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A comment on Warren Buffett calls insurance Berkshire Hathaway's most important sector.

Re:Warren Buffett calls insurance Berkshire Hathaway's most ... by tptacek on Sunday October 22, 2017 @06:23PM (#15529324)
Search for any recent year and "berkshire letter", then, in the PDF, search for "insurance", and you'll see Buffett saying something similar going back as far as you can find Berkshire shareholder letters.
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Re:Warren Buffett calls insurance Berkshire Hathaway's most ... by Nokinside on Sunday October 22, 2017 @08:52PM (#15529928)
The real genius of Buffet is not the ability to make series of good investments, it's how he has structured his business.

Berkshire makes steady amount of money (float and profit) from insurance business. They have always cheap money to invest, even in bad times when money is expensive.

When there is downturn and buying opportunities arise, other investors must sell something good, arrange expensive financing, or dilute their stock to buy something new. Buffet just buys.

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Re:Warren Buffett calls insurance Berkshire Hathaway's most ... by mathattack on Monday October 23, 2017 @12:42AM (#15530784)
It's actually both. He's also able to buy whole business cheaper than what they'd go for in an auction. And he gets access to deals that allow him to leverage his brand name. (Example: Goldman Sachs https://qz.com/67052/heres-how-warren-buffett-made-3-1-billi...)
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Re:Warren Buffett calls insurance Berkshire Hathaway's most ... by Nokinside on Monday October 23, 2017 @08:53AM (#15532766)
GS investment was prime example of Buffet having money when others don't during crisis.

Money was tight, others tried to stay liquid and hoard cash. Only the government and Buffet were there with large amounts of money to spend.

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