Subject: Re: Dealraker made a point worth contemplating: "
The Berkshire board is an interesting place of those waiting for the big drawdown to put cash to work. Years pass, drawdowns come (How long ago was the Covid "drawdown?") and go and...

...investors on the board are discussing cash levels and the over-valuations all around. Time, years of time, pass.

To counter this:

In 2014-15 or so (too lazy to look) AJ Gallagher fell to $35-ish and was yielding 4%. The investment club I'm a part of, the one that began in 1954 and has had two members that people here would recognize the names, got a presentation by (me) a member to buy the stock.

The club bought the stock of AJ Gallagher. The club president (the club leadership has ascended to a younger crowd now) is a Ben Graham believer hard core "valuation counts" sort. Not long afterwards, at about $72 for AJG, the president began suggesting that AJ Gallagher was "borrowing from the future, that the price-to-earnings line had gotten well above 15" and thus the stock was entering the sell phase for value investors.

At $82 the club dumped the stock and went to cash. AJG had entered a phase above the 15x earnings line and thus was of concern, that "borrowing from the future" on the chart that is so overwhelmingly concerning to the go-to-cash bunch.

I voted against the proposal to sell, but the sale went through the club bought Bristol Myers, a true value stock. We still hold that stock and according to club members it is a solid choice of value, a hold.

AJG? Well, to the club members it resides in the over-priced category, a strong sell.

In 1994 my firm merged with AJG. The merger was suggested by my CPA wife who said to me "Charlie, if you sell you've not done much after tax, you guys need to propose a merger." We did, and I had $500 of AJG stock and my partners (2 of them) also had that same amount. My shares were roughly 62,000, my partners too.

Today we each have $14 million of AJG, that over priced entity that my club had to sell on valuation. I'm up about $8 million since the club sold on valuation. I write all this about AJG because while having cash is celebrated as a "I'm superior" model here on this forum, my thinking is so far opposite that...

As a matter of fact, no matter the conditions it seems a large number of us have held Berkshire and cash for years, the ultimate underperforming combo. What makes this the obsession of the board?

So Uwharrie, let me ask you a question: You had a chance to buy Facebook at $80-ish...correct? Over on the Corner of
Berkshire and Fairfax board/forum we had an elaborate discussion on this, detailed to the n'th degree of obsession.

Given the Covid "drawdown" and things like Facebook...Uwharrie please tell me why you have cash waiting for the big drawdown when low debt companies become cheap? Do you need that to do well? Are you like Berkshire in that you have so many billions you are waiting for the elephant?

Brown and Brown, another insurance broker and an absolutely fantastic business, got cheap not too long ago. If you are the Ben Graham type waiting for the 10 pe? Didn't happen! But it did get to about 20 and by damn if you knew anything at all about insurance brokerage and where the business was as to cycle, the industry, and its local Florida situation=====well it added up to "Buy the stock...a lot of it!"

So Uwharrie: Why in the world are you sitting with so much cash? What stock are you waiting for at what price? Are yu waiting for the big recession or depression? Maybe Google, yet another screaming buy recently, at a PE of 12 or so?

We don't have to only consider DG and KMX on this board and forum. But unfortunately we have snuck around to the point of only disussing what is acceptable here, and that is so limiting it has become a severe detriment to those who use this board and forum for their investment decisions.

Holding cash, lots of cash for long periods? I got "lucky" to be orphraned at an early age as far as investing. My family drew me in to the investment world early in life. Half a century later I've never-ever known anyone who got wealthy or did well financially by holding huge amounts of cash waiting for the big drawdown to invest in low debt high quality stocks that fell to incredible bargain single to low double digit pe's.

Cash? Really? So you are a sub $50 mil investor and you can't find investments? You only look at DG and KMX because that's the board leader's stock world?

No spell check or grammar check here. Off to hike with the wife! Interacting to offer a different perspective, the cash one or low pe value stock model drives me nuts.

One more thing: Charlie Munger recently mentioned that Ben Graham, the buy and sell on valuation guy, made half his money on the one stock that he held throughout his life. IQ check?