Austin Smith talks to Jeremy Phillips about one weird trick investors can use to emulate Warren Buffett.
Phillips reminds us that Buffett has said that people should invest as if the market were only open for one day every five years. Phillips advises investors to work toward buying stocks only one day, or maybe one week, per year, spending the remaining 51 weeks on research.
Asked for his opinion, Smith chimes in and says he loves this idea, which forces investors to think before they act and to buy for the long run. He admits, however, that this method may result in buying a great company at a slightly overvalued price, but he feels doing so is still a good move for the long term.
Phillips goes on to tell us that Zynga (ZNGA) and Groupon won't work with this strategy, because their businesses are changing rapidly. In contrast, Colgate-Palmolive (CL 1.83%) does work using this model. Occupying an "extreme position of strength," it's been paying a dividend since 1895, and increasing it for the last 40+ years.
Saying that Colgate is one of his favorite personal investments, Smith adds Unilever (UL 0.47%) and Philip Morris (PM -1.12%) to the mix, pitching them as companies that help him sleep well at night. He says they make sense for the same reason that Colgate does.
In short, Smith reminds investors to evaluate companies as companies, and not as moving stock prices. If there's one lesson to learn, it's this: Be patient.
Now, are you looking for more Buffett-esque ideas?
