Walter Schloss

Sat, Mar 13, 2010

Walter Schloss is a well known value investor from the Graham-Dodd tree. He is retired but his writings and video are timeless (see below). While he did not attend college like Warren Buffett, Schloss took investment courses taught by Benjamin Graham at the New York Stock Exchange Institute. That is where he got started in value investing and soon was employed by Benjamin Graham back when Benjamin-Graham had his partnership. From my understanding, this is where he met Warren Buffett. And like Buffett, he started his own investment partnership and averaged 15% annual returns versus the markets 10%. It might not seem like much but over time, it compounds and makes a huge difference.

Warren Buffett mentions Schloss in The Superinvestors of Graham and Doddsville and one of the quotes he uses is:

He knows how to identify securities that sell at considerably less than their value to a private owner: And that’s all he does. He owns many more stocks than I do and is far less interested in the underlying nature of the business; I don’t seem to have very much influence on Walter. That is one of his strengths; no one has much influence on him.

A hat tip goes out to Mr. Market Blog for compiling all this great information. Every once in a while I like to read these documents as a reminder of what has truly worked and likely will work in the equity markets.This page will continuously be updated, so feel free to come by and see if we have new material.