FOOL ON THE HILL
An Investment Opinion

It Takes a Market to Raise a Child

By Bill Mann (TMF Otter)
December 31, 1999

Dear Hannah,

Tomorrow will be the beginning of the second millennium in your life. The day after will be the start of the third week of your life. You have many, many weeks yet to go, but unless there are some really astounding medical breakthroughs, you most likely will be entering the last millennium of your life. If you really want, next year we can celebrate the REAL changing of the millennium, but to me there is something poetic about the advent of the year 2000 that 2001 will not be able to match.

You are a lucky young lady, as you have already changed the lives of all of those around you. You created my role as dad, you mother's as mom, you created four grandparents and five aunts and uncles. We are your inheritance -- you're stuck with us. You inherited your mother's beauty, and my height. You inherit a dad who has a habit of telling the same story over and over, something I got from my father. It also seems that you have inherited my habit at waking up at all hours of the night, but we'll see if that one sticks.

These are the people who will take care of you as you grow, there are others, friends of ours who will treat you as their own. Should anything happen to your mom and me, I am certain you will be well cared for. That makes me happy.

There are a few others to whom I wish to introduce you. You see, you were born an investor in some of the best companies on the planet. You will soon have your own investment account with your own securities in it. These securities are the ones we believe will take care of you the best over the longest period of time. In all likelihood you will not meet the people in charge of these companies, but they are your uncles and aunts as well. We have entrusted them to help care for you, and you in turn, when you come of age, can decide whether they have done a good job or not. I have confidence that these uncles, aunts, and their helpers will take their jobs as guardians of your future very seriously.

Your first Uncle is Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A)") end if %>. Uncle Warren will see an incredible streak of having his company's book value beating the annual returns of the Standard & Poor's 500 end today, but he is the one who will be there for you should all of your other uncles and aunts let you down -- he will always be looking to do things for your benefit. Uncle Warren has bought some things for you that you will love: Dairy Queen, See's Candies, Borsheim's Jewelry, Disney <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") end if %>, and Coca-Cola <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") end if %>, among some other things that probably won't interest a little girl as much. Uncle Warren doesn't talk very much, and does things his own way, a way that has been successful for more than five decades, a way that the majority of people still do not understand. Once a year, if you want, he will take you to a baseball game.

Then there is David Wetherell, Chairman of CMGi <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CMGI)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CMGI)") end if %>. You will never know a time in which there has not been an Internet. Whatever form it holds 20 years from now, you can be reasonably certain that Uncle David has had something to do with it. As I write this, people all over the world can see your baby pictures on eCircles, one of the Internet gems Uncle David discovered. Uncle David's style is somewhat similar to Uncle Warren's, though neither of them would admit it, and they work in different worlds. We selected Uncle David for his visionary approach to the Internet, and we believe that although he is in a demanding position that may make it seem as if he has forsaken you from time to time, in the end you will be in good hands with him.

Next is Uncle Jorma, from Finland. He's the one to ask when you are old enough to carry a mobile phone. In the mean time, his company, Nokia <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: NOK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: NOK)") end if %>, is going to connect the world. By the time you are old enough, it may be an historical fact that anyone did not have access to telecommunications. Uncle Jorma will have a lot to do with that as his company's phone and infrastructure efforts bring the miracle of long distance communications to the world's most remote places. Uncle Jorma (and that reminds me, I've got to get the story Baba Yaga and read it to you) has taken a confused, disjointed company and turned it into a visionary, tightly run organization. Uncle Jorma also has gone to unusual lengths to make sure that you will be taken care of, as Nokia is among the most shareholder friendly in the world. I entrust the safety of your mother to one of Uncle Jorma's phones. On that same phone I told your grandparents that you were born.

You also have one aunt, Aunt Margaret, but most people call her Meg. She runs a company called eBay <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: EBAY)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: EBAY)") end if %>, which I guarantee you will love to be a part of. If there is anything you could possibly want, Beanie Babies, Pikachu, a drop spreader, whatever, Aunt Meg will help you find it. If mommy leaves too much of the clothes shopping to your fashion-challenged father, Aunt Meg will help you get rid of it. Aunt Meg and her line of work has caused a bit of controversy in the months just prior to your birth, since some people do not believe that she does anything all that special. Don't listen to them. She and her team, particularly Uncle Pierre, have developed a gold-plated community of people who are very loyal to them. And they deserve it. You can be loyal to her too, because I am certain that in between now and when you are grown up she will have taken very good care of you.

You may never get the chance to meet these uncles and your aunt. I hope you do, though, because they will be a very important part of your life. They have been charged with doing their best to protect your interests and help provide for your future. Someday, when you graduate from college and prepare to enter adulthood with a firm financial foundation, you just might be able to send each of them a note thanking them for their influence on your life.

In the meantime, I'm just hoping you sleep a little more.

Foolanthropy '99: It's not too late to give!