Tag Archive

In this article titled – Buffett Succeeds At Nothing, Mohnish Pabrai reflects on Blaise Pascal’s quote about misery stemming from an inability to sit quietly and applies it to portfolio managers. He discusses D. E. Shaw & Co., a firm that achieved spectacular risk-free returns through sophisticated bond arbitrage, allowing … Read More

In his book  – The Dhandho Investor, Mohnish Pabrai discusses why Ben Graham’s emphasis on a margin of safety is vital, aiming to minimize risk while maximizing returns, a strategy epitomized by Warren Buffett’s success. Assets usually trade at or above intrinsic value, but during extreme distress, like 9/11 or … Read More

In his book – The Dhandho Investor, Mohnish Pabrai explains why a critical law of investing, as demonstrated by Warren Buffett, is the importance of a small team size, ideally just one person. This approach allows for decisive and bold investments, exemplified by Buffett’s decision to invest 40 percent of … Read More

In his book – The Dhandho Investor, Mohnish Pabrai explains why value investing involves investing in businesses negatively perceived by the market, and these businesses often yield the most significant returns. Fama and French’s research shows that from 1963 to 1990, stocks with the lowest price/book ratios outperformed those with … Read More

During this presentation at The University of Nebraska, Mohnish Pabrai discusses his investment philosophy, emphasizing the importance of staying within one’s circle of competence. He mentions past investments in Maotai, Alibaba, and Tencent, noting their mixed results. Pabrai advocates for businesses that operate with zero debt, citing Berkshire Hathaway as … Read More

In his book – The Dhandho Investor, Mohnish Pabrai explains how fear and greed are fundamental to human behavior and significantly influence stock market pricing. Extreme fear can cause irrational actions, likened to a panic in a crowded theater where everyone rushes for the exits, leading to a market crash. … Read More

In his book – The Dhando Investor, Mohnish Pabrai advocates investing like playing blackjack – bet heavily when the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor. His “Dhandho” approach involves finding a temporarily distressed but good business with a durable moat, within your circle of competence. Determine its intrinsic value 2-3 years … Read More

During this interview with My First Million, Mohnish Pabrai discusses Warren Buffett’s investment strategy and performance, particularly highlighting a key point from Buffett’s 2023 letter to shareholders. Buffett noted that over his 58-year tenure at Berkshire Hathaway, only 12 investment decisions significantly impacted the company’s success. Despite making hundreds of … Read More

In this interview with My First Million, Mohnish Pabrai emphasizes that patience is the key trait for successful investing. He illustrates this by referencing a Seinfeld episode where Elaine’s boyfriend is content staring at the seat back in front of him during a flight, leading to their breakup. Pabrai suggests … Read More

During this interview with The Investor’s Podcast, Mohnish Pabrai discusses the importance of maintaining a spreadsheet to track the intrinsic value of his investments. He emphasizes that while market values fluctuate, understanding the true value of a business is crucial, especially during volatile times like the financial crisis. Pabrai highlights … Read More

During his recent interview with The Investor’s Podcast, Mohnish Pabrai discusses his passion for bridge and shares a story about an investor who shorted Berkshire Hathaway, missing out on significant gains. The investor later regretted not investing in high-yield U.S. treasuries in the early ’80s. Pabrai reflects on missed opportunities … Read More

In this presentation with students at the JNV Kottayam, Mohnish Pabrai shares Warren Buffett’s insights on how he judges people. Despite perception, Buffett doesn’t quickly assess if someone is good or bad. He explained that in a party with 100 guests, he can only identify about eight individuals in five … Read More

In this interview with YPO’s Mosaic Chapter, Mohnish Pabrai discusses the concept of cloning good ideas in business and investing. He learned early on about the power of copying successful strategies. He came across a book by Tom Peters who argued that humans are bad at copying successful ideas. In … Read More

In this presentation at Columbia Business School, Mohnish Pabrai explains how historical crashes can create long periods of low stock prices, discouraging investors. However, these periods can also be the best times to invest for long-term gains. He believes there are always opportunities somewhere in the world, even if the … Read More

In this interview at the SumZero Virtual Investor Summit 2024, Mohnish Pabrai discussed his disappointment with the current political gridlock in Congress, and choice of political candidates. He also highlighted the significant potential for the U.S if a more functional government existed. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Pabrai: I … Read More

In this Q&A session with the London School of Economics, Mohnish Pabrai discusses his two step investment process for finding opportunities with significant upside potential. Here’s an excerpt from the presentation: Pabrai: Yeah I mean I think the the very first question I ask myself when I run into some … Read More

During this discussion, Mohnish Pabrai explains how Warren Buffett’s Japanese bets have yielded infinite returns based on the way he structured the deal. Buffett didn’t use any of his own capital for this investment. Instead he borrowed yen at a low interest rate in Japan, and over time, the subsequent … Read More

In this interview with Morningstar, Mohnish Pabrai discusses Charlie Munger’s philosophy of focusing on continuous improvement and not dwelling on past achievements. Here’s an excerpt from the interview: Pabrai: So what I found is that all of his (Munger’s) energies were focused on taking the next step forward. And they … Read More

In this presentation at FLAME University, Mohnish Pabrai explains why selling good businesses is much harder than buying them, especially when they’ve experienced significant gains. He believes he’s made mistakes in the past by selling out too early due to perceived high valuations, ultimately missing out on further growth. Here’s … Read More

In this Q&A session with Oxford University, Mohnish Pabrai discusses the forgiving nature of the investment business despite frequent mistakes. His key points include: High Error Rates: Even the best investors are wrong often Asymmetrical Rewards: One home run success can outweigh many smaller failures Acceptable Error Margin: Mistakes like … Read More