Bloomberg reports:

“If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them because of the events of the past 10 days or so,” said Buffett, speaking to reporters in the South Korean city of Daegu, where he arrived yesterday to attend a ceremony for a new factory being built by TaeguTec Ltd. “Something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity.”

I think Buffett is spot on. For Japan, this catastrophee does not change the long-term economic prospects. On the contrary, it may even be an opportunity to reform the political system and strengthen the unity of the Japanese population. There is also an interesting discussion going on about this topic in our discussion groups.

Highly recommended!

There is an interesting article on the fatal impact of fund fees on investment performance in the UK’s Telegraph. Especially the calculation on Buffett’s performance had he taken the usual 2+20 hedge fund fees is awesome. The result is shocking:

As you are aware, Warren Buffett has produced a stellar investment performance over the past 45 years, compounding returns at 20.46 per cent per annum. If you had invested $1,000 in the shares of Berkshire Hathaway when Buffett began running it in 1965, by the end of 2009 your investment would have been worth $4.8m.

“However, if instead of running Berkshire Hathaway as a company in which he co-invests with you, Buffett had set it up as a hedge fund and charged 2 per cent of the value of the funds as an annual fee plus 20 per cent of any gains, of that $4.8m, $4.4m would belong to him as manager and only $400,000 would belong to you, the investor. And this is the result you would get if your hedge fund manager had equalled Warren Buffett’s performance. Believe me, he or she won’t.

Hat tip to W.G.

James Altucher is one of the least arogant and most knowledgeable hedge fund managers I have come across. He is a great investor but has also started some great businesses like stockpickr.com. In addition, James has written several books on investing. The Kirk Report has just run a long interview with James:

“The only three things that are important are discipline, persistence, and psychology. Without those three things there isn’t a strategy in the world that will work for you. With those three things, just about any strategy will work.(…)No human or strategy can consistently beat the market. The best traders I know are some of the most humble guys out there and have no arrogance on their market opinions at all. They are able to switch opinions and strategies very quickly. I would say that over the years any arrogance I had about any strategy has probably disappeared and now I’m appreciative of just about any strategy out there as long as it comes with persistence, discipline, and positive psychology.”

Very  wise words, indeed.

An anonymous person bid a record $2.6 million to have lunch with Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who runs Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA). That is up from last year’s $1.7 million and the previous high water mark of $2.1 million, set in 2008.

I am not sure if this investment will bring a large enough return as Warren Buffett never hands out any stock market tipps. But the steaks should be excellent at Smith & Wollensky in Manhattan, where Buffett will host the bidder and seven of his friends. The proceeds of the auction go to the Glide foundation, a charity in San Francisco.

Bloomberg reports that it is safer to lend to Warren Buffett than to Barack Obama aka the US government:

“Two-year notes sold by the billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in February yield 3.5 basis points less than Treasuries of similar maturity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.(…) Berkshire Hathaway’s 1.4 percent notes due February 2012 yielded 0.89 percent on March 18, 3.5 basis points, or 0.035 percentage point, less than Treasuries, composite prices compiled by Bloomberg show.”

When will Mr. Buffett announce his candidacy for president of the United States?

There has been loads of speculation why Warren Buffett has acquired the rail operator Burlington Northern (including to make a play on coal or to make it easier for his successor to run Berkshire Hathaway).

Yet in my opinion, the best analysis is that Burlington Northern is just undervalued - and at the end of the day will be worth a lot more than its stock market price reflects. Just like the old saying goes: Price is what you pay, value is what you get.

For Pessimists: Royal Bank of Scotland’s super-bear Bob Janjuah predicts new stock market lows in the coming fall. I am just wondering why these bankers with the cristal balls still have to work for a salary in a bank instead of making tons of money on their own predictions?

For Optimists: The Economist analyzes the astonishing rebound of the Asian economies and what it means for the developed countries.

For Realists: The Atlantic has a long piece on Warren Buffett and value investing: “What would Warren do?” Great introduction and outlook to the stock market for longterm investors.