Secrets in Plain Sight: Business & Investing Secrets of Warren Buffett, 2012 Edition (eBooks on Investing Series)

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UPDATED MARCH 2012

“Warren Buffett ... is our most successful investor and this book explains why. A great way to start on your path to prosperity.”
– Larry Kudlow, host of The Kudlow Report and Morning Call on CNBC.

“The most insightful analysis of Buffett and Berkshire I’ve ever read.”
– Vitaliy N. Katsenelson, author of the “Little Book on Sideways Markets.”

“An excellent, easy-to-read book that provides insight into how Warren Buffett works his magic. I am buying copies for my kids who are in their 20’s. Might as well start young at understanding how to manage and make money.”
—Kim Wisckol, retired executive, Hewlett-Packard Company.

“Clear-eyed, honest and invaluable. Jeff Matthews is a great writer.”
—Bethany McLean, author of “The Smartest Guys In The Room.”


HOW DID WARREN BUFFETT DO IT?

How did Warren Buffett become the world's richest man? The greatest investor of our times? America's most successful business executive? Jeff Matthews, a 30-year Wall Street veteran and incisive Buffett watcher, travels to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting each year to unlock the “secrets” behind Buffett’s success as an investor and CEO. Matthews's findings: Buffett’s "secrets" are in plain sight, and 42 of them are in this book, including secrets uncovered at the 2011 annual meeting and from Buffett's activities in early 2012. Secrets include:

SECRET # 9: READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN

This is the first advice Warren Buffett gives to aspiring investors, and he isn’t kidding. “By the age of 10,” he says, “I’d read every book in the Omaha Public Library with the word ‘finance’ in the title, some twice.” Buffett’s reading habits did not stop there: he still reads thousands of financial statements and annual reports each year, and acquaintances who’ve shared rides on NetJets with Buffett report that he’ll chitchat briefly and then start reading from a stack of material. But Buffett doesn’t steer investors toward any particular investment style. Instead, he advises reading everything possible to find the style that suits you. Says the world’s best investor: “If it turns you on, it probably will work for you.”

SECRET #13: BE OPEN-MINDED. YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE YOU WILL FIND OPPORTUNITY.

Buffett originally spurned an opportunity to buy a small California-based boxed chocolate maker in the early 1970s. “I don’t think we want to be in the candy business,” he told the caller. At the time, Berkshire was mainly an insurance company. After looking hard at the numbers, however, and with the encouragement of his California-based business partner, Charlie Munger, Buffett changed his mind and they bought See’s Candies for a mere $25 million. It was one of the greatest acquisitions any company would ever make, and it happened because Warren Buffett was open-minded.

SECRET #15: LOOK FOR LOLLAPALOOZA IDEAS.

Buffett and Munger believe another key to investment success is to assiduously search for a few “lollapalooza” ideas … and when you do find them, make a major commitment. “You really want one that you don’t have to sell,” says Charlie Munger. “Then you can sit on your a__ for 30 years.”

SECRET #30: WORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING—NOBODY ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU.

“I don’t want to have the chances of having something go wrong to be slim, I wanna have it be none,” says Warren Buffett. “There’s no way I can assign that to a risk committee.” It is no coincidence that Berkshire Hathaway was one of the few financial companies in the world that required no bailout during the crisis. Says Buffett, “I worry about everything at Berkshire.”


JEFF MATTHEWS OFFERS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

Jeff Matthews is not like most Buffett watchers, and this book is not like most Buffett books: it is an easy to read, even-handed evaluation of Warren Buffett’s business and investing acumen by an astute, analytical value-based investment manager. It is also the first and only "updatable" Buffett book.


FREE UPDATES IN 2012

Updates are free to purchasers of this book.

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The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition

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The definitive work concerning Warren Buffett and intelligent investment philosophy, this is a collection of Buffett's letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway written over the past few decades that together furnish an enormously valuable informal education. The letters distill in plain words all the basic principles of sound business practices. They are arranged and introduced by a leading apostle of the 'value' school and noted scholar, Lawrence Cunningham.

What's new in the second edition? This new edition has extensive additional content that highlights topics of vital national or international significance, including:
- the proliferation of stock option compensation and excessive CEO pay;
- Berkshire s shareholder-designated contribution program and the controversy over the abortion issue that led to its termination;
- the explosion of derivative financial instruments and related perils and how Berkshire dealt with managing a sizable portfolio of them after buying Gen Re;
- the dramatic increase in foreign currency trading in the past five years along with the astonishing growth in the US trade deficit;
- management succession at Berkshire Hathaway as Mr. Buffett ages;
- commentary on his philanthropic thinking in giving his entire fortune to charities; and
- the fairness and other matters concerning taxation of corporations.

Here in one place are the priceless pearls of business and investment wisdom, woven into a delightful narrative on the major topics concerning both managers and investors. These timeless lessons are useful to members of a wide range of professions, including law, accounting, finance and management, and provide rich teaching materials for courses in those fields.

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The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

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Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”

Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world’s richest man, all from the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of this fits the term “simple.”

When Alice Schroeder met Warren Buffett she was an insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer known for her keen perception and business acumen. Her writings on finance impressed him, and as she came to know him she realized that while much had been written on the subject of his investing style, no one had moved beyond that to explore his larger philosophy, which is bound up in a complex personality and the details of his life. Out of this came his decision to cooperate with her on the book about himself that he would never write.

Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer’s questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates—opening his files, recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his wealth may be, Buffett’s legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people’s lives. This book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American success story of our time.


From the Hardcover edition.

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The Intelligent Investor, Rev. Ed

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More than one million hardcovers sold
Now available for the first time in paperback!

The Classic Text Annotated to Update Graham's Timeless Wisdom for Today's Market Conditions

The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.

Over the years, market developments have proven the wisdom of Graham's strategies. While preserving the integrity of Graham's original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today's market, draws parallels between Graham's examples and today's financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham's principles.

Vital and indispensable, this HarperBusiness Essentials edition of The Intelligent Investor is the most important book you will ever read on how to reach your financial goals.

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Among the library of investment books promising no-fail strategies for riches, Benjamin Graham's classic, The Intelligent Investor, offers no guarantees or gimmicks but overflows with the wisdom at the core of all good portfolio management.

The hallmark of Graham's philosophy is not profit maximization but loss minimization. In this respect, The Intelligent Investor is a book for true investors, not speculators or day traders. He provides, "in a form suitable for the laymen, guidance in adoption and execution of an investment policy" (1). This policy is inherently for the longer term and requires a commitment of effort. Where the speculator follows market trends, the investor uses discipline, research, and his analytical ability to make unpopular but sound investments in bargains relative to current asset value. Graham coaches the investor to develop a rational plan for buying stocks and bonds, and he argues that this plan must be a bulwark against emotional behavior that will always be tempting during abrupt bull and bear markets.

Since it was first published in 1949, Graham's investment guide has sold over a million copies and has been praised by such luminaries as Warren E. Buffet as "the best book on investing ever written." These accolades are well deserved. In its new form--with commentary on each chapter and extensive footnotes prepared by senior Money editor, Jason Zweig--the classic is now updated in light of changes in investment vehicles and market activities since 1972. What remains is a better book. Graham's sage advice, analytical guides, and cautionary tales are still valid for the contemporary investor, and Zweig's commentaries demonstrate the relevance of Graham's principles in light of 1990s and early twenty-first century market trends. --Patrick O'Kelley

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More than one million hardcovers sold
Now available for the first time in paperback!

The Classic Text Annotated to Update Graham's Timeless Wisdom for Today's Market Conditions

The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.

Over the years, market developments have proven the wisdom of Graham's strategies. While preserving the integrity of Graham's original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today's market, draws parallels between Graham's examples and today's financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham's principles.

Vital and indispensable, this HarperBusiness Essentials edition of The Intelligent Investor is the most important book you will ever read on how to reach your financial goals.

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Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist

Description

Since its hardcover publication in August of 1995, Buffett has appeared on the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Newsday and Business Week bestseller lists. The incredible landmark portrait of Warren Buffett's uniquely American life is now available in paperback, revised and updated by the author.

Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett amassed one of the epochal fortunes of the twentieth century--an astounding net worth of $10 billion, and counting. His awesome investment record has made him a cult figure popularly known for his seeming contradictions: a billionaire who has a modest lifestyle, a phenomenally successful investor who eschews the revolving-door trading of modern Wall Street, a brilliant dealmaker who cultivates a homespun aura.

Journalist Roger Lowenstein draws on three years of unprecedented access to Buffett's family, friends, and colleagues to provide the first definitive, inside account of the life and career of this American original. Buffett  explains Buffett's' investment strategy--a long-term philosophy grounded in buying stock in companies that are undervalued on the market and hanging on until their worth invariably surfaces--and shows how it is a reflection of his inner self.

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Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett amassed one of the epochal fortunes of the 20th century -- an astounding net worth of $10 billion and counting. That awesome record has made him a cult figure.

This illuminating biography reveals a man whose conscientiousness, integrity, and good humor exist alongside an odd emotional isolation. Buffett also masterfully traces his life: his enormously successful partnership; his early, inspired investments in American Express and Geico; his companionship and investment with Katharine Graham of the Washington Post; his role in the Capital Cities purchase of ABC; his unique relationship with his wife and mistress; and his rescue of the scandal-ridden Salomon Brothers.

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The Warren Buffett Way (Wiley Investment Classic)

Description

Buffett is back . . . and better than before!

A decade has passed since the book that introduced the world to Warren Buffett -- The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom -- first appeared. That groundbreaking book spent 21 weeks on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list and sold over 1 million copies.

Since then, Warren Buffett has solidified his reputation as the greatest investor of all time -- becoming even richer and more successful, despite the wild fluctuation of the markets. How does this value investing legend continue to do it? That's where Robert Hagstrom and the Second Edition of The Warren Buffet Way come in. This edition is a completely revised and updated look at the Oracle of Omaha -- comprising Buffett's numerous investments and accomplishments over the past ten years, as well as the timeless and highly successful investment strategies and techniques he has always used to come out a market winner. This edition is especially accessible as Buffett's basic tenets of investing are presented and illuminated with relevant and up to date examples.

Order your copy today!

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