The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Bakshi: Amazon's True Economic Earnings Vastly Exceed Its Reported Accounting Earnings
“You can't just go by reported earnings. The true economic earnings of Amazon are significantly higher than reported earnings.”
Bakshi: India's E-Commerce Sector is a Cash-Burning, Venture-Funded Bubble
“And we're seeing that in India. We have an e-commerce bubble going on. There are three or four players, and they are essentially giving huge discounts to consumers, to purchase their products, and to not go to bricks and mortar stores, and people are doing tha…”
Bakshi: True Long-Term Thinking Is Impossible Without Financial Independence
“I think it's important to think really long term, and you can't do that unless you're financially independent. That's one of the big lessons that I have for my students. Is that the first thing that they need to get is financial independence. Once they have th…”
Bakshi: Low-Cost Business Models Provide Sustainable Economic Moats Over Brand Differentiation
“I think the low cost model is a far more sustainable model.”
Bakshi: Intuitive, Design-Driven Founders Require a Proven Track Record to Spot
“You can't spot these people at the beginning of their careers. You can spot them maybe in the middle of their careers. So there has to be past track record of somebody who's intuitive and right over and over again. Once you found that, that's based, based on a…”
Bakshi: Opportunity Costs Dictate Shutting Down Underperforming Businesses Earlier Than Expected
“Ah, but if you study Charlie, and if you study Warren Buffett's life, you'll find out that actually you should shut it down well before when it makes sense for you to shut it down, because you have to think about opportunity costs.”
Bakshi: Berkshire's Refusal to Sell Underperforming Businesses Creates a Reputational Moat
“Even though in the short term, it might cost Berkshire some money, in the long run, it has created a huge reputational advantage for them and of course, that has helped Berkshire.”
Bakshi: Short-Term Redemption Risk Prevents Funds From Replicating Berkshire's Strategy
“When you're running a fund when you have investors who can pull the money out at a short notice, You probably cannot think on those lines, and which is something which Buffett and Charlie are familiar with, and they don't have their structural disadvantages. S…”
Bakshi: Overpriced Luxury Brands Will Thrive Due to Increasing Wealthy Demographics
“And the supply of those people is, is actually going to increase over time. So I don't think we can say that those businesses are not going to thrive in the long run. They probably will.”
Bakshi: Great Businesses Are Risk-Averse but Not Loss-Averse
“The way I think about it is that I'm looking for businesses that, that are risk averse, but not loss averse. And those two things are very different. So what you're really looking for is somebody who doesn't mind making a few small bets. Many of them will go b…”
Bakshi: Answering "Why" With "Part of the Reason" Curbs First-Conclusion Bias
“The way to do that is to always answer a question why by the phrase part of the reason. Because that removes the availability heuristic, the first conclusion bias. Because there are, in, in a world which is full of complexity, there are multiple answers. There…”
Bakshi: See's Candies Loses Money Eight Months Out of the Year
“If you think about See's Candy loses money as if I recall correctly, about eight, Eight months in a year, it loses money. Four months in a year, it makes money, and it's a fabulous business.”
Bakshi: Costco Generates Float Through Upfront Customer Membership Fees
“And when you combine that with the fact that customers are funding a lot of that business because they pay upfront a fee to get a privilege of shopping with you, and that gives you float, which I think is another aspect of a wonderful business.”
Bakshi: Costco Generates 20% ROE and High Turns on Sub-2% Margins
“Costco, I think, makes about 20% return on equity, which is actually quite healthy if you look at, ah, interest rates over this part of the world, and it has, ah, a pat margin of less than two percent, so it has very high capital turns, ah, and it can do that …”
Bakshi: Comparing Multi-Year Intervals Reveals Business Changes Missed in Quarterly Statements
“If you look at a business, hugely value creating business, or a value destroying business, and if you look at the financial statements, or a quarterly period, you will miss a lot of the change, but if you put gaps in between, if you look at data five years ago…”