Investing Legends

Stan Druckenmiller: The Market as an Economic Predictor

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Stanley Druckenmiller talks with John Collison about inflation, bear markets, and why he thinks the odds of a soft landing are remote. He explains the two historical records that have never been broken once inflation passes five percent, argues the Fed's slowness through 2021 and 2022 was enormously costly, and describes a setup he has never faced in forty five years, with eight percent inflation, three percent bond yields, and a weakening economy all at once. He walks through how he reads the economy from inside the stock market rather than from macro statistics, using housing, trucking, and retail as leading indicators, and why the bond market stopped signalling anything after a decade of central bank buying. He also tells the long version of the 2000 story, from shorting ten internet stocks and losing three times his money in four weeks, through the tech position that put him down eighteen percent, to the four-month sabbatical in Africa that let him come back and make forty percent in a single quarter. Along the way he explains why sizing is most of the game, why he tracks whether he is hot or cold before deciding how big to bet, and why he buys first and does the analysis afterward.

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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1982

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1982 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter introduces one of his most important ideas: the difference between "accounting earnings" and "economic earnings" why a company's true value includes profits it doesn't even get to report. He explains why insurance industry economics had permanently shifted, praises GEICO's Jack Byrne with the memorable line "Let Jack Do It," and delivers a masterclass on why using company stock to fund acquisitions so often destroys shareholder value, worked through with vivid analogies from toads to farms. He closes by laying out his exact acquisition criteria and paying tribute to two longtime managers on their retirement. Essential listening for fans of Warren Buffett, value investing, and Berkshire Hathaway's history.

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Ray Dalio - The Principles for Investing and Economics

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Ray Dalio walks through the economic and investment principles behind Bridgewater, laying out how he thinks debt cycles, monetary policy and productivity actually drive markets. He frames the economy as a perpetual motion machine of four forces, three equilibriums and two levers, then applies that template to where the world stood at the time: late in the business cycle, with central banks running out of room and populism rising on both the left and the right. He draws the parallel to the 1930s, explains why the wealth gap became a market issue rather than just a political one, and traces the arc of reserve currencies from the Dutch guilder to the pound to the dollar. On the investment side he covers the difference between alpha and beta, why the assets that just performed well are simply the more expensive ones, and why balancing by risk rather than by dollars matters. The talk closes on what he calls the holy grail of investing, the case that fifteen uncorrelated return streams cut risk by roughly eighty percent without cutting return.

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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1981

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1980

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1980 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter introduces one of his most enduring ideas: "look-through earnings," his argument that a company's true value includes the retained profits of businesses it partly owns, even when accounting rules don't show them. He revisits his warning on inflation as an "investor's misery index" that quietly erodes real returns, and gives a deep, admiring look at GEICO, comparing its recovery to American Express's after the salad oil scandal. He also warns of a brewing crisis in the insurance industry over hidden bond losses, details the spin-off of the Illinois National Bank, and closes with a heartfelt tribute to longtime banker Gene Abegg. Essential listening for fans of Warren Buffett, value investing, and Berkshire Hathaway's history.

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Howard Marks: AI, Value Investing, Market Cycles, Investor Psychology

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Howard Marks in conversation about market cycles, investor psychology, and where the current market sits on the swing from optimism to fear. He works through three of his memos, explaining why cognitive dissonance lets markets ignore bad news until a critical mass of it arrives, why waiting for the bottom is the wrong question, and how Oaktree came to invest four hundred and fifty million dollars a week in the weeks after Lehman failed. He also revisits the growth versus value divide he now thinks is a false one, argues that selling should be treated as a decision to un-buy, and uses Amazon and the Nifty Fifty to show how much money is lost by getting off a good idea too soon. The conversation closes with the tennis analogy behind his whole philosophy, and why avoiding losers works in credit but not everywhere.

Recorded in april 2026.

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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1979

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1979 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, one of his most philosophical. He introduces the "investor's misery index" how inflation and taxes can erode real returns even when a business is thriving and confesses a rare mistake, the Waumbec Mills textile acquisition, with the memorable lesson that "turnarounds seldom turn." He makes a detailed case against long-term bonds during high inflation, closing with "neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be," and lays out his now-famous philosophy on shareholder communication, using Phil Fisher's restaurant analogy to explain why Berkshire seeks long-term owners over short-term traders. A rich listen for anyone into Warren Buffett, value investing, inflation, and Berkshire Hathaway's history.

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Stan Druckenmiller (2009) : Investing, Economics, Soros, Risk, Trading

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 06:37:57 GMT

Stanley Druckenmiller sits down for a wide-ranging conversation about how he actually trades: position sizing, technical analysis, and the risk management instincts he built over three decades. He covers the trade that broke the Bank of England, the losses that nearly ended his career, and why he thinks diversification is overrated. Along the way, he traces his path from a Pittsburgh bank training program to running Soros's Quantum Fund, explains how 272 nightly charts shape every decision he makes, and describes the two years he spent whipsawed by the tech bubble before a four-month sabbatical reset his head. He talks candidly about the rupiah position that cost him over a billion dollars, why he has never used a stop loss, and why he plays bigger when he is winning rather than booking the year. The conversation closes with his read on the aftermath of the financial crisis, his case for gold, and the sovereign debt reckoning he believed was coming.

The interview is from 2009.

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Warren Buffett - Investing Principles, Intrinsic value, Opportunity Costs, Compounding, Leadership & Character

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Buffett opens with a thought experiment for the students. If you could buy ten percent of one classmate's lifetime earnings, who would you pick? Not the one with the best grades, he argues, but the one whose character you'd bet on. That leads into the three qualities he hires for: intelligence, energy, and integrity, and why the third makes the other two dangerous when it's missing.

The Q&A runs wide. He explains the circle of competence using the two thousand American car companies that didn't survive, and the airplane makers whose combined earnings since Kitty Hawk added up to less than nothing. He defines intrinsic value as simply the cash a business will hand you between now and judgment day, discounted properly, and traces the idea back to Aesop.

He's candid about his failures: buying Berkshire Hathaway itself, the cigar butt years, the US Air preferred, and the filling station stake he calculates has cost him billions in foregone compounding. But the costliest mistakes, he insists, never show up in any accounting. They're the opportunities he understood and sat on anyway.

Also covered: why the Dow went nowhere for seventeen years while the economy kept improving, why the Fed's brake works better than its gas pedal, how he instructs his trustees to give the money away, and the story of Rose Blumkin, who walked out of Russia in 1921, couldn't read or write, and built the largest home furnishings store in the world.

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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1978

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:07:04 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1978 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, the first written after merging with Diversified Retailing Company. He explains why return on equity, not earnings per share, is the real measure of a good year, and lays out his case for buying small pieces of great businesses through the stock market, highlighted by a deep dive into SAFECO Corporation and his argument for "passive participation in excellent management." He also covers the strong insurance underwriting results led by National Indemnity, the struggling textile operation, the Illinois National Bank, and Associated Retail Stores under Ben Rosner. A must-listen for fans of Warren Buffett, value investing, and Berkshire Hathaway's early history.

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Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters 1977

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1977 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, the first of his famous annual letters, read in full. In it, Buffett explains why return on equity, not earnings per share, is the real measure of a company's performance, and lays out his timeless four-part test for buying a stock: a business you understand, with strong long-term prospects, run by honest and able people, at an attractive price. He walks through Berkshire's booming insurance operation, the struggling textile mills, the Illinois National Bank, and the growth of See's Candies under Blue Chip Stamps. A foundational listen for anyone interested in Warren Buffett, value investing, Berkshire Hathaway history, and long-term business thinking.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1969/1970 - Winding down the partnership

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 10:00:00 GMT

The final chapter of the Buffett Partnership, told through five letters from 1969 and 1970 as Warren Buffett wound the partnership down and returned capital to his partners. He explains why he's retiring — bargains gone, the market too speculative, his own motivation shifted — and personally recommends Bill Ruane as an alternative money manager. He walks partners through their choices: take cash, or keep their proportional stakes in his two controlled companies, Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing, which he clearly intends to hold for the long term. The episode closes with his candid case for tax-free bonds over stocks at that moment, and a plain-spoken primer on how to buy them.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1968 Full Year

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1968 annual letter, capping his best year ever — up 58.8% against the Dow's 7.7%, a result he waves off as "a freak, like picking up thirteen spades in a bridge game." He skewers the era's collapsing "go-go" funds and the mania for minute-by-minute money management, breaks down where the year's gains came from across his four categories, and delivers the line "Price is what you pay; value is what you get" while updating his controlled companies Berkshire Hathaway and Diversified Retailing. He warns that good ideas are now at an all-time low, and closes with a nostalgic look back at the partnership's twelve-year rise from $105,000 to over $104 million.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1968 H1

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1968 letter to partners. The partnership rose 16% while the Dow was essentially flat. He updates his growing family of controlled businesses — Berkshire Hathaway, National Indemnity, Hochschild Kohn, and Associated Cotton Shops — and their capable operators. But the heart of the letter is his warning about "The Present Environment": a speculative "chain-letter" mania fueled by "bold, imaginative accounting," which he predicts history will look back on as a bubble. He admits his own results have indirectly benefited from the frenzy even as it dries up genuine bargains, and points partners to Adam Smith's The Money Game for a portrait of the era.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1967 Full Year

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:23:28 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1967 annual letter. The partnership gained 35.9% against the Dow's 19.0%, yet Buffett is uneasy: in a runaway speculative market where nearly every fund beat the Dow and some doubled, he warns that "we continue to eat oatmeal" rather than chase the frenzy. He breaks down a lopsided year — his worst-ever result in work-outs, a huge 72% gain in undervalued generals driven by his American Express stake (now being sold down), and steady progress in his controlled companies, where he folds in new acquisitions National Indemnity and Associated Cotton Shops. He also addresses the fallout from October's lowered goals, reassuring partners the partnership is "definitely not" winding down.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1967 H1

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1967 letter to partners. After a rough January, the partnership finished the half up 21% against the Dow's 11.4%. Buffett names Diversified Retailing and Berkshire Hathaway as his controlled companies — and candidly warns that Berkshire's textile business faces real difficulties and won't earn a good return, dragging on relative performance in a rising market. He shares his tax philosophy ("Don't worry about the income; just the outcome") and previews a special October letter that will revise his "Ground Rules" — the coming moment where he lowers his ambitions and redefines success for the partnership.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1966 Full Year

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's tenth-anniversary letter, covering 1966. The partnership gained 20.4% while the Dow fell 15.6% — its widest margin ever, 36 points — capping a decade that turned $105,100 into a $54 million partnership. But Buffett strikes a cautionary note: the flood of bargain ideas that fueled the early years has slowed to a "trickle," and those results won't be repeated. He breaks down where 1966's gains came from across his four categories, defends his heavy concentration in a single dominant holding, and reaffirms that he won't chase "fashion" investing or businesses beyond his understanding.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1966 H1

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1966 letter to partners. In a falling market — the Dow down 8.7% — the partnership still gained 8.2%, and Buffett shows how the eight largest companies in the world lost 16.6% over the same stretch. He draws a sharp line between true conservatism (losing less when others lose) and mere "conventionalism," announces his first outright purchase of a whole business, the Baltimore department store Hochschild, Kohn, and delivers a pointed defense of ignoring market forecasts — pointing partners to Benjamin Graham's chapter on treating market swings as opportunity rather than instruction.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1965 Full Year

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's landmark 1965 annual letter. After a record year — up 47.2% versus the Dow's 14.2% — Buffett reveals the story behind Berkshire Hathaway, the struggling textile maker he began buying at $7.60 a share in 1962 and took control of in 1965. He lays out his case for concentration over diversification, introducing the rule that lets him put up to 40% of the partnership in a single conviction bet and mocking the "Noah School of Investing" of owning two of everything. He also warns that the partnership's growing size may finally start to weigh on returns, and closes the door to new partners.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1965 H1

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1965 letter to partners. The partnership gained 10.4% while the Dow was essentially flat, extending its edge — though Buffett candidly notes the gain came during the market's rise, not its fall, the opposite of how he'd prefer to earn it. He revisits his "duck on a pond" point with fresh backing that mutual funds pick stocks no better than random, and explains his logic for borrowing and lending with partners at the same 6% rate. Most significant for the story ahead: he reveals he has quietly acquired a controlling interest in one of his holdings — the beginning of Berkshire Hathaway — with the full account promised for the next annual letter.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1964 Full Year

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1964 annual letter, one of his richest. The partnership gained 27.8% against the Dow's 18.7%, but Buffett spends much of the letter on ideas: why nearly all professional money managers fail to beat an unmanaged index, and his now-famous definition of true conservatism — "intelligent hypotheses, correct facts and sound reasoning," not crowd agreement. He expands his method to four categories, adding "generals — relatively undervalued," and lays out his long-term goal of beating the Dow by about ten points a year. He also delivers a memorable case for maximizing after-tax gains rather than dodging taxes, skewering the era's "swap funds" along the way.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1964 H1

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1964 letter to partners. With the Dow up about 10% in the first half, the partnership only matched it — a reminder that Buffett's edge comes in flat or falling markets, not booming ones. He reports patiently accumulating three "general" holdings where the partnership is now the largest shareholder, and delivers his memorable "duck on a pond" metaphor: most professional managers rise and fall only with the market itself. He also lays out his philosophy on measuring performance against a fixed yardstick and on paying taxes rather than distorting decisions to avoid them.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1963 Full Year

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1963 annual letter, capping "seven fat years" with a 38.7% gain versus the Dow's 20.7%. He uses the Mona Lisa to illustrate the staggering long-run math of compounding, warns partners his huge margin over the Dow can't last, and gives his clearest breakdown yet of the three-category method: undervalued "generals," timetable-driven "work-outs," and "controls." A cornerstone letter for understanding Buffett's early philosophy and why he measures success against the market rather than by absolute gains.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1962 H1

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1963 letters to partners. He reports a first-half gain of 14% against the Dow's 10%, but reminds partners the edge should come in down markets, not rising ones. The centerpiece is the completion of the Dempster Mill story — how Harry Bottle's turnaround converted a failing manufacturer's assets into a $2 million securities portfolio and lifted the holding's value to roughly $65 a share. Buffett also shares his philosophy on taxes ("pay large amounts of income taxes — at low rates") and why he'll happily borrow and lend at 6%.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1962 Full Year

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1962 annual letter, one of his most foundational. He lays out his famous "Ground Rules" for judging performance, illustrates the staggering power of compounding, and explains his three-category method: undervalued "generals," work-outs, and control situations. In a down year for the Dow (minus 7.6%), his limited partners gained 11.9%. The highlight is the Dempster Mill turnaround, how new manager Harry Bottle converted a failing manufacturer's assets into cash and roughly doubled the holding's value. Buffett also defines what true conservatism means to him: knowledge and reason, not crowd agreement.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1962 H1

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's mid-1962 letters to partners, spanning a sharp market decline. As the Dow fell 21.7% in the first half, his partnership dropped just 7.5%, proof of his aim to lose far less than the market in down years. He also updates the Dempster Mill turnaround, where converting assets to cash near full value lifted the holding's estimated worth from $35 to $50 a share.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1961 Full Year

Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1961 letter to partners, capping five years of operation with a standout 45.9% gain against the Dow's 22.2%. He lays out his three-category method — generals, work-outs, and control situations — introduces the Dempster Mill takeover, defines what true conservatism means to him, and offers a rare long-term prediction: that beating the Dow by ten points a year is the real measure of success.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1960 H1

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:33:51 GMT

Warren Buffett's first semi-annual letter, from July 1961. His partnerships edged past a fast-rising Dow (up 13%), but the heart of the letter is his plan to merge all the individual partnerships into one — laying out the fee structure, the 6% preferred return, and his commitment to put his own family's entire investment on the line alongside his partners.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1960

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1960 letter to partners, covering a year when the Dow fell 6.3% while his seven partnerships gained 22.8% — exactly the kind of down-market outperformance he'd been aiming for. The bulk of the letter tells the story of Sanborn Map Co., a sleepy monopoly whose stock traded for less than the value of its own investment portfolio, and how Buffett built a stake, joined the board, and unlocked the hidden value inside it.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letter 1959

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:18:13 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1959 letter to partners, written as the Dow surged nearly 20% on a wave of investor enthusiasm he found unsettling. His six partnerships still averaged a 25.9% gain, driven largely by a single holding now grown to 35% of assets, as he warns against "New Era" thinking and the belief that trees can grow to the sky.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letters 1958

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Warren Buffett's 1958 letter to partners. His funds beat a booming Dow Jones (up 38.5%) with gains up to 46.2%, and he walks through a real trade — quietly building a 12% stake in a small New Jersey bank at $51 a share before selling at $80. A look at his patient, value-driven approach during a rising, increasingly speculative market.

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Warren Buffett Partnership Letters 1957

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:51:21 GMT

Warren Buffett's second annual letter to his partnership, written in 1957. He explains how his funds beat the Dow Jones (down 8.5%) with gains of 6% to 25%, breaks down his "work-outs" vs. undervalued stocks strategy, and makes the case for patience over market timing.

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