Uncle John aka aikap resemblance, don’t live in someone else’s life, be yourself and don’t always quote uncle Warren, uncle Ben, uncle Philip’s quote, u are not them, these are their experience. You can’t duplicate, if can there are million of them in the market. they are handful of top notch investors. Ur result is far compatible to them. They managed hundreds of billion assets. They talk market listen.
“The strongest emotions in the marketplace are greed and fear. In rising markets, you can almost feel the greed tide begin. The greed itch begins when you see stocks move that you don’t own.
Then friends of yours have a stock that has doubled; or, if you have one that has doubled, they have one that has tripled. This is what produces bull market tops.
Obviously no one rationally would want to buy at the top, and yet enough people do. It is the unwillingness to be out of step. It is really quite amazing how time horizons and money goals can change.
Investors can start out tentatively after a market bath, and they buy something they hope will go up 50 percent in eighteen months.
But as the pace accelerates, 50 percent in eighteen months seems much too slow, when there are stocks around – owned by somebody else – that are going up 100% in six months.
Finally it all turns into a marvelous carmagnole that is great fun if you leave the party early. The same thing happens in reverse. When stocks start down, the tendency is to wait until they come back a little before lightening up.
They head down further, and the idea that you have made a mistake, that you have been betrayed by your own judgment, can be so paralyzing that you wait a little longer. Finally faith evaporates entirely.
If stocks were down 10 percent yesterday, they may be down 20 percent today. One day, when all the news is bad, you have to get rid of the filthy things which have treated you so cruelly. Again, it all ends in a kind of paroxysm that is no fun unless you have anticipated it.
No matter what role the investor has started with, in a climax on one side or the other the role melts into the crowd role of greed and fear.
The only real protection against all the vagaries of identity playing, and against the final role of being part of the crowd when it stampeded, is to have an identity so firm it is not influenced by all the brouhaha in the marketplace.”
“Apart from the economic advantages and disadvantages of stock exchanges – the advantage that they provide a free flow of capital to finance industrial expansion, for instance, and the disadvantage that they provide an all too convenient way for the unlucky, the imprudent, and the gullible to lose their money – their development has created a whole pattern of social behavior, complete with customs, language and predictable responses to giant events.
What is truly extraordinary is the speed with which this pattern emerged full blown following the establishment, in 1611, of the world’s first important stock exchange – a roofless courtyard in Amsterdam – and the degree to which it persists.
The first stock exchange was, inadvertently, a laboratory in which new human reactions were revealed. By the same token, the New York Stock Exchange is also a sociological test tube, forever contributing to the human species’ self-understanding.”
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks
“Making money in the market is tough. The brilliant trader and investor Bernard Baruch put it well when he said,
“If you are ready to give up everything else and study the whole history and background of the market and all principal companies whose stocks are on the board as carefully as a medical student studies anatomy –
if you can do all that and in addition you have the cool nerves of a gambler, the sixth sense of a clairvoyant and the courage of a lion, you have a ghost of a chance.””
“Ben Graham, the father of value investing who survived the 1929-32 stock market crash and also the 1972-74 debacle, had this to say about both periods:
“What should a conservative analyst have done in the heady area and era of high growth, high-multiplier companies? I must say mournfully that he would have to do the near impossible – namely, turn his back on them and let them alone.”
Reflecting on his years on Wall Street, Ben made the point that “in one important respect, we have made practically no progress at all and that is in human nature… people still want to make money very fast.”
The extremely short term focus in the markets today with undue emphasis on quarterly earnings, promotional quarterly conference calls and huge volatility in stock prices suggests Ben’s observation is alive and well.”
Fairfax Financial Holdings 2001 Annual Letter by Chairman and CEO V. Prem Watsa
ICAP SHOULD DO THE RIGHT THING LIKE WHAT W BUFFET & B GRAHAM HAVE DONE, BY "CLOSING SHOP" & RETURNING MONIES TO ITS LOYAL INVESTORS, WHEN IT CANNOT EVEN GENERATE RETURN HIGHER THAN FIXED DEPOSITS FOR MANY YEARS LOH!
Posted by JohnDough > Jun 6, 2021 4:08 PM | Report Abuse
“Ben Graham, the father of value investing who survived the 1929-32 stock market crash and also the 1972-74 debacle, had this to say about both periods:
“What should a conservative analyst have done in the heady area and era of high growth, high-multiplier companies? I must say mournfully that he would have to do the near impossible – namely, turn his back on them and let them alone.”
Reflecting on his years on Wall Street, Ben made the point that “in one important respect, we have made practically no progress at all and that is in human nature… people still want to make money very fast.”
The extremely short term focus in the markets today with undue emphasis on quarterly earnings, promotional quarterly conference calls and huge volatility in stock prices suggests Ben’s observation is alive and well.”
Fairfax Financial Holdings 2001 Annual Letter by Chairman and CEO V. Prem Watsa
MNRB is like equivalent GEICO & General RE of Warren Buffet, if u run well, it could be great economic moat & the share price may even at premium instead of at deep discount now mah!
The recent development is very positive for MNRB positive mah!
Posted by Goldberg > Jun 11, 2021 9:24 AM | Report Abuse
@Johnzhang- totally agree with you MNRB is a deeply undervalued GEM as its NA is RM3.27. In addition MNRB monopolises the reinsurance market in Malaysia.
Posted by Johnzhang > Jun 13, 2021 10:38 AM | Report Abuse
EPF is considering to buy basic life insurance policy for it's members especially the lower income group . This will bode well for MNRB?
Posted by bu4567 > Jun 13, 2021 12:08 PM | Report Abuse
Recently insurance premium had been raised by 30%, reason given was approval by BNM.
“We all know the success of Warren Buffett as an investor. Many of us can quote his famous sayings, advice and even more can talk about his value investing philosophy and long-term investment horizon.
There are, however, sadly few people who can put into actual practice what they admire so much about Warren Buffett.
The FORTUNE magazine recently featured him and I would highlight some key points from this interesting piece. In 1986, he bought a farm near Omaha for US$280,000. He was not an expert farmer and knew nothing much about operating a farm.
What he knew were a few basic facts about long-term economics of farming like how many bushels of corn and soybeans the farm would produce, what the operating expenses would be, that productivity would improve over time and that crop prices would move higher.
From these estimates, he figured that the normalised return from the farm would be around 10%. He was able to conclude that the investment had no downside and potentially had substantial upside. There would be the bad crop, and commodity prices would disappoint.
Now, 28 years later, the farm has tripled its earnings and is worth five times or more than what he paid for. What is Buffett telling us about successful investing?”
icapital.biz Berhad 2014 Annual Letter by Designated Person Tan Teng Boo
“What Charlie finds interesting when thinking back about all this progress is how few big business decisions were involved in creating billions of dollars out of less than $40 million, fewer than one every three years.
“I think the record shows the advantage of a peculiar mindset of not seeking action for its own sake, but instead combining extreme patience with extreme decisiveness.””
Damn Right! Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger – by Janet Lowe
Btw W.Buffet is not TTB ways of putting almost all icap investment in fixed deposits, just to lock in & secure his the management fees over 6 long years loh!
Posted by JohnDough > Jun 13, 2021 7:06 PM | Report Abuse
“We all know the success of Warren Buffett as an investor. Many of us can quote his famous sayings, advice and even more can talk about his value investing philosophy and long-term investment horizon.
There are, however, sadly few people who can put into actual practice what they admire so much about Warren Buffett.
The FORTUNE magazine recently featured him and I would highlight some key points from this interesting piece. In 1986, he bought a farm near Omaha for US$280,000. He was not an expert farmer and knew nothing much about operating a farm.
What he knew were a few basic facts about long-term economics of farming like how many bushels of corn and soybeans the farm would produce, what the operating expenses would be, that productivity would improve over time and that crop prices would move higher.
From these estimates, he figured that the normalised return from the farm would be around 10%. He was able to conclude that the investment had no downside and potentially had substantial upside. There would be the bad crop, and commodity prices would disappoint.
Now, 28 years later, the farm has tripled its earnings and is worth five times or more than what he paid for. What is Buffett telling us about successful investing?”
icapital.biz Berhad 2014 Annual Letter by Designated Person Tan Teng Boo
“I don’t have to pay daily, or even monthly, attention to the stock market, since it tells me nothing about whether I should buy or sell.
Hence, the turnover on my investments is very low, to the discouragement of the brokers with whom I do business (and from whom, also, I never take tips or advice).
Nothing that I learned while serving on the Finance Committee of the Carnegie Mellon Board of Trustees has shown me that this strategy is wrong.”
Correctloh...but this statement does not mean investing like putting most monies in fixed deposits locking in with no turnover mah!
Posted by JohnDough > Jun 27, 2021 5:19 PM | Report Abuse
“I don’t have to pay daily, or even monthly, attention to the stock market, since it tells me nothing about whether I should buy or sell.
Hence, the turnover on my investments is very low, to the discouragement of the brokers with whom I do business (and from whom, also, I never take tips or advice).
Nothing that I learned while serving on the Finance Committee of the Carnegie Mellon Board of Trustees has shown me that this strategy is wrong.”
“Berkshire’s shareholders are unusual. They embrace the idea of Berkshire as a partnership. They believe that they are owners and relish that Berkshire has no corporate veil, no monitoring board, and no corporate bureaucracy or hierarchies.
Buffett’s fellow owners resemble partners in a private firm more than shareholders of a private company. Mutual trust is the glue. What makes these shareholders so special?
Above all, Berkshire’s ownership remains dominated by individuals, not institutions. In 1965, individuals owned 80 percent of US corporate equity and institutions owners 20 percent; today those figures for large public companies are reversed.
At Berkshire, in contrast, the figures remain close to what they were in 1965.”
Margin of Trust: The Berkshire Business Model by Lawrence A. Cunningham and Stephanie Cuba
“Though people who buy stocks about which they are ignorant may get lucky and enjoy great rewards, it seems to me they are competing under unnecessary handicaps, just like the marathon runner who decides to stake his reputation on a bobsled race.
Invest in things you know about. You’re looking for a situation where the value of the assets per share exceeds the price per share of the stock. In such delightful instances you can truly buy a great deal of something for nothing.”
“The financial markets offer many temptations to vulnerable investors. It is easy to do the wrong thing, to speculate rather than invest.
Emotion lies dangerously close to the surface for most investors and can be particularly intense when market prices move dramatically in either direction.
It is crucial that investors understand the different between speculating and investing and learn to take advantage of the opportunities presented by Mr. Market.”
Margin of Safety: Risk Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor by Seth A. Klarman
“From Graham’s class, Warren took away three main principles that required nothing more than the stern discipline of mental independence:
- A stock is the right to own a little piece of a business. A stock is worth a certain fraction of what you would be willing to pay for the whole business.
- Use a margin of safety. Investing is built on estimates and uncertainty. A wide margin of safety ensures that the effects of good decisions are not wiped out by errors. The way to advance, above all, is by not retreating.
- Mr. Market is your servant, not your master. Graham postulated a moody character called Mr. Market, who offers to buy and sell stocks every day, often at prices that don’t make sense. Mr. Market’s moods should not influence your view of price. However, from time to time he does offer the chance to buy low and sell high.
Of these points, the margin of safety was most important. A stock might be the right to own a piece of a business, and the intrinsic value of the stock was something you could estimate, but with a margin of safety, you could sleep at night.”
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
“You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines, and use them routinely – all of them, not just a few. Most people are trained in one model and try to solve all problems in one way.
You know the old saying: to the man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail. This is a dumb way of handling problems.”
Wesco Financial Corporation 2000 Annual Meeting - Charlie Munger
“You IQ and education are not that important. If they were, Newton would have been a stock market genius.
However, Newton invested his life’s savings into the South Sea Company at the top of the bubble, almost leaving his family destitute.
The biggest taboo for personal investors is to be like Newton and be seduced by the market: to buy at the market’s hottest peak and to sell at its most depressed.
If you don’t participate in speculation and stick strictly to investing in what you understand, then you won’t lose money.”
Peking University Guanghua School of Management November 2019 speech – Li Lu
Just read a book, A Man For All Markets, by Edward O. Thorp(He beat gambling market and wall street market),this book recommended by Waffen Buffet, Charles Munger and etc. When he run a fund last time, same as ICAP, management fee is 1%, performance fee is 20%. But when his fund not able to achieve performance(his performance is exceed 18++%)(Remember ICAP made advertisement in 200x ICAP can achieve 15% based on history), he will reduce management fee that year and return money back to investor. Greedy fund manager from other fund question his way, Edward had mentioned in this book sometimes in order to achieve high return %,he had no choice returned money back to investor and reduce fund size. So let see what TTB will do in the future. We notice he didn't reduce management fee so far, he is waiting durian drop. I don't mind he waiting durian drop and hold a lot of cash. But when durian drop, he is going to reduce 20% performance or stay same 20% performance fee? I suggest TTB read that book. Edward O. Thorp proved he emphasized on his fund investors, now we want to see how is TTB.
“The eclectic value investing philosophy of Capital Dynamics, which I formulated and developed, is best understood when compared with bamboo, also known as the poor man’s timber. Despite its humble connotation, the bamboo has a few exceptional qualities.
One, it has tensile strength greater than mild steel and can withstand compression better than concrete.
The versatile attribute of a bamboo is essential in keeping the plant, which can grow up to 60 metres in height but is only as wide at the base as the very top, from falling over and making it to be able to bend in the wind without breaking.
The bamboo has superb environmental qualities, which are largely based on the sustainability merits of the grass. Its extensive root system substantially reduces the need for intense cultivation practices. It also produces more oxygen from carbon dioxide than trees and more effectively binds soil to prevent erosion.
The eclectic value investment philosophy of Capital Dynamics reflects the qualities of bamboo, that is, adaptability, consistency, and sustainability.
Capital Dynamics realises that conventional value investing may be inappropriate in developing countries where strong, established institutions and market forces are still lacking or in an embryonic stage. As such, it adapts and innovate its value investing approach by considering factors like political and macro-economic structures.
Being versatile in analysing companies in different environment, Capital Dynamics does not deviate from its core value investing approach, which draws on the underlying intrinsic value of a company and the principle of margin of safety.
The fact that Capital Dynamics is able to consistently achieve superior returns has shown that its eclectic investment philosophy is sound and sustainable. It does not believe that high risk equals high return or low risk equals low return.
In fact, our bamboo value investing philosophy would reduce risk by taking care of the downside, and achieve consistent superior returns by being pragmatic. This is similar to the bamboo which is low in cost yet high in value.”
icapital.biz Berhad 2013 Annual Letter by Designation Person Tan Teng Boo
“Shareowners of icapital.biz Berhad can take consolation that your Fund is not managed on a top-down/market-timing approach. While the outlook for Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia is indeed worrying, as your fund manager, we have adhered strictly to our value investing approach.
The benefit of this can be seen in its NAV performance over the last few years. In the last 17-18 months, our value investing approach has enabled your Fund’s NAV to outperform the KLCI during a very challenging period with its NAV rising 26.7% versus the KLCI’s 24.7%.
Measured from the peak, the KLCI has plunged 20.58% from its peak on 19 April 2018 while your Fund’s NAV fell only 7.16% from its peak NAV. Yet, your Fund has still around RM209 million cash as it carefully increases its investment.
Investors often only focus on the upside return forgetting to manage their downside risk until it is too late. The substantial crash in the glove stocks and many others should serve as a timely reminder that investing is not a one-way street.”
icapital.biz Berhad 4Q21 report – commentary by fund manager
This stock can buy when there is the intention to liquidate. If not better go buy unit trusts. Owners don't have any intention to pay dividends. Putting the extra funds in FD is ridiculous. If cannot create value for stocks holders should rightly distribute the excess funds. You are not Warren Buffet.
Inequality starts at birth ================== Warren Buffett's talent for spotting undervalued businesses has made him one of the wealthiest men in history. However, he has repeatedly underscored the outsized role that luck has played in his career, and highlighted Afghanistan to hammer his point home.
Winning the lottery The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO popularized the term "ovarian lottery," or the idea that the circumstances of a person's birth shape their opportunities in life.
"It's the most important event in which you'll ever participate," Buffett said at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in 1997. "It's going to determine way more than what school you go to, how hard you work, all kinds of things. You're going to get one ball drawn out of a barrel that probably contains 5.7 billion balls now, and that's you."
Buffett noted that he and his business partner, Charlie Munger, won the lottery by being born white, smart, able-bodied, male, and in America.
"When we were born, the odds were over 30-to-1 against being born in the United States," Buffett said at the meeting. "Just winning that portion of the lottery, enormous plus. We wouldn't be worth a damn in Afghanistan."
"We'd be giving talks, nobody'd be listening," he continued. "Terrible."
The US has richly rewarded the two men's knack for valuing businesses, but that wouldn't be the case in every country, Buffett continued.
"Is that the greatest talent in the world? No," he said. "It just happens to be something that pays off like crazy in this system."
Buffett repeated that point more than a decade later, adding that many important jobs are far less lucrative.
"The market system rewards me outlandishly for what I do," Buffett told Time magazine in 2012. "But that doesn't mean I'm any more deserving of a good life than a teacher or a doctor or someone who fights in Afghanistan."
Sharing the jackpot Buffett has drawn comparisons between the US and Afghanistan to emphasize how inequality starts at birth. He's called for a system that incentivizes people to use their skills if they're valued by the market and society, but also helps people who don't hit the jackpot in life.
That type of system "makes sure that just because at that one moment in time they got the wrong ticket, they don't live a life that's dramatically worse than the people that were luckier," Buffett said at the 1997 meeting.
The Berkshire chief has also pointed to Afghanistan to make his case for higher taxes on the wealthy.
"While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks," he said in a New York Times column titled "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich" in 2011.
Buffett's comments show he's aware of his numerous advantages and privileges, which include living in a country that rewards his skills and protects his wealth. Afghanistan is his go-to example of a much tougher situation, fueling his belief that the less fortunate should be lifted up and the most affluent should share more of their wealth.
“I have been very apprehensive about general stock market levels for several years. To date, this caution has been unnecessary.
By previous standards, the present level of “blue chip” security prices contains a substantial speculative component with a corresponding risk of loss.
Perhaps other standards of valuation are evolving which will permanently replace the old standard. I don’t think so.
I may very well be wrong; however, I would rather sustain the penalties resulting from over-conservatism than face the consequences of error, perhaps with permanent capital loss.”
U MUST BE IN THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND WHEN U INVEST MAH!
U WANT CHEAPO....THAN U GO FOR VALUE INVESTMENT TYPE OF STOCK LIKE BJCORP MAH!
U WANT GROWTH & TECH....U MUST BE WILLING TO PAY GROWTH PREMIUM MONEY MAH!
IF U MESSED OUT YOUR MIND....U WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUY GROWTH STOCK MAH! U go & tell USA investors that Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon & Apple that their valuation of their favorite tech stock are too high loh!
If u want really to be a cheapo & then make cheapo undervaluation buy loh...u select stock like bjcorp & not growth stock like tech mah!
Posted by John1234 > Sep 5, 2021 11:30 AM | Report Abuse
Tech counters are way too high now. So, SAM is definitely not in my watchlist. =========================================================================== Foker_the_2nd hahaha,i can see the smirk on john's face wiped out. He didnt expect to see SAM is such a great share. Talk about a priest getting converted by a pagan. I think John wants to buy SAM so badly. But he refuses to admit I am right. So he will lose a golden opportunity.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
Tcs Tan
12 posts
Posted by Tcs Tan > 2021-05-13 18:22 | Report Abuse
Uncle John aka aikap resemblance, don’t live in someone else’s life, be yourself and don’t always quote uncle Warren, uncle Ben, uncle Philip’s quote, u are not them, these are their experience. You can’t duplicate, if can there are million of them in the market. they are handful of top notch investors. Ur result is far compatible to them. They managed hundreds of billion assets. They talk market listen.