Looking Up to Warren Buffett
IT OFTEN SEEMS like every hedge-fund manager is reading from the same playbook about how to look, work and behave. Neatly pressed khakis; thumbs glued to a BlackBerry; slick digs in
About the only thing slick about this 43-year-old investor is his market-trouncing track record — annualized returns of nearly 25% since he set up shop in 1999, enough to earn him a growing cult following. His “secret”? Probably the most documented investment strategy around — a bare-bones, Warren Buffett style of stock picking. While that description may inspire yawns — sometimes it seems like everybody claims to be a Buffett disciple — Pabrai takes it to an extreme. His office houses an impressive Buffett mini-museum: a wall covered with photos and articles he’s amassed over the years. He recently dropped a stunning $650,100 at a charity auction for the privilege of just one lunch with the Berkshire Hathaway guru. Even his minimalist approach to e-mail mirrors the Buffett philosophy of avoiding distractions. And his track record is more than Warren-worthy: A $100,000 investment in his flagship Pabrai Investment Fund 2 in June 2001 would have been worth $465,200 at the end of 2007; the same amount invested in the Dow, only $145,500. (The minimum investment today: $2.5 million.) […]
from http://www.smartmoney.com/mag/index.cfm?story=may2008-warren-buffett&afl=myyahoo