“We focus first on good businesses, with high returns on capital, barriers to entry and significant free cash flow generation over a economic cycle. If you’re right about the business, time should be your friend, so other factors are not so important!”

Goto to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ if you cannot view this playable audio posting to download your quicktime player.

If you plug-in for Quicktime is successfuly installed, you wud get a image like the above.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, chairman and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway respectively – when asked during their yearly annual shareholders’ meeting held recently in Omaha, Nebraska. “Do you worry about the Europe situations ?”

Click here for full report.

He said “I don’t waste worrying about Europe”. Buffett bought eight European stocks last fall. And he said simply of the crisis in European sovereign debt, “I don’t know how it plays out in Europe… but I would totally avoid buying medium- and long-term government bonds, our own or other countries’.”

In fact, Buffett and Munger don’t waste time worrying about any macro concerns (except one – inflation). Buffett said that in the 47 years he and Munger have been running Berkshire, “We’ve never talked about macro stuff.” Never. In 47 years. That’s interesting.

Another legendary investor – Peter Lynch of Fidelity. Lynch once famously said, “I spend about 15 minutes a year on economic analysis. The way you lose money in the stock market is to start off with an economic picture. I also spend 15 minutes a year on where the stock market is going.”

So if you are longer term investor like Buffett or Lynch, you should not worry about the macro situation happening in Europe and globally.

“Nobody waves a flag at the top of the market”

Don’s expect a clear signal when the market is about to change direction. The reason why such a change happens is only obvious with the benefit of hindsight: at the time, being a contrarian is lonely. This is particularly apples to brokers’ analysts, who rarely risk their reputation by recommendaing a purchase or a sale until the price has move +50% or -50%.

- Max King -

Goto to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ if you cannot view this playable audio posting to download your quicktime player.

If you plug-in for Quicktime is successfuly installed, you wud get a image like the above.

FYI, Bill and myself are fund managers with PCM. Everyday we have to deal with scary clients and investors about their portfolio – considering how volatile the stock market has been in the past months.

Our tasks at hand are to calm the jittery investors and educate them about the facts and not hearsay here or there. If they are investing for the longer term like how Warren Buffett invest his personal stakes, read on this article from Bloomberg. An interesting piece, I must say.

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPad.

Buffett’s Son Hated Dealing With Irate Investors

May 6 (Bloomberg) — Howard Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. director and potential successor to his father Warren Buffett as chairman, said a previous job where he dealt with angry investors helped inform his advice for shareholders.

(Click here for story on Howard Buffett, future chairman of Berkshire Hathaway to replace his father.)

“If you don’t like Berkshire, don’t buy it,” Howard Buffett said today in Omaha, Nebraska, during an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop” program with Betty Liu.

Howard Buffett, 57, was addressing investor concerns about his father’s political activism. Berkshire hasn’t been hurt, he said, by Warren Buffett’s support of President Barack Obama and his push for higher taxes on the wealthy. The younger Buffett cited his experience in the early 1990s as head of investor relations for Archer Daniels Midland Co. and his distaste for speaking with unhappy shareholders.

“I hated that, but it was part of my job,” he said. “You get these guys calling, they’re mad at you, they want answers and you know you can’t answer it.”

Berkshire, which Warren Buffett has led for 42 years, doesn’t have an investor-relations department and executives don’t court Wall Street analysts with quarterly conference calls and presentations. Shareholders rely on the annual meeting, which draws tens of thousands of people to Omaha each year, to express their views and get feedback from management.

At ADM, the world’s largest grain processor, Howard Buffett said he was troubled by repeat calls from critical investors.

‘Don’t Call Me Again’

After one investor called about 15 times over a year and a half, Buffett said he asked the man how many shares he owned. According to Buffett, whose father is the world’s third-richest person, the investor said he owned 20 shares.

“I’ll tell you what,” Buffett said, recalling what he told the investor. “Take the market price today, add 5 percent, and I’ll buy your shares, and don’t call me again.” The investor never called back.

Warren Buffett was asked repeatedly to explain his stance on different facets of tax policy during yesterday’s meeting. One investor posed the question of whether the billionaire, who has traded barbs with Republicans on taxes over the past year, might be discouraging investors who disagree with his personal views from buying Berkshire stock. The question drew applause.

Buffett, 81, replied that his responsibilities at Berkshire, which include chief executive officer and head of investments, don’t require him to put his “citizenship in a blind trust.”

Natural Disasters

Berkshire has underperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in six of the last seven quarters. The company has faced insurance claims tied to natural disasters and investor concerns about management succession. Berkshire has said it identified the next CEO without specifying who it is or setting a timeline for the transition. Warren Buffett has said his son would make a good non-executive chairman.

Buffett, the father, has attracted investors to Berkshire by expanding the company from textiles to industries spanning insurance, consumer goods and utilities. In addition to the meetings, Buffett communicates with investors through annual letters and a statement of principles he calls the Berkshire “owner’s manual.” In his 1999 letter, Buffett set out his leadership approach after welcoming new investors.

“We hope also that these new holders find that our owner’s manual and annual reports offer them more insights and information about Berkshire than they garner about other companies from the investor-relations departments that these corporations typically maintain,” Warren Buffett said. “But if it is ‘earnings guidance’ or the like that shareholders or analysts seek, we will simply guide them to our public documents.”

Housing globally is crawling back to fair price according the Economist. Click here.

Judging from long term prices, the prices is getting better in US, Europe and part of the certain countries. However, the prices are getting way above above most average Joe who can afford them.

“Look for CEO below fifty”

If you are investing in technology companies (Bill + Martin avoid it), look for a CEO under fifty years old. Technology is a fast paced biz. While age shows a certain amt of maturity and experience, I found lot of CEO begin to falter once they hit a certain benchmark. – Mike Kwatinetz -

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If you plug-in for Quicktime is successfuly installed, you wud get a image like the above.

This model of a beautiful A Lange & Sohne Saxonia White Gold time (Model 315.026) piece is a desired fine watch for every men’s dream. It features a mechanical automatic movement with a 48-hour power reserve; silver dial with Lange’s patented large date display; small seconds subdial; sapphire-crystal, transparent case back; and 37mm, 18k white gold case on a hand-stitched, black crocodile strap with an 18k white gold deployant clasp.

With the gold prices going higher, this Saxonia White Gold will worth more in coming years – a truly appreciating time piece that look good on your wrist and flatten your bank account shud you sell it later.

Price :> $ 20,000
Available : Discontinued. Sincere Watch Gallery does distribute some of the newer model of A Lange & Sohne.

Here is the one of the latest L&S Saxonia model. I cant wait to see them in the time piece gallery here in Sincere Fine Watches in StarHill Gallery (if they carried them at all)

This featured White Gold model 315.026 has been discontinued and it has been replaced by the newer model like below L & S DatoGraph Up & Down.

1. The case diameter is now 41 mm while the original was 39 mm.

2. Power reserve is 60 hours compared to 36 hours, thanks to a larger mainspring.

3. All the Roman numerals on the dials have been replaced with baton indices.

4. The new L951.6 calibre uses the in-house Lange balance wheel and hairspring first used for the Double Split.

Goto A Lange & Sohne Facebook to view them.

http://www.facebook.com/LangeSoehne or

http://www.alange-soehne.com/cms/en/index.html

History of A Lange & Sohne (from Wikipedia)

A. Lange & Söhne is a trademark of German watchmaking company Lange Uhren GmbH (“Lange”), a subsidiary of Richemont SA. Lange pocket and wrist watches are among the finest in the world, competing with watches produced by Swiss firms such as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.
History

Lange was founded in 1845 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in the town of Glashütte, near Dresden, in the eastern state of Saxony. Under Ferdinand, and then, following his death, his sons Emil and Richard, Lange produced quality pocket watches, the company’s very best products generally being given the “1A” designation. Under subsequent generations of the Lange family the company continued to produce pocket watches and, like many German watch makers, produced special over-sized wrist watches for use by German airmen in World War II.

In 1948, the post-war Soviet administration expropriated the company’s property, and the Lange brand ceased to exist. However, in 1990, following the collapse of the East German government, the founder’s great-grandson, Walter Lange, together with watch industry executive Günter Blümlein, restored the company with the assistance of several Swiss watch manufacturers, including IWC and Jaeger Le Coultre. The refounded Lange, again operating from Glashütte, presented its first range of wrist watches in 1994. Today, A. Lange & Söhne (litt. A. Lange & Sons) wrist watches are sold globally and Lange, like IWC, is a member of the Richemont group.
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You cannot get this White Gold Classic Saxonia from the A.D Malaysia. But try the internet.

Overall, I feel this watch is for those certain ppl with feeling and personality who appreciate the finest things in life.

- Martin -

An article in the US press confirmed that the US is no longer a magnet for immigrants.

Net illegal immigration into the US (netted out against those who go home) is now zero.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/us/more-us-children-of-immigrants-are-leaving-us.html?pagewanted=all

And now The New York Times reports that children of immigrants are going home:

In growing numbers, experts say, highly educated children of immigrants to the United States are uprooting themselves and moving to their ancestral countries. They are embracing homelands that their parents once spurned but that are now economic powers.

Enterprising Americans have always sought opportunities abroad. But this new wave underscores the evolving nature of global migration, and the challenges to American economic supremacy and competitiveness.

In interviews, many of these Americans said they did not know how long they would live abroad; some said it was possible that they would remain expatriates for many years, if not for the rest of their lives.

Their decisions to leave have, in many cases, troubled their immigrant parents. Yet most said they had been pushed by the dismal hiring climate in the United States or pulled by prospects abroad.

“Markets are opening; people are coming up with ideas every day; there’s so much opportunity to mold and create,” said Mr. Kapadia, now a researcher at Gateway House, a new foreign-policy research organization in Mumbai. “People here are running much faster than the people in Washington.”

For generations, the world’s less-developed countries have suffered so-called brain drain — the flight of many of their best and brightest to the West. That has not stopped, but now a reverse flow has begun, particularly to countries like China and India and, to a lesser extent, Brazil and Russia.

Some scholars and business leaders contend that this emigration does not necessarily bode ill for the United States. They say young entrepreneurs and highly educated professionals sow American knowledge and skills abroad. At the same time, these workers acquire experience overseas and build networks that they can carry back to the United States or elsewhere — a pattern known as “brain circulation.”

Officials in India said they had seen a sharp increase in the arrival of people of Indian descent in recent years — including at least 100,000 in 2010 alone, said Alwyn Didar Singh, a former senior official at the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

Many of these Americans have been able to leverage family networks, language skills and cultural knowledge gleaned from growing up in immigrant households.

For many of these émigrés, the decision to relocate has confounded — and even angered — their immigrant parents.

When Jason Y. Lee, who was born in Taiwan and raised in the United States, told his parents during college that he wanted to visit Hong Kong, his father refused to pay for the plane ticket.

“His mind-set was, ‘I worked so hard to bring you to America and now you want to go back to China?’ ” recalled Mr. Lee, 29.

Since then, Mr. Lee has started an import-export business between the United States and China; studied in Shanghai; worked for investment banks in New York and Singapore; and created an international job-search Web site in India. He works for an investment firm in Singapore. His father’s opposition has softened.

Source: Daily Reckoning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/us/more-us-children-of-immigrants-are-leaving-us.html?pagewanted=all

“Investment is about risk management not prediction”

Here’s a prediction: if anyone really can make consistently successful forecasts, he or she

a) won’t be reading this book and

b) will have retired in complete luxury. For the rest of us, we need to decide for ourselves about the level of risk we are willing to accept. It’s nice to be able to boast about quick profit you have just made on a stock.

But serious investment is much more mundane. It’s about managing risk.

- Paul Ormerod -

Phillip Capital Mgmt S.B.