Rating: 
Summary: Value Investors, Pay attention
Review:
The Buffettolgy scheme could sound very simplistic to some, or just boring to others, but out of experience, the lessons of this book are the fundamental basis for a real long term and wealth building investment process. For those who believe in the get rich quick with some colorful charting approaches this book may sound too simple to be true.
The essence of this book is to find stocks that stand the test of "Durable Competitive Advantage" with a careful and simple approach and plenty of examples. It is worth reading of you are a novice investor, but if you are not, then you will need to skip this book.
Book Strengths: Simple approach, good examples
Book Weaknesses: Short in theory
Rating: 
Summary: I liked the focus on Retain Earnings and Consumer Monopolies
Review: 1. Does the business have an identifible consumer monopoly?Customer monopolys provide perdictable retain earnings, year after year, because of their positioning in the market. Customer monopolys are unlikely to be upset by a competitor in the same market space. Buffettology seeks to analyze companies with a toll-bridge business model, these are reoccurring services and provides that drive sustained revenue. The test for customer monopoly is determined by who much a investment banker will fund, if you should gain ownership rights for startup. 2. Are the earnings of the company strong and showing an upward trend? The central theme of Buffettology is measure what the company does with its retain earnings long term. Working Capital=Current Liabilities less Assets, Return on Equity= Net Income/Working Capital * 100, and Earnings per Share = Net Income / shares. Consistent retained earnings demostrates strength in the sector. Dividend payments diminishes the earning strength caused by taxation on the payment. Companies who year after year maintain above average return on equity demonstrate they know too get a return on their retained earnings investments. Consistent retain earning levels make long term prediction possible. Consumer monopolys create barieers for other competition factions to take away business. Knowing a predictable return on investment creates confidence and provides leveraging motivations for external investment. Buying low priced securities helps increases the rate of return. Invest from an financial or accounting business perspective. Wait for the market to go down, to get the right price. Diversity does not necessarily product return on investment. All you need to know what to buy and at what price. Determine the kind of company you want ownership in and determine the sale price you will purchase at. Finding the right price uses an technic called Intrinistic Value (IV). IV=Earnings/(.10) {Bond percent } *100. The share price must not exceed the IV price. This helps you determine the right price to buy. Look for a bargin in a qualified company. This requires patience. 3. Is the company conservatively financed? Select companies that use retained earnings for financing than long term debt for financing. Debt finances growth, growth drives price higher, and interest compounding reduces earnings. So, conservatively financed companies do not take away earnings. 4. Does the business consistently earn a high rate of return on shareholder equity? Shareholder equity=Companies assets less current liabilities. Return on Equity = After Tax Earnings / Shareholder Equity. Buffettology wants sustained return on equity of 12 to 15 percent. Price of the share is used to determine when to buy and return on equity is used to determine when to sell. Look for bargin prices to buy, this requires patience. The goal is achieve predictability in the direction of the companies growth. Customer monopoly's are resistence to change and can leverage economy of scale to drive down price. Earnings are used to predict the likihood of consistent performance in the consumer sector. Drops in earnings could indicate shifts in consumer spending patterns and new emerging markets. Return on Equity tells you when to abandoned the company. 5. Does the business get to retain its earnings? Companies that keep their retain earnings qualify for selection scrutiny. Dividends reward stock holders; however are subject to taxation. Select companies that retain their earnings to be used in the growth of their company. The earnings must exceed the rate of return of a bond. 6. How much does the business have to spend on maintaining current operations? Exclude companies that channel a significant portion of their retain earning for repair and maintenance. Select companies that have low cyclic operation costs. In commodity based companies the low cost provider wins. Commodity based companies are the least appealing Buffettology investment because of their maintenance cost requirements. 7. Is the company free to reinvest retained earnings in new business opportunities, expansion of operations, or share repurchases? How good of a job does management do at this? The goal is to increase the return on investment rates. This is an area is risky for consumer monopolies because they enter into businesses that are not their core competences seeking to growth larger. The fantasy of an every expanding company can cause losses which equates to abandonment of the investor. Buffett's philosophy is to "know what the business does" and determine "how well they know their business". Perhaps, this is the double edge sword to praise and to avoid dependant on the strength of response for the previous two statements. Share repurchases seems like a good idea. Share repurchase remove debt owed to the shareholder. Less debt may mean a stronger financial. 8. Is the company free to adjust prices to inflation? This may be an accounting question. Most accounting software packages can adjust for inflation in their accounting software. 9. Will the value added by retained earnings increase the market value of the company? This is complex. Its starts with Present Value and use compounding to determine end value over a specific interval of time. In most cases the retain earnings will increase the end value; however, if the company is losing its consumer monopoly to a new market force than it should be abandoned.
Rating:
Summary: How Buffett Makes Money In A Bear Market
Review: I agree with other reviewers that Buffettology is probably the best book ever written on investing. The New Buffettology expands into some new "Buffett" territory that I have never seen before and that wasn't in the first "Buffettology". This book is far more focused on how Buffett uses a selective contrarian investment style to make money in bear markets. If you can afford both books - "Buffettology" and "The New Buffettology" -do it!!! And if you can only afford one book I would buy this one. It is far more up-to-date on what Buffett is up to.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book For Making Money In Bear Markets
Review: I've read all the "Buffett Books" and the Buffettology seies is the by far the best! Proof is pudding and these books have made me lots of money and, most important, have kept me from losing money. The New Buffettology explains how Warren Buffett avoided being slaughtered when the high-tech bubble imploded. It also explains in great detail how Buffett determines what companies to invest in during bear markets - a great thing to know! I bought this book (and I buy few new books because I sell used books for a living) because of the recommendation on the back by Tim Vic the celebrated author of "Wall Street on Sale" - in the world of value investing Tim Vic is the man - and I'm glad I didn't wait for it to come into the store! I highly recommend it for all serious investors who are interested in making money in this market! (If you read the original Buffettology -like I did -you are going to find that The New Buffettology explores new material that wasn't in the original - specifically how Warren determines when a market has topped or bottomed, plus the book contains the calculations that Buffett uses to determine when to sell a stock - something I've never seen before. Also there is an updated list of every stock Buffett has invested in - including his most recent investments - and a list of stocks that he will probably be looking to buy in this market. I also liked the in-depth study of Warren's arbitrage operations.) All in all it's a great book on the investment methods of Warren Buffett - the greatest investor of all time. I give it five stars and two thumbs up!!!
Rating: 
Summary: They need to correct this
Review: Once again the authors (Mary Buffett and David Clark) have shown their flawed understanding of basic accounting and basic finance. In Chapter 13 page 145 ?149, the authors butcher the concept of stock repurchases. Bottom line: their discussion on this topic is not only insufficient, but it is fundamentally wrong. It is misinformation like this that allows savvy corporate executives to fleece their owners. The authors apparently believe (or would lead the reader to believe) that the mere existence of stock buybacks creates value for remaining shareholders. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Warren Buffett expresses it best when he suggests that investors receive at least a dollar in value for a dollar spent. A concept the authors pretend to understand, but I just can?t see how they could understand it given their analysis of stock repurchases. All I can say to readers of, ?The New Buffettology? is this: stock repurchases only create value for the remaining shareholders if the consideration given is less than the benefits received (also accounting for taxes). In simpler terms: are you repurchasing the shares below there intrinsic value (I hate to use intrinsic value because it will vary depending on each investors required rate of return, but nevertheless it expresses the point)? It?s no surprise that stock repurchases are in vogue nowadays. After all if financial authors can be fooled by its complexities, then individual investors don?t stand a chance. All they hear is that stock repurchases are good. That management believes the shares are undervalued. Well, in a world motivated by earnings per share and stock options, why not? The editors and authors of this book should be ashamed of themselves for perpetuating this accounting sleuth. Ignorance is not a good excuse.
Rating:
Summary: Bonds Present Value and Future Value
Review: One of the discussings in the Book centers around determining the Present Value of Money for a Bond. Bond interest maybe payable at annual, semiannual, or quarterly intervals. Lets say the interest on a bond is a 7 percent, five year bond, of 100,000 dollars. Assume interest payments are semiannual. How do you find the Present Value of the Bond? For five years there are 10 payment periods, each payment period is 3.5 percent (7 percent/2). Divide the Present Value of the period 1, 100,000 by 1.035 (100% + 3.5%) which produces 96,618, the new value for the next period. Repeat the process for ten periods. The 10th period value represents the Present Value of money. The Present Value of money is the value, for ten pay periods, at 3.5 percent compound interest, yielding principle plus interest payments totalling to a 100,000 dollars. Using the future value of money, the semiannual payment can be computed by multipling 100,000 by 3.5 percent producing a equal interest payment of 3500
dollars. Find the Present Value of money for the interest payments is the same above mention process. The Present value of the interest would be 29,108 dollars.
Rating:
Summary: Bonds Present Value and Future Value
Review: One of the discussings in the Book centers around determining the Present Value of Money for a Bond. Bond interest maybe payable at annual, semiannual, or quarterly intervals. Lets say the interest on a bond is a 7 percent, five year bond, of 100,000 dollars. Assume interest payments are semiannual. How do you find the Present Value of the Bond? For five years there are 10 payment periods, each payment period is 3.5 percent (7 percent/2). Divide the Present Value of the period 1, 100,000 by 1.035 (100% + 3.5%) which produces 96,618, the new value for the next period. Repeat the process for ten periods. The 10th period value represents the Present Value of money. The Present Value of money is the value, for ten pay periods, at 3.5 percent compound interest, yielding principle plus interest payments totalling to a 100,000 dollars. Using the future value of money, the semiannual payment can be computed by multipling 100,000 by 3.5 percent producing a equal interest payment of 3500
dollars. Find the Present Value of money for the interest payments is the same above mention process. The Present value of the interest would be 29,108 dollars.
Rating:
Summary: One the best books on Warren Buffet value investing
Review: One of the very best books that tries to explain Warren Buffett's approach to value investing. Unlike most "Buffett" authors, she stays true to the essence of Warren Buffet, and emphasizes solid financials before looking at price, etc. Other authors stray from the Buffett path by trying to apply his method to technology stocks, overlook the fundamentls and focus on price history and movements (doh!). Mary is stays true and is thorough. The good: Mary Buffett is very specific about what factors she believe Warren Buffet considers whe selecting a stock, and she gives examples and lots of info to explain it. The "could be better":
1) She is so close, but does not give precise formulae for each factor, or uses a vague term at a critical spot. It took me many weeks and many more books to fill in the gaps to where I could develop a complete analysis of a stock.
2) It would be a great assist to give an example of how to use a data source such as Value Line to plug into her analysis steps. Formulae and data elemts from a specified source would make this book priceless. As solid and treu to Buffett as this book is, I cannot believe Mary Buffett didn't follow-up with a website, newsletter service, analysis software, speaking engagements, etc. She has divulged more specifics about warren Buffett's value investing method then anyone else I could find, yet has not pursued the real cash cows that could come from it. Read this book a few times, and carefully work through to develop the complete calculations (don't be lazy now!), combine it with a 90-day trial of Value Line and you will be able to quickly filter hundreds of stocks down the best values for the next year! My highest recommendation for an investing book other than Warren Buffett's writings and the books by his mentor Graham. Get this with Graham's The Intelligent Investor, read Warren's Letters To Investors at berkshirehathaway.com, and you will have a solid value foundation!
Rating: 
Summary: More Buffettology
Review: Please see my review of the original Buffettology. The comments there largely apply here also. This second book is supposedly written with a down market in mind whereas the first was more bull market oriented. Actually, the second book is a very slightly more sophisticated version of the first where the authors have expanded and clarified several topics. For choosing strong consumer oriented companies with durable competitive advantages the authors include the return on total capital in the selection process. This is simply an additonal filter to what was in the first volume. There is also a more sophisticated study of when to sell a stock and a discussion of what makes a company profitable. This info and a reworded rehash of several chapters of the original are what make up the first 168 pages. There is some new information here that was not in the original. The writing in this first section is better than in the original Buffettology. Most of the remaining holes the reader can fill in with some additional research. Pages 169-189 are a discussion of "Where Warren Is Investing Now." There is definitely overlap with the first book here and a lot of it. There are a few additions however and some are worth noting. The section on arbitrage remains lightweight in this version although that may be good for the average investor. The final sections which deal with the mathematical equations are virtually reproduced from the original Buffettology and the workbook. This is sad for that is the portion of the book which could have used rewriting the most. My comments from Buffettology are still true. The math is not as terrible as some believe but the sections could have been written better. Frankly this is just laziness on the authors' part and nothing else. In the final analysis what is probably most useful to note about both books is that they could have used a good financial appendix and a good financial glossary. The value of these already excellent books would have doubled.
Rating:
Summary: Very little NEW useful information
Review: This book does not offer anything new in relation to investing techniques than in the original 'buffettology' (to be fair, the original 'buffettology' was an excellent book). The only useful information I found is on the latest acquisitions by Berkshire Hathaway (or its subsidaries, such as Geico). Also, I don't believe all the acquisitions mentioned in the book were made personally by Mr Warren Buffett himself, investment decisions in Geico are made by Mr Lou Simpson. Better save your money by borrowing it from the nearby public library.
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