Warren Buffett, Walter Schloss, Tweedy Browne - How I didn't get rich, it is my fault

Introduction

I take full responsibility for not getting rich. I thought some might enjoy my experience.

Adam Smith and Warren Buffett

When I was 18, about 1974, my girlfriend gave me a copy of The Money Game by Adam Smith. I read about Warren Buffett in the book and thought it interesting. I told my father about him and suggested he invest in the stock, which I believe was in the $200-300 range then. My father, a skilled attorney, did not buy any, and despite having a part-time job, I also failed to do so.

Walter Schloss and Tweedy Browne

In the 1990s, being very interested in stocks as an investment, I studied, and in an article, Buffett wrote that he spoke of Walter Schloss, whom he met at Benjamin Graham's company in the 1950s. He sounded like my kind of person. He operated alone with his son in a small area in the Tweedy Browne Offices. No computer, and a manual typewriter. I wrote to Mr. Schloss explaining my interest. In stock research, if he would allow me to send him ideas and give me feedback, I was surprised when he responded. He graciously accepted my proposal as long as he put it did not become too "onerous". Again, I failed to follow through—all my fault. I just became busy with life and raising a family and could not seem to accumulate enough savings to invest.

Pink Sheets and The Barretville Bank

I kept studying Graham and reading anything I could find about value investing. In the book I Think Money Masters by John Train, I read about Tweedy Browne and stocks listed in the Pink Sheets. These stocks were listed on Pink paper. I found them at a Merryl Lynch office in my city. I loved going down to their office during lunch, pouring through the Pink sheets, and looking for companies that showed Tweedy Browne as the market maker. I tried the same method TB had used in previous decades of getting hold of shareholder lists and writing shareholders, letting them know they would be interested in acquiring their shares. While I don't call the exact details, I acquired the stockholder's list for a bank in Tennessee called Barretville Bank and Trust. I wrote everyone on the list and received some unusual responses, so I started to give up. However, one day, I received what appeared to be a junk mail envelope from a well-known charity in the mail. l took the envelope, sat on the toilet, thought, what the heck, and opened it. It was from a broker handling holdings of this well-known charity. He said the charity had two shares of the bank and if I wanted to make an offer. I offered $500 for each share, considerably below the book value. Also not widely known was that their financial statement did not include the ownership of another bank other than it was in the millions and was listed with an asterisk on their two-sided financial statement. They accepted my offer, and I became the proud owner of two shares. I thought I had found the way to wealth but realized how few opportunities there seemed to be, and I did sell them for a nice profit when, again, I needed the money for family reasons.

Mutual Funds

When Tweedy Browne developed their public mutual funds, I was able to scrape enough money together and was pleased. Something came up, and I had to sell. But my father listened this time and bought some, which he left to me and sold. I had the pleasure of speaking several times with an employee at TB who spoke highly of Walter Schloss and was a very high-energy individual who watched his diet.

Berkshire Hathaway

I now am in my late sixties, retired on a pension, and live modestly. I got to run some of my mother's money and select good-value stocks at reasonable prices. And I bought some Berkshire B when Warren and Charlie repurchased shares in droves a while back.

Conclusion

I have learned that you must spend less than you make no matter what and that the value system only works if you have a long runway in front of you. - which I don't necessarily have now. But I am going to give it a try. The other thing I have learned is that when a person of character like Walter Schloss offers to assist you, you need to grab it. Finally,I learned we can blame all kinds of things, but ultimately, we are responsible for ourselves.

Update

I did not include my letter with Warren Buffett. I found a trust that had a large block of the Barrettville Bank and trust who wanted to sell. I wrote Mr Buffett asking if he would have an interest and what fee I could collect. I did not reveal the name and responded with what he would pay . I did not follow through again as I was not a registered broker and had no idea how to proceed. After Mr Barrett died the bank was acquired I believe by a larger regional bank. That bank still did almost all their books by hand.