When I was wasting $$ in the classic Corvette hobby, the best advice I ever got was, "Start with the best car you can."
"You can't outwork a bad vehicle" Warren Buffett
- Thread starter GON
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I think the investment analogy is there's no point in hanging on to a persistently failing investment. Better to move on. I think the conventional advice is to let your winners run and sell your losers.
Figuring out when to cut bait is the big question. Experienced investors (those who tell the truth anyway) will admit they have sold an investment just before it took off. I hate when that happens.
I'm reviewing my investments right now and I think a small number need to go. It's gonna hurt (tax wise) but you do what you have to do. The painful part is these current non performers were good in the past (they accumulated capital gains which will be taxable when sold) but they're just going no-where now.
This is a red herring Sir.
Commanders absolutely have to be "quitters" at one point or another. "Do not reinforce failure", or keep assailing a potion which causes u more losses than the enemy.
Withdrawals happen at the Tactical, Operational and stragetic levels all the time.
Inflexbile strategies lead to defeat every time.
This is why I thought it was bordering on educationsl malpractice when as a child I kept getting told by adults to "never quit".
This was nonsense then and is nonsense now, as an adult.
If during a venture it turns out to consumes more resource than predicted be it time or whatever it is absolutely rationla to reevaluate if the input/output realtionship makes "the juice worth the sqeeze".
Yet as children we were often discouraged from performing these rational analyses.
True but that's apples and oranges. I too believe "fight to the death" if we are in a war, but WB is talking structural soundness of investment options. In other words, don't throw money at a sinking company that has a dim outlook, or a dyeing technology. Don't double down on losers. Upshift to a better place. That's not quitting, that's being strategic.
If an organization wants to thrive long-term, they need to be willing to take on strategic risk and the potential failures which may be associated it.
The old school Jack Welsh (who I despise btw) and GE idea of cutting the bottom 10% automatically regardless of prior performance or future outcomes also stifles innovation and new ideas. People will not be willing to take risks or ask for investment for new projects due to the potential for personal financial failure. The short term financial gain is at the expense of long-term overall success.
As an apprentice mechanic in the late seventies. Come 1982 and all of the customers vanished.
Nine mechanics and me, there was 40 hours of work.
Per Month.
Painting floors, pushing a brush, just pretending to do Something...
February 11th 1983 and I was made redundant.
Monday morning, myself and mum sold everything we had to keep our home.
By that weekend I had set up my own business repairing Japanese cars.
We kept our house.
The same week I lost my job, mum lost her job on the Monday.
Dad lost his the day prior to myself.
Give up?
Never.
Nine mechanics and me, there was 40 hours of work.
Per Month.
Painting floors, pushing a brush, just pretending to do Something...
February 11th 1983 and I was made redundant.
Monday morning, myself and mum sold everything we had to keep our home.
By that weekend I had set up my own business repairing Japanese cars.
We kept our house.
The same week I lost my job, mum lost her job on the Monday.
Dad lost his the day prior to myself.
Give up?
Never.
I gave up on my first wife. Had I not I likely would still be in miserable relationship and never have met my second wife. So much happier now. And my ex is still the same miserable person she was 20 years ago so no reason to suspect that would’ve turned out differently. Giving up worked out quite well for me.
As an eternal optimist, I cannot recall ever giving up on anything.
In my sixty-odd years I haven't once not been able to fix everything.
My dad was a true polymath.
Following in his footsteps was hard.
I can remember mixing motar for his garage project when I was seven.
By hand.
I haven't a clue just how he managed to do all of the stuff he crammed into his life.
He would give up his entire holiday to build a control line model aircraft for me.
He was a great parent.
I copied his parenting skills when I brought up my stepdaughter.
I can well remember when we fitted our central heating boiler.
It wouldn't fire up.
All night we worked.
By 6am, we had hot water.
Nothing in life is pointless?
In my sixty-odd years I haven't once not been able to fix everything.
My dad was a true polymath.
Following in his footsteps was hard.
I can remember mixing motar for his garage project when I was seven.
By hand.
I haven't a clue just how he managed to do all of the stuff he crammed into his life.
He would give up his entire holiday to build a control line model aircraft for me.
He was a great parent.
I copied his parenting skills when I brought up my stepdaughter.
I can well remember when we fitted our central heating boiler.
It wouldn't fire up.
All night we worked.
By 6am, we had hot water.
Nothing in life is pointless?
Pride, stubbornness and that feeling that everything will be perfect once this piece of the puzzle is complete. I'm a failure as a quitter. But remarkably I can point out that folly in others quite easily.
It has been a cornerstone of my success and bane of my existence.
It has been a cornerstone of my success and bane of my existence.
While Buffett possesses unparalleled financial acumen, I'll never, ever take car advice from the pampered son of a congressman who's never gotten his hands dirty. Some of us enjoy the hobby.
His opinions are much more relevant to today's federal government.
His opinions are much more relevant to today's federal government.
My fav inspirational quote: "Never underestimate the power of denial" (a little joke)Inspirational quotes, oh yeah that’s the stuff
Is that the secret to success?
The idea that a financial guy knows anything technical about vehicles of any sort is wildly in error. Many of us can resurrect a disaster and enjoy good service life from it.
My plane is a great example:
It took 2 years to bring it back to life, but it's provided 18 years of great service. Regardless of what WB claims, I could not have afforded a 'ready to go' Cessna 177RG.
In simpler terms "Don't feed oats to a dying horse"
Or the GM 6.2. Or Toyota 3.4T
Or as Nate at Next Gen would probably say, anything Land Rover
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
I kind of think your activities aligned with the strategy Warren Buffett recommended in this thread. You cut bait on working for someone else, either current or future, and put your faith in yourself and your ability to control your destiny.
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
Here is the other side of the coin.My fav inspirational quote: "Never underestimate the power of denial" (a little joke)
The idea that a financial guy knows anything technical about vehicles of any sort is wildly in error. Many of us can resurrect a disaster and enjoy good service life from it.
My plane is a great example:
It took 2 years to bring it back to life, but it's provided 18 years of great service. Regardless of what WB claims, I could not have afforded a 'ready to go' Cessna 177RG.
I am about to put another four figures into the below pictured Navigator.
The Navigator is leaking oil, and I believe more likely than not needs a rear main seal. Something I can't do myself without a lift. II will (gladly) pay a premium for a competent shop to do the work. The Navigator needs a heater core, probably 15 +/- plus hours of my time. Navigator has a misfire that I have yet to find, I suspect a vacuum leak. The transmission shift lever is on its last legs, shift lever is discontinued, and all the shift levers on these are broken (can't get the shift lever from a donor vehicle). The air shocks are continually at risk, are discontinued, and third party vendors don't remanufacturer two of the four air shocks (yes I know coil replacement but I want the air ride, especially for the self-adjusting benefit when towing), the air shock sensors are discontinued and a very high failure part, the front seat covers don't last over 80k miles and new skins are discontinued from the OEM and third parties don't make exact fit seat covers. Broken sunroof mechanics, and I need to pull the fuse controlling the sunroof, because it someone accidently opens the sunroof, it won't close without hours of work (would be a disaster on a road trip in cold weather or started to rain).
So, in the next 90 days I will probably sink $3k USD minimum in a vehicle that I love and meets a very unique need, but likely wouldn't fetch much over $2k USD on Facebook, if that.
I am not going to take Warren Buffets advice on this Navigator, but an impartial assessment would likely conclude that I should.
Here is one for you being a aviation professional- should Boeing have cut bait on the 777X, and instead started a new fuselage and wing from scratch, like Boeing did with the highly successful 777, to compete with the Airbus A350-1000? Likewise, should Boeing have cut bait on the 737 update to the 737MAX, and instead started fresh with a new from scratch narrow body platform?
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4wd
$50 site donor 2026
My favorite quote is from my wife, who was speaking to youngish girls of color and little means. In her sterent voice, "Don't you ever let anyone tell you you can't do it."
When I was 17 I had finished Grade 12 and wanted to take a year off before starting university. My mother found a job in the paper where someone was looking for Chartered Accountant apprentices. In those days you could before a Chartered Accountant with 5 years of apprenticeship. It paid hardly anything and I didn't like the work.
My mother said I had to complete that 5 year course because I had started it. "My kids don't quit."
I quit, and went on to degrees in engineering and eventually medicine. I needed very little support from my parents because I won several scholarships along the way.
I had a very satisfying career. I wonder how it would have turned out if I had "stuck to it." Not very well I think.
My mother said I had to complete that 5 year course because I had started it. "My kids don't quit."
I quit, and went on to degrees in engineering and eventually medicine. I needed very little support from my parents because I won several scholarships along the way.
I had a very satisfying career. I wonder how it would have turned out if I had "stuck to it." Not very well I think.
My first long term partner was miserable too.
Thirteen years.
I should've quit around year three.
