This past weekend I attended the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. For several hours I sat overlooking Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger as they answered unfiltered questions from the audience.

Some would say that Buffett and Munger are our modern day equivalent John D. Rockefeller, Benjamin Franklin or Andrew Carnegie. To be in the room with these guys was a real thrill even though I was among 31,000 other devoted followers.

Throughout the day Buffett and Munger addressed issues about the current state of the United States economy, the housing bubble, the U.S. election, China, the pharmaceutical industry, education, investor education, diversification, parenting, sin, nuclear threat and what they will not invest in.

Buffett and Munger kept coming back to one common thread. These two titans of industry are addicted to reading. Munger commented that the greatest teacher / fathers in his life are the authors of all the books he reads. If you wish to peek in the mind of one of the most fascinating modern day Americans, check out Books Recommended by Charlie Munger

One common discussion I had this weekend revolved around the idea of surrounding yourself among people who are smarter than you. Especially if your young and are in the early stages of your career. If you are always the smartest person in the room, you are stealing prime hours of your life in which you could be absorbing knowledge from others.

You know something is not right with the housing market when a family who earns way more then the average cannot afford to buy a decent home to live in.

Living in Los Angeles homes are more than double the national average. Home that should sell for between $300,000 to $400,000 are now being sold for $700,000 to $800,000.

In the past few years prices have skyrocketed so much that buying a townhouse and renting it out as an investment is impossible unless you’re putting down 40% to 50%. Now I am no expert but if I can not even come close to a fetching rental income for what the mortgage is, to me it’s a bad deal. (more…)