Abrams and Tobias Carlisle, Founder, Acquirers Funds, recommend reading Warren Buffett’s Letters to the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. They are available for free on the internet and reading them is like getting an MBA, says Carlisle.
“I think that a lot of the stuff that they teach in the MBA is silly—and I did a business degree,” he quips. “They taught me a lot of silly stuff that sort of put me on the wrong path. But I was fortunate that I had read Buffett’s letters when I was about 17 years old.”
Ric Dillon, Founder, Vela Investment Management, also recommends Buffett’s letters but a curated version. “For people who are really interested in investments, the best book is The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America,” he notes. Lawrence Cunningham, the book’s author, compiled decades of Buffett’s letters into a coherent roadmap for sound investing and strong corporate governance.
“It is priceless,” he says, adding, that even though that’s what he did, “you don’t have to read it cover to cover.” At one point he went to Barnes & Noble bookstore, bought all the copies, and gave them to his board members and executives. “It is by far the best book I’ve ever read in finance generally, and in investments in particular.”