Lessons for investors:
You do not need a high IQ to do well as an investor. The biggest financial crises have been caused by the highest IQ people.
What you need is good EQ, eg. impulse control so as to minimise bad behaviour that causes investors to make big mistakes.
Munger: Winners bet big when they have the odds otherwise, never.
Those who make a few well-calculated bets have a much greater chance. Very few investors or investment funds operate this way. So, load up on a good idea; it is hard to find a good business at a great discount.
Rapid Skill Acquisition: Stages of learning:
Unconscious incompetence: You don't know what you don't know
Conscious incompetence: You know what you don't know
Conscious competence: You know what to do, but it takes effort
Unconscious competence: You can do it without thinking
For new and old investors:
Investing is not risky for the reasons it is made out to be the jargon-filled analysts and other market experts.
Investing is risky if you do not understand what you are doing, getting into and why. In fact, not investing well is a greater risk.
Munger: Investors should figure out where they have an edge and stay there.
Stay in your circle of competence.
Remember the John Train question: "How do you beat Bobby Fischer?" Reply: "Get him to play you any game except chess."
@findingstocks True. The lower the price, the lower the risk (unless the business changes dramatically for the worse).
ROIC goes in cycles apparently. ROE is up due to debt.
Buffett on inflation: "But inflation takes us through the looking glass into the upside-down world of Alice in
Wonderland. When prices continuously rise, the "bad" business must retain every nickel that it can."