Long ago now, Warren Buffet provided the Financial Time’s Mr. Jonathan Davis with these important insights for his investing success.

I read and studied this article from the Financial Times during a business trip I made to Ireland on the weekend of June 22, 1991.  It completely changed how I thought about stock investing and gave me hope. 

Listed below were the key “take away’s” for me.  Importantly, these ideas prepared me to be able to invest heavily in companies that made complete sense to me and that I had analyzed and waited patiently for the correct price.

Later, I had to combine Warren Buffet’s ideas with growth stock investing principles of “buying high, and selling higher”, in order to purchase shares of stocks like Apple Inc. and others that appeared expensive from a value investing standpoint, but are often inexpensive when factoring in upcoming earnings growth. 

I learned to exercise patience for the correct entry price, from a technical analysis perspective (price and volume breakouts) with close-in logical stops to protect my investment capital.

a.       What’s the secret for Warren Buffet? Old fashioned analysis of price and value.

b.      3 Rules = 1. Buy a few heavily under-valued securities; 2. Put a lot of money into them ; 3. Hold on to them.

c.      Sound fundamental analysis, resulting in picking the right stock combined with patience resulted in Buffett’s long term exceptional returns.

d.      Make – at most – a handful of investment decisions per year.

e.       Invest in companies you only know a lot about.

f.       The ideal Buffett investment is a business with a strong franchise, some pricing or monopoly power, positive cash flows, and an owner oriented management – all selling for less than its worth.

g.       Some years, you many not have any good ideas.  Other years, the market may not deliver the opportunities.

h.      Self discipline is fundamental to your success.

i.         Keep diversification low.

j.         Rule No. 1 = Never lose money.  Rule No. 2 = Never Forget Rule No. 1

k.       Enemies of success = Investor’s preference for a quick profit.

l.         Most investors want too much or try too hard.