Checking in with the new Berkshire board

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Hello, just checking in on the new Berkshire board.

So in the UK, we have a political crisis causing a run on the pound and forced selling by pension schemes who appear to have been using leverage.

Putin causing all kinds of problems.

And of course there is the inflation problem and rising interest rates. And the bear market…

Personally, I have been quite lucky of late. Living in the UK and being in Berkshire has worked well. With the falling pound offsetting the decline in the share price of Berkshire. But of course, the currency gains are 100% luck and can reverse just as quickly.

Nothing much appears to have changed with how Berkshire Hathaway is run, unsurprisingly in a good way. It’s good to see some of the cash being deployed. And although the share price is lower, value is been created that we know will show up in the long-term and that’s what counts. Good to see Greg Able buy shares in Berkshire with his own money and no surprise there. High class and smart.

No doubt Buffett continues to allocate capital as everything gets cheaper.

Although there may be very difficult times ahead which have terrible consequences for people who might be Berkshire customers, Berkshire’s Balance Sheet, financial strength and culture of conservatism will no doubt help us swim against the tide as Charlie might say.

Berkshire keeps making progress slow and steady and occasionally in sprints. Cool heads that just stick to their knitting. Nothing fancy. Trying to avoid bad things and keep swimming.

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Thanks Limey. SO what is your back-up the truck price on BRKB and why?

Cheers

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Limey :rofl:. I’m actually Irish :shamrock: or strictly speaking Northern Irish. We are currently occupied and technically part of the U.K. but that’s a whole other story.

Back up the truck price for Berkshire? I’d say at the current $600 Billion price less $100 Billion of cash looks attractive against full system wide owner earnings of $50/55 Billion and growing. I’d expect to get a nice 10%+ return from here long term. If it gets cheaper in a grinding bear market that return goes up on new purchases, baring any distribution to earnings. My equities allocation to Berkshire is around 85% these days, so I guess my truck is already backed up.

Would not be surprised to see the price go down over the next 12 to 18 months along with the whole market. But if we can avoid some of the really bad risks like economic collapse, nuclear war etc such a decline in price won’t matter 10 or 20 years from now.

My red lines are:

  1. Don’t become a forced seller (avoid leverage, options)
  2. Don’t sell out of fear of what might happen to the price in the short term
  3. Sell if the price got way higher than intrinsic value
  4. Continue to buy from monthly savings from income less costs
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