Buffett going 100% long stocks

 

Read here:

The New York Times > Log In

His essential arguments:

i) stocks are cheap because of short-term bad news

ii) the news will improve, and in 5, 10 years time profits will be at new records

iii) by the time the news improves stocks will be much higher - staying out of stocks until news gets better will therefore cost you lots of money

iv) most investors are holding cash, a terrible long-term asset with pathetic returns and which will probably be severely eroded by inflationary policies to deal with the current crisis

v) investors holding cash think they will be able to time the end of the bear market by moving into stocks at the lows - history says they will fail to do this, and end up buying at far higher prices

 

his method is sound, because his horizon is long term. but it is important that the stocks chosen must have strong fundamentals. ie, no matter how hard the market crash further, the stocks must still stand the test of time.