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The week's question
In March 2025, in the thread "Re: OT, out", Umm asked the members: "Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
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Author: rrr12345 ⎊  😊 😞
Number: of 22352 
Subject: Re: Ot scaling back stocks
Date: 01/05/25 4:51 PM
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No. of Recommendations: 7
"I spend more time thinking about this than any other investment issue."

It's a good thing to think about. Asset allocation affects portfolio return more than individual stock selection, and there's no agreement between experts. Buffett recommends a 90/10 allocation between stocks and short term treasuries, whereas Bogle recommended a 25/75 allocation for a 75-year old investor.

A 2016 paper applying the Kelly criterion

sites.math.washington.edu: PDF document

calculated the following, optimal allocations for a stock/T-Bill portfolio. Assuming historical volatilities the optimal allocation came down simply to the difference between the expected returns of stocks and T-Bills. (result at bottom of page 8)

4 percentage point expected difference, 100% stocks
3 percentage point expected difference, 75% stocks
2 percentage point expected difference, 50% stocks
1 percentage point expected difference, 25% stocks
0 percentage point expected difference, 0% stocks

Surely one's personal situation must be taken into account.
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This community has written 21,861 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
Second quarter comments · 60 recs · 2023
Berkshire's Profit Contributors · 58 recs · 2023
Summary of 2Q 2026 · 55 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
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