantage of diversity (assuming all else is equal-- which it hardly ever is).

-- posted by Normxxx