Mohnish Pabrai: 2 Investing Lessons I Have Yet To Learn Well

Here’s a great presentation with Mohnish Pabrai at Boston College (Carroll School of Mgmt). During the presentation he spoke about the two investing lessons he has yet to learn well. Here’s an excerpt from the presentation:

So someone like me is still trying to learn to pay up and it’s probably worth paying up for the great businesses. Especially the ones that have these huge runways ahead. But I think that is where I am with my biases. I’m stuck with the businesses that hopefully are great but they get cheap every once in a while. Then someone like me can pounce on the bandwagon. The second thing I’ve got to learn which also is difficult for someone like me is if I buy something at four times earnings and it’s a compounder and I wake up after a few years and it’s at thirty times earnings.

Someone like me is going to be looking to sell that, and that may probably be the wrong thing to do. So there are two lessons that I have yet to learn well. The lesson to pay up and the lesson to hold on. But you guys are young, without my biases, so maybe you’ll get there as you think about this evolution and your willingness to potentially pay up for great businesses.

You can watch the entire presentation here: