Happy 90th birthday, Warren Buffett!; My tribute to Buffett and Munger; Another bull-bear debate on TSLA; The Most Dangerous Stock for Fiduciaries; Tesla employee thwarts cybersecurity attack

1) Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK-B) Warren Buffett turns 90 on Sunday... Happy birthday, Warren!

Here's a lengthy article in the Omaha World-Herald about it, with insightful and heartfelt comments from some of his friends and family like Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Bill Gates, his daughter Susie, and his bridge partner Sharon Osberg: Omaha's megabillionaire down the street – Warren Buffett – set to celebrate his 90th birthday. Excerpt:

Buffett and those close to him have some theories as to how he's been able to lead such a long and happy – not to mention lucrative – life.

Find a job you love.

Surround yourself with people you enjoy.

Laugh a lot.

And face each day with a sunny outlook.

"There are a lot of things about health you can't change," Buffett said. "But I've been able to do what I want to do every day, and had a lot of fun doing it. That's a big plus in life."

The man who ranks fourth on Forbes' list of the richest people on the planet still can't wait to get to the office each day. You can hear the enthusiasm in his spry, energetic voice – one you'd swear is that of a man no older than 60.

Buffett has certainly made some accommodations to age over the years, including in recent years cutting back on both his work demands and outside commitments. But friends and co-workers say he remains mentally acute, able to quickly absorb and process large amounts of information and to easily recall facts from history or his own past.

"I play bridge with him two or three times a week – I would know if he's slipping," said Sharon Osberg, among Buffett's closest friends. "It's remarkable. Not everyone is going to have the mental ability to run something at the age of 90."...

Daughter Susie Buffett said people need to stop worrying about her father's age.

"My dad is going to outlive us all, and I'm not kidding," she said. "I'll bet a lot of money he will get to 100"...

Even after all these years, Gates said, Buffett remains engaged and extremely sharp. You don't have to talk to him for very long to see it.

"There is no diminishment in his genius," Gates said...

Osberg said her friendship with Buffett has given her a unique window into the lives of the very wealthy. There is indeed truth to the old saw about money not buying happiness. Interestingly, she said, many wealthy people are not very happy.

But she does not count Buffett among them. And it's because he has found that life's true riches are rooted in things you can't buy.

She said Buffett's wealth has arguably enabled him to meet and befriend an interesting group of people that he enjoys immensely. But he would have friends without his wealth, too. She said the primary meaning of money for Buffett is as a measure of Berkshire's performance – "how he keeps score."...

Even at 90, Buffett is going to continue to do all the things that make him happy. Buffett's life philosophy of food, health and happiness was probably best summed up by a quip he made during a family holiday dinner last year, words recently recalled by daughter Susie.

"You can never have too much love," her father said, "or too much gravy."

2) Here's an excerpt from the introduction to my forthcoming book, The Art of Playing Defense, about how Buffett and his longtime business partner Charlie Munger have helped me in unexpected ways:

It's not an accident that I've suffered far fewer than my fair share of big setbacks. Rather, it's primarily the result of two things. During my youth, I had the benefit of two wonderful role models – my parents – both of whom I love and admire more than anyone. They surrounded me with love from the day I was born and made big sacrifices for my sister Dana and me.

By being both excellent teachers and role models, they helped me avoid the calamities of youth: I didn't get myself killed, stayed away from drugs and alcohol, and got a great education.

Then, as an adult, in addition to having a wonderful wife, I've had the benefit of two more wonderful role models, famed investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

When I discovered them at the same time I became interested in investing in the mid-1990s, I studied them obsessively, reading everything by and about them and traveling to Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting every May (I'd been to 21 in a row until the coronavirus forced the cancellation of the 2020 one).

What I learned from these two wise men about investing was invaluable. In the early days of my career, I had so little experience – and they were such brilliant, inspiring, and patient teachers! Had I not absorbed all of the investing lessons they imparted, I never would have achieved anything close to what I did. I beat the market year after year in my first dozen years and grew assets under management from $1 million to $200 million across three hedge funds and two mutual funds. I also launched successful investment conference and newsletter businesses, appeared regularly on CNBC for many years, was twice on 60 Minutes, wrote hundreds of articles, and coauthored three books.

I've come to realize, though, that the most important things I learned (and continue to learn) from Buffett and Munger go well beyond value investing. They fall under the category of what Munger calls "worldly wisdom."

Much of what they preach is simple (as Munger jokes, "if it's trite, it's right!"): work hard, become a learning machine, have high integrity, develop good habits, be nice to everyone, marry and maintain a strong relationship with the right person, and so forth.

They also spend a lot of time talking about calamities. I still remember the moment when I was at the Wesco annual meeting two decades ago when Munger said, "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there."

Everybody laughed, but he continued:

I'm serious. Once you reach a certain position in life, you should spend most of your time trying to avoid the things that can derail your life and send you back to "go," or worse. That's true in investing, but it's also true in life. What happens to many people is that even when they've got it made, they can't help but stretch to try to grab the brass ring – and fall, bringing themselves to ruin.

Ever since, I've been studying calamities, which is all about assessing risk – and that's what I've been doing full-time for more than two decades in the investment world.

3) Another day, another record high for electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA), and another bull-bear debate on the stock...

David Trainer of research firm New Constructs recently posted his bearish case for the stock here: Tesla: The Most Dangerous Stock for Fiduciaries. Summary:

• TSLA's performance, including the recent stock split-driven price spike, makes the stock more attractive to many momentum/technical traders. 
• More cautious investors and fiduciaries should only be more wary and should consider the unusually high level of risk in the stock given that fundamentals are not driving the price.
• Tesla is priced as if it will not only achieve the scale and production of a mass-market automaker, but do so while maintaining its well above-average vehicle prices. 
• Even if we assume Tesla can achieve a 7% NOPAT margin, equal to Toyota, and grow revenue by 26% compounded annually (in line with consensus estimates through 2025) for the next decade, the stock is worth only $813/share today – a 57% downside to the current stock price.

Rob Maurer of Tesla Daily takes issue with Trainer in this 56-minute interview, which you can watch here.

(If you wish to join my Tesla e-mail list, simply send a blank e-mail to: tsla-subscribe@mailer.kasecapital.com.)

4) Kudos to this Tesla employee: Tesla employee foregoes $1M payment, works with FBI to thwart cybersecurity attack. Excerpt:

During their "business" meeting, Kriuchkov revealed his hand. The plan involved the Tesla employee inserting malware provided by Kriuchkov and his associates to the electric car maker's systems.

After the malware is inserted, a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack would occur that could allow the hackers to occupy the Tesla information security team. The malware would also allow the hackers to extract corporate and network data, which would be held ransom until the electric car maker pays up. For his participation in the ploy, the Gigafactory Nevada employee would receive $500,000, later raised to $1 million, to be paid in cash or bitcoin.

Unfortunately for Kriuchkov and his team, the Giga Nevada employee actually reported the planned cybersecurity attack on Tesla, which, in turn, contacted the FBI. The FBI stepped in, and with the agency's help, the Tesla employee continued to communicate with Kriuchkov, trying to get as much information as possible about the hackers' processes, procedures, and infrastructure. The efforts proved fruitful.

Best regards,

Whitney