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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
"stockpickers actually showed skill when buying. However, the sales by these institutional investors cost them as much as a full percentage point of yearly returns compared simply selling holdings at random" bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
"If you buy something because it’s undervalued, then you have to think about selling it when it approaches your calculation of its intrinsic value. That’s hard. But if you buy a few great companies, then you can sit on your ass. That’s a good thing.”
"Warren and I never tried to make money out of dumb buyers. We tried to make money buying. If we were selling horse shit we didn't want to pretend it was a cure for arthritis. It's better to go through our life than theirs."
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More from @trengriffin see all

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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
"Berkshire held $112B at year end in U.S. Treasury bills and other cash equivalents, and another $20B in miscellaneous fixed-income instruments. We … always hold at least $20B in cash equivalents to guard against external calamities." Warren Buffett today berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2018lt…
Berkshire reported a 71% gain in fourth-quarter operating profits (operating profits rose to $5.7B). Why not invest more of the cash in existing business in the BRK portfolio like Precision Castparts? Because incremental investments to not exceeed the opportunity cost of capital.
"The bulk of Berkshire’s stock buybacks in the fourth quarter occurred between Dec. 13 and Dec. 24." Do you recall what was happening during that period? Berkshire repurchased $418M during the quarter. For example, 790 class A shares at average price of around $296K per share.
Read 4 tweets
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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
John Malone famously once said: "I used to go to shareholder meetings and someone would ask about earnings, and I’d say, ‘I think you’re in the wrong meeting.’ "It’s not about earnings, it’s about wealth creation and levered cash-flow growth."
If a Berkshire shareholder expects Buffett, Munger and the <30 people at headquarters in Omaha will manage all the businesses in their portfolio, they are similarly "in the wrong meeting." That isn't how the Berkshire system works. If you don't like it, then sell the stock.
Charlie Munger: “We have extreme centralization at headquarters where a single person makes all the capital allocation decisions, and we have decentralization among our operations without a big bureaucracy. That’s the Berkshire Hathaway model.” They value the trade off.
Read 3 tweets
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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
"Our holdings [are] an assembly of companies that we partly own and that, on a weighted basis, are earning about 20% on the net tangible equity capital required to run their businesses... without employing excessive levels of debt." 2019 BTK Letter sc.cnbcfm.com/applications/c…
"Viewed as a group, these [Berkshire] businesses earned pre-tax income in 2018 of $20.8 billion, a 24% increase over 2017. Acquisitions we made in 2018 delivered only a trivial amount of that gain." "Our job is to put the money retained to good use..." google.com/amp/s/25iq.com…
The size of the Berkshire portfolio is massive. Perfection is never possible nor is it necessary. "When you get a seamless web of deserved trust, you get enormous efficiencies. … Every once in a while, it doesn’t work..." But gains greatly outweigh costs. google.com/amp/s/25iq.com…
Read 3 tweets

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Caitlin Long 🔑
@CaitlinLong_
1/ BOOM! #Wyoming just recognized clear, direct property rights for #digitalassets by passing SF125! This means #blockchain cos will prob want to apply WY law to your contracts, domicile here, &/or have a physical presence here. Thx again to the army of ppl who helped over months
2/ As @TraceMayer says, v impt for broad adoption of #crypto that it be “backwards-compatible w/ law.” SF125 enables that. Bill was amended w/ improvements & latest is here: wyoleg.gov/Legislation/20…. Goes to @GordonGovernor for signature & could officially become law next week
3/ I'll publish analysis after it officially becomes law, but here's the key: #Wyoming law recognizes property rights in the DIRECT ownership of #digitalassets. Property law in US is determined by states, not the feds. WY not only did it first but did it right!! This applies to
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Baba97
@Baba9773
1) Yesterday was a perfect example of the effects of MAGAnomics between Wall Street versus Main Street. On the Wall Street side, the DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all dropped by about 2%. What caused the drop had absolutely nothing to do with our economy. China 🇨🇳 saw their retail
2) numbers drop to a low they haven’t seen since 2003. France 🇫🇷 and the rest of the European Union 🇪🇺 will most likely be in a recession starting in 2019.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

From the article linked above:

China’s economy slowed again in November as retail sales and
3) industrial production weakened, creating a challenging backdrop for policy makers who gather next week to set the tone for the year at their annual Economic Work Conference in Beijing.

Industrial production growth decelerated to 5.4 percent, below all 38 economists’
Read 13 tweets
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Baba97
@Baba9773
1) @unseen1_unseen @Peoples_Pundit @Barnes_Law @TheLastRefuge2 @LarrySchweikart @Varneyco @MariaBartiromo @cvpayne @LouDobbs
Reality is coming home to roost for China 🇨🇳 as well as the entire European Union 🇪🇺. Riding into work today I was listening to Bloomberg Radio and
2) couldn’t stop 🛑 laughing 😂 as they were saying that China 🇨🇳 has seen their lowest retail sales since 2003 and France 🇫🇷 and the rest of the European Union 🇪🇺 will most likely be in a recession starting in 2019. They went on to say that the markets are realizing that global
3) growth is shrinking.

The best part was the fact that they had to admit that the USA 🇺🇸 is still very strong compared to everywhere else.

MAGAnomics and America First is the reason why and we all know it.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

From the article linked above:

China’s
Read 17 tweets
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Tim Copeland
@Timccopeland
I'm at a crypto event with reps from the Bank of England, HM Treasury, FCA, Ripple, and Prime Factor Capital. You think crypto is going away? These people are discussing how to implement it now. #crypto #bitcoin @ripple @bankofengland @TheFCA @hmtreasury
One study shows 43% of investors (mostly asset managers) are invested in crypto. 33% of transactions were in the OTC market. #crypto #investors
Almost all panelists refer to "crypto assets" not cryptocurrencies #cryptoassets #crypto
Read 6 tweets
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Scott Lincicome
@scottlincicome
Out today! My new, chart-rich paper on trade, globalization & US public opinion:
cato.org/publications/f…
So now a thread on why I wrote this paper - the data for which were surprisingly difficult to gather (thanks, @pewresearch, @Gallup, @ChicagoCouncil, etc for the help!) - and what it reveals /2
The malleability of US public opinion on trade is something I first noticed years ago (and briefly discussed in this paper from 2011: cato.org/publications/f…). Trade polls have long fluctuated depending on politics, rhetoric & the economy. /3
Read 20 tweets
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Millennial Macro
@MillennialMacro
#demographics #militaries #economies #currencies
#USA
- Best demographics
- Largest military
- Largest economy
- Most used currency
- Liquid financial markets
- Open capital account
- Rule of law
- Best geography
- Can be self sufficient if required
- Not trade dependent
#USA
Top trade partners as of 30 June 2018:
- China: 15.2% (strategic competitor)
- Canada: 15.1%
- Mexico: 14.6%
- Japan: 5.1%
- Germany: 4.4%

The next 10 years could result in the below:
- Mexico (25%)
- Canada (20%
- Japan (7%)
- South Korea (5%)
- Great Britain (4%)
#USA
Bring the manufacturing (jobs) home while negatively impacting China's economy.
forbes.com/sites/kenrapoz…
cebglobal.com/talentdaily/au…
irishtimes.com/business/econo…
Read 131 tweets

Trending hashtags

#WallSt #kingdollar #drugdevelopment #bitcoin #JPY #tariffs #nowreading #doomandgloom #EuropeSlowing #EU #growthslowing #cryptocurrencies #transparency #China #mining #LearningTogether #ChinaSlowing #Russia #SouthKorea #US #Disgorgement #Uruguay #Sales #USA #currency
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