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Thanks +
Giving
Dale Gives
Thanks 1. Stock Market Forecasters It's got to be very difficult figuring out how the economy, interest rates, and the performance of 500 stocks will drive the direction of the S&P 500. All that running around the market forecasters do makes buying a great company only once in a while seem almost easy. To those who were calling for Dow 9000 by Thanksgiving, thanks for making investors feel a little better about spending their time on company research and not on guessing about the market. 2. Companies Opening Up Conference Calls While the trend has a long way to go, it is heartening to see companies get away from the ridiculous practice of locking out individual investors from their conference calls. Walt Disney Co. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") end if %> is still a notable example of a widely held company that does not open its calls to its owners, partly because the company thinks individual investors are not sophisticated enough. Thankfully, many other companies don't take the view that owners are not due an honest discussion of what is going on at their company while institutions, many of which don't even own the company's shares, are entitled to participate in those conversations four times a year. 3. Straightforward Managements A particular hallmark of a great management is an ability to deal in a straightforward manner with problems facing their business. How many companies talk about "temporary" problems that last for years? What about the recent discussion of Green Tree Financial <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GNT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GNT)") end if %> on its problems? The company was very quick to highlight that it wasn't taking a charge to earnings, just an addition to reserves. It was also quick to point out that it was a non-cash charge. The company wasn't so quick to highlight that a huge chunk of its earnings are "non-cash" and that the non-cash charge that it was taking was really an offset to earnings that it had booked in prior periods. Playing with semantics in such a way should scream to investors, "Stay away!" even if Green Tree goes up 500% in the next 10 years. Stick with managements that aren't going to play you for a dummy. Submitted for your perusal at http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html, Berkshire Hathaway's <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B)") end if %>Chairman discusses the mistakes that he and the company made during the year. Most other companies will just blow sunshine your way in their annual report or Chair's letter. 4. Living in the United States Besides the obvious advantages of not being dragged away in the middle of the night for holding different political beliefs, the structure of the Securities and Exchange Commission is another huge benefit to being an American. In other countries, investors are treated to incomplete reports of their company's results every half-year or year. Now, an investor should talk a long-term view of things, but most private owners get to have a look at a balance sheet and income statement, as well as hear management's comments, more than twice a year. In countries like Great Britain, the feudal system still exists for investors. Investors send their homage, or equity capital, to managements who are supposed to act in their investors', or vassals', best interests. A once-yearly update and a once-yearly release of comprehensive financials really doesn't cut the mustard for most investors. 5. Fooldom As imperfect as Fooldom is, the debate is open and it is a meritocracy. We don't care if you're 16 or 100, your ideas and analysis stand on their own. You don't have to clear your comments through a compliance officer who will cut out the meat of your arguments. You will stand before your peers, though, who will reject your ideas if they're untruthful or hype-ridden. Contrary to the beliefs of those who don't understand the Internet, not everyone is stupid enough to go out and blow their life's savings based on what one or 100 hypesters are saying on an Internet bulletin board. Fooldom strives to equip people to make their own judgements. Fooldom also provides a forum that is open to hypester freaks and intelligent analysts alike. Like democracy, the Internet and the Fool can be messy, but were crafted with the ultimate intent to free people from "Wisdom," ignorance, and tyranny. Next: Selena Maranjian Gives Thanks
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