Product Description

An outline of the career and investment techniques of Warren Buffett. The text also includes details of the key investment decisions that produced his success.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #319103 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Inside Flap
A decade has passed since the book that introduced Warren Buffett to the world–The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom–first appeared. Since then, Buffett has solidified his reputation as the greatest investor of all time–quietly amassing a multibillion–dollar fortune, despite the wild fluctuation of the markets.

Although Buffett has claimed time and again that what he does is not beyond anybody else’s competence, some people still do not understand how this value investing legend can consistently perform so well. That’s where Robert Hagstrom and the Second Edition of The Warren Buffett Way come in. This completely revised and updated look at the Oracle of Omaha encompasses Buffett’s numerous investments and accomplishments over the past ten years, as well as the timeless and highly successful investment strategies and techniques he has always used to come out a market winner.

Rather than presenting Buffett’s strategies by stock purchases–as he did in the first edition–Hagstrom makes "Buffett’s Way" more accessible to you, the individual investor, by presenting Buffett’s basic tenets of investing and illuminating these principles with relevant and up–to–date examples from Buffett’s investments, including common stocks, private companies, and high–yield bonds.

Standing far above the market madness, this timely guide distills the wisdom and insight of the world’s greatest investor. It skillfully . . .

• Presents a brief history of Buffett from boyhood to Berkshire Hathaway, and reveals the individuals and events that shaped his investing philosophy
• Outlines the business, management, finance, and value tenets that make up the core of Buffett’s investing approach
• Examines Buffett’s ongoing process of managing a portfolio from knowing which stocks to hold, and for how long, to deciding if, when, and how to cash out some investments and move into others
• Discusses the psychology of money and how Buffett uses this concept to avoid common investment mistakes and recognize other people’s mistakes in time to profit from them

Change is constant, but the investment principles outlined in this book have remained the same. In an environment that seems to favor the speculator over the investor, Buffett’s investment advice has proven, time and again, to be a safe harbor for millions of lost investors. No one understands Warren Buffett like Robert Hagstrom, and in the Second Edition of The Warren Buffett Way, Hagstrom will help you–whether you’re a seasoned investor or just getting started–understand and employ the investment strategies that have made Buffett so successful for over five decades.

From the Back Cover
"Simply the most important new stock book of the 1990s, to date. Buy it and read it." --Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes

The runaway bestseller--updated with new material included for the first time!

"The Warren Buffett Way outlines his career and presents examples of how his investment techniques and methods evolved and the important individuals in that process. It also details the key investment decisions that produced his unmatched record of performance." --from the Foreword by Peter S. Lynch, Bestselling author, One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street

"...an extraordinarily useful account of the methods of an investor held by many to be the world's greatest." --The Wall Street Journal.

"Robert Hagstrom presents an in-depth examination of Warren Buffett's strategies, and the 'how and why' behind his selection of each of the major securities that have contributed to his remarkable record of success. His 'homespun' wisdom and philosophy are also part of this comprehensive, interesting, and readable book." --John C. Bogle, Chairman, The Vanguard Group.

"It's first rate. Buffett gets a lot of attention for what he preaches, but nobody has described what he practices better than Hagstrom. Here is the lowdown on every major stock he ever bought and why he bought it. Fascinating. You could even try this at home." --John Rothchild, Financial columnist, Time magazine.

About the Author
ROBERT G. HAGSTROM, JR., CFA, is a principal with Lloyd, Leith & Sawin, a Philadelphia firm that is responsible for over $100 million in assets. He is also fund manager of The Focus Trust, a no-load mutual fund based upon the tenets outlined in this book.

Customer Reviews

Amazed by good reviews of this book
I am continually amazed by the good reviews this book receives; so I finally felt compelled to write. There is nothing in this book that Warren Buffett hasn't already said in his annual letters. Robert Hagstrom revealed his true reason for writing this book when the first paperback edition came out and in it, in fine print, was a notice stating that Hagstrom had started an investment fund designed to invest using Warren Buffett's principles (read: way). That is, he wrote the book so you would learn his name, become confident in his ability to analyze investments like Buffett does, and invest in his fund (which has a hefty expense ratio and has performed quite poorly I understand). So he writes this page book, in which he recommends that if you ever have the chance to read Buffett's annual letters, you should, since they "read like a book on his investment philosophy". I took his suggestion, ordered the back annual letters (sold by Berkshire Hathaway for $15) and found they repeated everything in this book - sometimes word for word (now how could Buffett have known what Hagstrom was going to write?). I get the feeling that Hagstrom has never met Buffett and never discussed investing with him (unlike Lowenstein, Lowe, Train, etc.) and his only research for this book was Buffett's annual letters. I learned more about Buffett's style from Roger Lowenstein's biography. Take Robert Hagstrom's advice and purchase the annual letters; they say the same thing - except Buffett's sense of humor is better.

A poorly written precise of Buffett's annual reports.
Far from giving the reader an insight into the investment strategies of the world's greatest investor this book simply summarises selected comments from Buffett in his annual reports of Berkshire Hathaway. Having read the book and the annual reports I can honestly say that Warren Buffett does it better! You can download the reports free of charge from the Berkshire Hathaway web site. Don't waste your time with this book.

The Warren Buffett Way
This is an excellent look at the investment style of Warren Buffett. It is extremely well written and very clear, I'd even go so far to say that you don't need an in-depth knowledge of maths to understand the principles outlined in this book as they are explained so clearly, with many examples based on Buffetts own techniques and actual stock/business purchases. It has a slight biographical quality about it as well, which is great for that deeper understanding of Buffett and what has motivated and shaped his thinking. Of all the investment books i've read, this is one of the most accessible and useful. A great introduction to Buffett and value investing. Highly, highly recommended. If this piqued your interest try 'The Essays of Warren Buffett' by Lawrence Cunningham for some brilliant examples of Buffetts own clear and entertaining writing style and investment wisdom.