I think the author had a pretty robust backtest with minimal parameters which would limit data mining along with a 42 year period lookback. As far as buying the dips on indices, good idea but far from a strategy. A strategy, to me at least, needs a concrete reason to enter and a quantified exit. I appreciate all the feedback, it seemed like a reasonable strategy, that won't go to the moon and won't blow up either.
Buffett made his fortune through clever use of the tax code... but he'd prefer you think him a brilliant stockpicker.
You keep on making assertions without backing up any of your claims. I am sure that optimizing tax code is NOT how he made his fortune. You don't earn money with paying less taxes , just reduce your payables. It's hard to accuse someone of enriching himself via tax code when the same person comes forth and proposes a tax on the wealthy and when the same person reimburses the company each year for personal stamp usage.
Warren is crazy levered. All that insurance float he invests with is really borrowed against future claims. I'm simplifying but he built a spectacular platform to maximize his potential as an investor. That's not to say he wasn't a savvy stock picker, but he earned his billions buying insurance floats for close to zero and using those floats to fund his investments.
That is bollocks. Listen, I am not a cheerleader for Buffett. But I also know that the insurance industry is built on top of actuarial estimates and calculations and can hardly be a called a leveraged industry. Some of he longest standing companies in the world are insurance companies. Guess why. . . Ever heard of Lloyd's of London? I just find it weird how so many now come out of the closet and ridicule the investment acumen of one of the wisest and smartest investors the world ever had. First he got rich because of tax games, now he got rich because of insurance floats, then he is evil because he supports Clinton. Goodness. Why is it so hard to stay objective nowadays? Is FB really fuxxing up everyone's brains?
You have to figure it out, because no one is going to give it you. If it is published in a study, the odds are it won't work or the edge is too cyclical to be valuable on a regular basis.
I'm not sure about that because the strategy has drawdowns. The key in any of the long term stuff, IMO, is the discipline to stick with it after a drawdown.
After Bill Ackman's debacle with Valeant, I'm not sure that always applies. I'm inclined to cut most stocks if a scandal hits it. In the consumer staples example, I can think of the poor performance of cigarette companies during the lawsuits of the lat 1990's.
You obviously don't want to buy stocks just because they are cheap. They are cheap for a reason. Hence you need to screen for companies that have a stable and ssound business model and are cheap because of some temporary roadblocks.