I have mentioned of this blog, keep your investment ideas or processes or choices very simple. Remain focused on your objectives. You may keep dissecting into multiple styles and methods. All said and done, all it will do is add a little panache to your chit chat or it may make you look good for few hours. It is my view that style and panacea does not give sustainable results. In one of my earlier post, I mentioned holding companies can be good long term investments. Only question remains is “how do you define a holding company”. If you constraint yourself with definitions in financial literature, then it is likely you will miss the essence of a holding company.
To me, the essence of holding company is like a parent company. A parent who are trying to raise their kids, i.e. new businesses or future companies, in a hope that all of them will be able to sustainable themselves in future. Parents work hard take risk, and kids… you know what I am trying to say, right? Continue reading rest of this article…
We have all heard a lot about initial public offer (IPOs), follow-on public offer (FPO), Bonds, VC, Angel investors, etc. Right issues is one method (among many other) that is not widely discussed in open financial media. One the reason is it is an option available to existing shareholders only. By definition, the significance seems to the titled towards existing majority shareholders.
In writing this post, I am assuming that readers understand what holding companies mean. If not, then you may read a simple primer on 
This post is based on a question from one of the readers, 
We as human beings are always objective or goal oriented. We may not know it, but sub-consciously, we are always attempting to do a given task or an activity towards certain goal. Many folks will not agree with me, because there is a perception that ROI is always related to money. To me, it is not. If I spend time with my family, its because the pleasure I get (that’s an ROI). If I did not get that pleasure, overtime it will automatically create a rift. Similarly, if I play any team sports, or go out with friends, it builds our relationship, it builds camaraderie, a sense of togetherness. It is not necessarily for getting any money in return, but to be part of social community. You cannot live alone in this world, right? Keeping with this, the question I am trying to answer today is what is my ROI from this blog? I need to know what I am getting out of this blog. Here also, I will use the framework provided by Avinash. There are multiple parameters to determine ROI from the blog. 
Three Pillar of Berkshire’s Intrinsic Value – What do we Learn?
I am not a hardcore follower of Buffett’s investing philosophy. It is not because I do not agree with Buffett’s/Graham’s investing philosophy, but primarily because, my situation is different. The environment which influences my investing decisions is quite different than in which Buffett makes his decisions. Having said that, I like to understand his thought process to see if there is anything that I can use. I may not be able to use them on ‘as is’ basis, but at least the notion behind them can be applied. For example, I like Buffett’s practice of asking its holding companies to share a significant portion of earnings in the form of dividends. He believes he is in a better position to use this capital than company management.
Buffett’s letter to shareholders is released as a part of Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK) annual reports. In almost all cases, I completely ignore CEOs/MDs letters in annual report. They are pure garbage in a sense they do not tell you anything. That is not a case with Buffett’s letters. Each and every year, his letters provide an insight in his thought process. This year was no different. Continue reading rest of this article…