THE WISDOM OF WARREN E. BUFFETT: THE ESSENCE OF AN INTELLIGENT INVESTOR

This paper, through the investigation of Warren E. Buffett’s philosophies and principles, seeks to identify the essence of investing. The concepts include Mr. Market, Margin of Safety and patience. The principles include a) investor’s understanding the business, b) firm’s enduring competitive advantage, c) management team’s being honest and able people, and d) stock’s being traded at a sensible price. After all, sound investing perhaps does not rely on a stratospheric I.Q. or sophisticated calculations, but may require independent thinking, emotional stability, flexibility, as well as the ability to see investment as an art. As for an average investor, it is advised to invest 10% in short-term government bonds and 90% in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund.TABLE OF CONTENTS DEFENSE CERTIFICATION .............................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................... ii ABSTRACT ........................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................. iv LIST OF FIGURE ..................................... vi PREFACE ............................................ vii INRTODUCTION ....................................... 1 CHAPTER I: BENJAMIN GRAHAM & PHILIP A. FISHER ...... 3 1.1 MR. MARKET ..................................... 4 1.2 MARGIN OF SAFETY ............................... 8 1.3 THE BEST TIME IS NEVER ......................... 13 CHAPTER II: FOUR PRINCIPLES ........................ 16 2.1 UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS ........................ 16 2.2 ENDURING COMPETIVE ADVANTAGE ................... 20 2.3 HONEST AND ABLE PEOPLE ......................... 23 2.4 SENSIBLE PRICE ................................. 27 CHAPTER III: ESSENCE OF INVESTMENT ................. 33 3.1 INDEPENDENT THINKING ........................... 33 3.2 BACK TO THE FUTURE ............................. 38 3.3 FLEXIBILTY & LOLLAPALOOZA ...................... 42 3.4 SEEN BUT NOT SEE ............................... 48 3.5 ADDITONAL ELEMENTS ............................. 51 3.5.1 ACCOUNTING ............................... 51 3.5.2 DIVERSIFICATION .......................... 55 COMMENCEMENT ....................................... 60 REFERENCES ......................................... 63 APPENDIX A ......................................... 72 APPENDIX B ......................................... 75 APPENDIX C ......................................... 78 APPENDIX D ......................................... 82 APPENDIX E ......................................... 84 APPENDIX F ......................................... 8