Dr.Bryte

Wall Street crashes, hidden math, and the AI rewriting the game

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

Warren Buffett is sitting on $397.4 billion in cash. He earns $12 billion a year just from Treasury bills. The greatest investor alive says there is almost nothing worth buying.

His teacher Benjamin Graham wrote a book in 1949 called The Intelligent Investor. In it he drew a line that most people still do not understand.

An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Everything else is speculation.

In 1986 Buffett bought a 400-acre farm in Nebraska for $280,000. That is $700 an acre. He knew nothing about farming. He asked his son to estimate the annual crop yields and the operating costs. The math said the farm would return about 10 percent a year.

He did not buy it because farmland prices were going up. He bought it because the dirt would produce corn and soybeans every year whether anyone was watching the price or not.

The farm has tripled its earnings. It is worth more than five times what he paid.

Now look at what the market has become.

Zero-day options made up 66.2 percent of all S&P 500 options volume in July 2026. Margin debt hit $1.45 trillion in August 2026. Up 37 percent in one year.

At the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in May 2026 Buffett said it plainly.

If you are buying and selling single-day options, that is not investing. It is not speculating. It is gambling, just totally.

He said the market is a church with a casino attached. And the casino keeps getting bigger.

We have never had people in a more gambling mood than now.

He was 95 when he said that. He had seen the 1987 crash, the dot-com bubble, the 2008 crisis, and the COVID selloff. He said Berkshire had dropped more than 50 percent three times. Each time he bought more.

On September 18, 2026 he stepped down as chairman. He was 96. Berkshire had been a net seller of stocks for 14 consecutive quarters. The Buffett Indicator stood above 237 percent. Higher than the dot-com peak.

The man who spent 70 years teaching people how to invest used his last act to warn them that most of them are not investing at all.

[Kaien @kaienphase]

https://t.co/PbfztEwWL7

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

A journalist interviewed over 40 of the greatest investors in the world. The most important lesson had nothing to do with the stock market.

William Green wrote for Time, Fortune, Forbes, The New Yorker, and The Economist. Studied English at Oxford. Got a journalism degree from Columbia. Then spent decades sitting across from people who had been compounding money longer than most people have been alive.

Joel Greenblatt averaged 50 percent a year at Gotham Capital for a decade starting with $7 million in 1985. When Green asked how, Greenblatt gave him one sentence. Figure out what a business is worth and buy it for much less.

Charlie Munger spent over 40 years running Berkshire Hathaway alongside Buffett. His investing advice was three words. Don't be a fool. His entire system was built around eliminating what he called standard stupidities.

John Templeton bought 104 stocks trading under a dollar each in 1939 with borrowed money. 100 out of 104 made a profit. Money Magazine called him the greatest global stock picker of the 20th century.

Green put all of it into a book. Richer, Wiser, Happier. Over 40 investors. Decades of conversations. Published in 2021.

Then he stood on a TEDx stage and said the real conclusion out loud.

The greatest investors don't win because they are smarter. They win because they avoid catastrophe. They build systems to remove stupidity before it starts. They wait longer than everyone else. And they know when to do nothing.

But the part nobody expected was the ending.

Ed Thorp beat the casinos with math. Then he beat the markets with the same math. Green asked him the single most important thing in life.

It was not a formula. It was not a trade. It was not a return.

Who you spend your time with.

The man who sat across from forty of the greatest investors on earth told a room full of strangers that the quality of your relationships matters more than the size of your portfolio.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@verumxbt Is it the same skill. Both come down to knowing what to say no to. Bad trades and bad people cost you the same way, slowly then all at once.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

A journalist interviewed over 40 of the greatest investors in the world. The most important lesson had nothing to do with the stock market.

William Green wrote for Time, Fortune, Forbes, The New Yorker, and The Economist. Studied English at Oxford. Got a journalism degree from Columbia. Then spent decades sitting across from people who had been compounding money longer than most people have been alive.

Joel Greenblatt averaged 50 percent a year at Gotham Capital for a decade starting with $7 million in 1985. When Green asked how, Greenblatt gave him one sentence. Figure out what a business is worth and buy it for much less.

Charlie Munger spent over 40 years running Berkshire Hathaway alongside Buffett. His investing advice was three words. Don't be a fool. His entire system was built around eliminating what he called standard stupidities.

John Templeton bought 104 stocks trading under a dollar each in 1939 with borrowed money. 100 out of 104 made a profit. Money Magazine called him the greatest global stock picker of the 20th century.

Green put all of it into a book. Richer, Wiser, Happier. Over 40 investors. Decades of conversations. Published in 2021.

Then he stood on a TEDx stage and said the real conclusion out loud.

The greatest investors don't win because they are smarter. They win because they avoid catastrophe. They build systems to remove stupidity before it starts. They wait longer than everyone else. And they know when to do nothing.

But the part nobody expected was the ending.

Ed Thorp beat the casinos with math. Then he beat the markets with the same math. Green asked him the single most important thing in life.

It was not a formula. It was not a trade. It was not a return.

Who you spend your time with.

The man who sat across from forty of the greatest investors on earth told a room full of strangers that the quality of your relationships matters more than the size of your portfolio.

[Kaien @kaienphase]

https://t.co/PbfztEwWL7

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@fkylmr Exactly. He didn't try to outthink anyone. He just removed the things that make smart people do dumb things.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

Charlie Munger lost his nine-year-old son to cancer. He was divorced, broke, and paying for the treatment out of his own pocket. He died at 99 worth $2.6 billion.

He was born in Omaha, same city as Warren Buffett. As a teenager he even worked at a grocery store owned by Buffett's grandfather. They didn't actually meet for another 20 years.

He studied math at Michigan, served in WWII, got into Harvard Law without finishing his undergrad degree, and later moved to California.

In 1953 his marriage fell apart. He was 29. His wife got the house and most of what they owned.

Then his son Teddy was diagnosed with leukemia at eight. There was no cure back then. Munger paid for the treatment himself. Teddy died at nine.

He said later that envy, resentment, revenge and self-pity are disastrous ways to think. Every misfortune in life, he believed, is a chance to behave well and learn something.

In 1959 a mutual friend introduced him to a young investor from Omaha over dinner. They hit it off immediately. That was Warren Buffett, who later said he knew right away: "I am not going to find another guy like this."

Munger ended up changing how Buffett invested. Buffett used to buy bad companies cheap, what he called "cigar butts." Munger convinced him to buy great companies at fair prices instead. It started with See's Candies in 1972, bought for $25 million. That deal alone has made Berkshire over $2 billion since.

His whole philosophy traced back to four words from a 19th century mathematician: "Invert, always invert." Don't ask how to succeed. Ask what guarantees failure, then stay away from it. As Munger put it: "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there."

Charlie Munger died on November 28, 2023, a month before he would have turned 100. He was worth $2.6 billion.

Warren Buffett said Berkshire couldn't have become what it is without Charlie's wisdom and involvement.

A man who buried his child and lost nearly everything didn't get rich by being the smartest guy in the room. He got rich by spending his life avoiding the dumbest mistakes in it.

[Kaien @kaienphase]

https://t.co/PbfztEwWL7

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@FortuneNotess And the hardest part isn't knowing what to avoid. It's actually avoiding it when everyone around you is jumping in.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@palehonk Not insane, just patient. Everyone else was chasing the next big win. He was crossing off what could kill him.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

Charlie Munger lost his nine-year-old son to cancer. He was divorced, broke, and paying for the treatment out of his own pocket. He died at 99 worth $2.6 billion.

He was born in Omaha, same city as Warren Buffett. As a teenager he even worked at a grocery store owned by Buffett's grandfather. They didn't actually meet for another 20 years.

He studied math at Michigan, served in WWII, got into Harvard Law without finishing his undergrad degree, and later moved to California.

In 1953 his marriage fell apart. He was 29. His wife got the house and most of what they owned.

Then his son Teddy was diagnosed with leukemia at eight. There was no cure back then. Munger paid for the treatment himself. Teddy died at nine.

He said later that envy, resentment, revenge and self-pity are disastrous ways to think. Every misfortune in life, he believed, is a chance to behave well and learn something.

In 1959 a mutual friend introduced him to a young investor from Omaha over dinner. They hit it off immediately. That was Warren Buffett, who later said he knew right away: "I am not going to find another guy like this."

Munger ended up changing how Buffett invested. Buffett used to buy bad companies cheap, what he called "cigar butts." Munger convinced him to buy great companies at fair prices instead. It started with See's Candies in 1972, bought for $25 million. That deal alone has made Berkshire over $2 billion since.

His whole philosophy traced back to four words from a 19th century mathematician: "Invert, always invert." Don't ask how to succeed. Ask what guarantees failure, then stay away from it. As Munger put it: "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there."

Charlie Munger died on November 28, 2023, a month before he would have turned 100. He was worth $2.6 billion.

Warren Buffett said Berkshire couldn't have become what it is without Charlie's wisdom and involvement.

A man who buried his child and lost nearly everything didn't get rich by being the smartest guy in the room. He got rich by spending his life avoiding the dumbest mistakes in it.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@verumxbt Most people spend their whole career looking for what works. He just made a list of what kills you and walked the other way.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@verumxbt Exactly. Keep going is empty. Fall forward has a direction. That's the difference between grinding and actually getting somewhere.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

Denzel Washington had a 1.8 GPA in college. He failed his first Broadway audition because he could not sing. He went on to build a $300 million fortune.

Then he stood in front of Penn graduates and told them to fail more.

He started at Fordham as pre-med. Switched to pre-law. Then journalism. His grades dropped so low the university told him to take time off. He was 20 years old with no degree, no plan, and no money.

He went home to Mount Vernon and started working in his mother's beauty shop. On March 27, 1975, an older woman in the chair looked at him and said something he never forgot. You are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.

He had no reason to believe her. He went back to Fordham anyway.

Then he auditioned for a Broadway musical. The problem was he could not sing. He performed Just My Imagination by the Temptations. The director stopped him after the first verse. Thank you very much. You will be hearing from me. He never heard from him.

Thirty years later he stood on the same stage at the same theater and won a Tony Award for Fences.

He told the Penn graduates about Reggie Jackson. 2,600 strikeouts. The most in the history of baseball. But nobody remembers the strikeouts. They remember the home runs.

He told them about Thomas Edison. 1,000 failed experiments before the lightbulb. When a reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail 1,000 times, he said he did not fail. He found 1,000 ways that did not work.

Then he said the only thing that mattered. Do not fall backward. Fall forward. If you are going to fall, at least fall in the direction of something. That way you can see what you are about to hit.

He won 2 Oscars out of 10 nominations. Eight times out of ten he lost. But the 2 wins made him the second African-American in history to win Best Actor.

The man who could not sing, could not keep his GPA above 1.8, and was told to leave college built a $300 million fortune because every time he fell, he fell forward.

[Kaien @kaienphase]

https://t.co/PbfztEwWL7

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

Denzel Washington had a 1.8 GPA in college. He failed his first Broadway audition because he could not sing. He went on to build a $300 million fortune.

Then he stood in front of Penn graduates and told them to fail more.

He started at Fordham as pre-med. Switched to pre-law. Then journalism. His grades dropped so low the university told him to take time off. He was 20 years old with no degree, no plan, and no money.

He went home to Mount Vernon and started working in his mother's beauty shop. On March 27, 1975, an older woman in the chair looked at him and said something he never forgot. You are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.

He had no reason to believe her. He went back to Fordham anyway.

Then he auditioned for a Broadway musical. The problem was he could not sing. He performed Just My Imagination by the Temptations. The director stopped him after the first verse. Thank you very much. You will be hearing from me. He never heard from him.

Thirty years later he stood on the same stage at the same theater and won a Tony Award for Fences.

He told the Penn graduates about Reggie Jackson. 2,600 strikeouts. The most in the history of baseball. But nobody remembers the strikeouts. They remember the home runs.

He told them about Thomas Edison. 1,000 failed experiments before the lightbulb. When a reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail 1,000 times, he said he did not fail. He found 1,000 ways that did not work.

Then he said the only thing that mattered. Do not fall backward. Fall forward. If you are going to fall, at least fall in the direction of something. That way you can see what you are about to hit.

He won 2 Oscars out of 10 nominations. Eight times out of ten he lost. But the 2 wins made him the second African-American in history to win Best Actor.

The man who could not sing, could not keep his GPA above 1.8, and was told to leave college built a $300 million fortune because every time he fell, he fell forward.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@antonyo00798 It's the same math he told Penn about. Nobody counts the strikeouts once you hit the home run.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

ill Ackman lost $4 billion on one trade. Then lost $1 billion on another. Then turned $27 million into $2.6 billion in three weeks.

He went to Harvard. Graduated magna cum laude. Got an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 2004 he started Pershing Square Capital Management with $54 million.

He made bets nobody else would make. Canadian Pacific Railway. He bought a stake, replaced the board, and the stock tripled. Wall Street started calling him one of the best investors alive.

Then came Valeant.

In 2015 he bought shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals at $161 a share. The stock fell 96 percent. He was losing $7.7 million every day the market was open. For two years. He sold in March 2017 at $11 a share. Total loss: nearly $4 billion.

He called it one very big mistake.

While Valeant was bleeding he was fighting another war. In December 2012 he had taken a $1 billion short position against Herbalife. Called it a pyramid scheme on live television.

Carl Icahn took the other side. Bought a quarter of the company. The stock doubled. In February 2018 Ackman closed the position. Another billion gone.

$5 billion in losses. He fell off the Forbes 400. Wall Street wrote him off.

Then COVID hit.

In late February 2020 he spent $27 million on credit default swaps. Insurance against a market collapse. Almost nobody on Wall Street was hedging yet. He was.

On March 18 he called into CNBC. Told viewers that hell is coming. That America needs to shut down for 30 days or the economy is finished.

Five days later he closed the trade. The $27 million was now $2.6 billion. A 96x return.

Then he took the $2.6 billion and bought stocks the same week the market hit bottom. Starbucks. Hilton. Lowe's. Berkshire Hathaway.

Pershing Square finished 2020 up 70 percent.

Forbes puts Ackman's net worth at $8.8 billion. Pershing Square manages $35 billion.

The man who lost $5 billion and disappeared from the Forbes 400 rebuilt everything because the same conviction that cost him $5 billion was the only thing that could turn $27 million into $2.6 billion.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@davidbeaudry The $27 million COVID trade was the correction. He didn't just size wrong, he learned what right sizing looks like.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

ill Ackman lost $4 billion on one trade. Then lost $1 billion on another. Then turned $27 million into $2.6 billion in three weeks.

He went to Harvard. Graduated magna cum laude. Got an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 2004 he started Pershing Square Capital Management with $54 million.

He made bets nobody else would make. Canadian Pacific Railway. He bought a stake, replaced the board, and the stock tripled. Wall Street started calling him one of the best investors alive.

Then came Valeant.

In 2015 he bought shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals at $161 a share. The stock fell 96 percent. He was losing $7.7 million every day the market was open. For two years. He sold in March 2017 at $11 a share. Total loss: nearly $4 billion.

He called it one very big mistake.

While Valeant was bleeding he was fighting another war. In December 2012 he had taken a $1 billion short position against Herbalife. Called it a pyramid scheme on live television.

Carl Icahn took the other side. Bought a quarter of the company. The stock doubled. In February 2018 Ackman closed the position. Another billion gone.

$5 billion in losses. He fell off the Forbes 400. Wall Street wrote him off.

Then COVID hit.

In late February 2020 he spent $27 million on credit default swaps. Insurance against a market collapse. Almost nobody on Wall Street was hedging yet. He was.

On March 18 he called into CNBC. Told viewers that hell is coming. That America needs to shut down for 30 days or the economy is finished.

Five days later he closed the trade. The $27 million was now $2.6 billion. A 96x return.

Then he took the $2.6 billion and bought stocks the same week the market hit bottom. Starbucks. Hilton. Lowe's. Berkshire Hathaway.

Pershing Square finished 2020 up 70 percent.

Forbes puts Ackman's net worth at $8.8 billion. Pershing Square manages $35 billion.

The man who lost $5 billion and disappeared from the Forbes 400 rebuilt everything because the same conviction that cost him $5 billion was the only thing that could turn $27 million into $2.6 billion.

[OkMan @HeroOkMan]

https://t.co/89fBCEGa1B

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@Fenzoox That's the part nobody copies. Losing $5 billion and still having the nerve to put $27 million on the line again.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@HeroOkMan Same muscle, different trade. Most people would've lost the muscle after Valeant.

[Dr.Bryte @thedrbryte]

@HeroOkMan Most people stay trapped in Mechanism 1 and call it life.