{"id":305007,"date":"2010-02-10T14:29:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T19:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087194156628161158.post-1846631590358393121"},"modified":"2010-02-10T14:32:29","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T19:32:29","slug":"cnbc-buffett-author-warren-doesnt-rely-on-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/305007","title":{"rendered":"CNBC: Buffett Author: Warren Doesn’t Rely on Luck"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Published: Wednesday, 10 Feb 2010 | 2:07 PM ET <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By: Alex Crippen
Executive Producer<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Photo by: YechezkelZilber<\/div>\n
Nassim Taleb<\/div>\n
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‘Black Swan<\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/a>‘ author Nassim Taleb’s<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/b> latest comment about Warren Buffett’s luck has generated some heat.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Taleb tells the online magazine ai5000<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/b>, “I’m not saying Buffett doesn’t have skill – I’m just saying we don’t have enough evidence to say Buffett isn’t doing it by chance.”<\/p>\n

<\/span>Warren Buffett Watch’s <\/em>post<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/b> relaying that quote has prompted a robust conversation with dozens of reader comments.<\/p>\n

<\/span>And, we received this email from Buffett author Janet Tavakoli<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/b>, who notes Taleb has already made similar comments about Buffett. She didn’t agree with him then, either.<\/p>\n

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She writes:<\/p>\n

Warren Buffett loves luck as much as the next man, but he doesn\u2019t rely on it. As I point out in my book, Dear Mr. Buffett<\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/a> (Wiley 2009 P. 55): <\/p>\n

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When Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a risk theorist, discusses Buffett\u2019s success, he seems to damn it with faint praise: \u201cI am not saying that Warren Buffett is not skilled; only that a large population of random investors will almost necessarily produce someone with his track records just by luck.\u201d If Taleb needed an example of success due to random luck, he did not choose well; he could have chosen from any number of hedge funds instead. Taleb fails to mention conditional probabilities (in this context), and it is remiss to describe Warren\u2019s success without bringing that up. Certainty is not possible, and luck is always part of the equation, but Warren works hard to uncover a margin of safety wherever possible. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Janet Tavakoli, founder and president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, Inc.<\/div>\n
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If Taleb needs an example of success due to random luck, perhaps he should use the first year performance of Empirica Kurtosis, his own former \u201cblack swan\u201d fund. The fund reportedly had a 58.8% return in 2000 followed by a loss of -8.9% in 2001, a year that Taleb called \u201cthe mother of all black swans.\u201d The fund then had double digit negative returns of -13.2% in 2002. That was followed by\u2014at best\u2014low single-digit gains in 2003 and 2004, a two-year period when hedge funds in general posted average returns of 20% and 9% respectively. The fund\u2019s size was around $375 million when most of the assets were returned to investors in early 2005. Original investors (in 2000) that stayed until the end would have had T-Bill returns (at the time) or worse on average. Investors who invested in 2001, but before the \u201cblack swan\u201d event of 9\/11, would have wound up with net negative returns. <\/p>\n

Do you want to pay hedge fund management fees for that kind of performance? What would Taleb call that\u2014lack of success due to random bad luck? One shouldn\u2019t be fooled by randomness, but there is no need to be a fool for randomness. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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<\/span>Current Berkshire stock prices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Class A: