Interview at 1 p.m. today; Buffett buys more Occidental Petroleum; I'm going to my 26th consecutive Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting; Come say hi; Meeting tips; I had dinner with Charlie Munger; Zoom call tomorrow about a 'new kind of war'

1) Today is the day...

At 1 p.m. Eastern time, my exclusive interview with a special guest is going live. During it, he'll explain how a specific asset class – one you've been locked out of for 82 years – could have handed you 59 times higher gains than you would make with stocks.

If you haven't already, go to EmpireBackdoor.com for more details... and tune in there at exactly 1 p.m. Eastern time for the full interview.

2) Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett bought more stock in Occidental Petroleum (OXY) in recent days according to a filing late yesterday, taking advantage of the stock's weakness this year (it's down slightly versus a 3.3% increase in the S&P 500 Index and a 12.4% jump in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index). He purchased 3.66 million shares of the energy company, bringing Berkshire's ownership to 211.7 million shares, a 23.5% stake.

OXY is an open recommendation in our flagship Empire Stock Investor newsletter, which you can subscribe to and gain access to all back issues for only $49 for the first year – just click here to learn how.

We share Buffett's bullishness on energy, which is why we created Energy Supercycle Investor, with our 10 favorite picks in the sector – you can learn more here.

3) Speaking of Berkshire, I'll be attending my 26th consecutive annual meeting in Omaha on Saturday, May 6...

I strongly encourage you to attend, as it's a fun, unique experience, and Buffett (92) and his longtime right-hand man Charlie Munger (99) aren't getting any younger.

Plus, there's no better way to get to know the company better and learn why I've long called it "America's No. 1 Retirement Stock." That's especially true today, as its stock trades at a 19% discount to its intrinsic value (up from 18% when I last calculated it in my March 1 e-mail).

I won't be hosting any events this year – the cost became prohibitive – but I will be hanging out at the bar on the main floor at the Hilton Omaha at 1001 Cass Street, directly across the street from the site of the meeting, the CHI Health Center, on Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. until at least 10 p.m., so please stop by and say hi!

If you're thinking of coming, here's my advice:

• Download the Shareholders Guide here.
• Tickets. You must be a Berkshire shareholder to attend. This is easy: Buy a B-share for about $302, print out your brokerage statement, and come to the will call from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday or 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Or just ask anyone for an extra ticket – it won't take long to find one.
• Flights. I just paid $1,138 for nonstop flights to/from New York City. One-connection flights are $680 to $776. Gulp! So be prepared to pay up or fly to Kansas City and rent a car for the two-and-a-half-hour drive.
• Lodging. Rooms are expensive, so I suggest looking in both Omaha and nearby Council Bluffs. I just booked this Motel 6 for my longtime friend and former hedge fund partner Glenn Tongue and me for $205 total for Friday and Saturday nights.
• Car rental. I booked an Avis rental for $237 for three days (Friday morning to Sunday afternoon) using AutoSlash.
• Come up with a good question for Buffett and/or Munger and e-mail it to CNBC's Becky Quick at: berkshirequestions@cnbc.com.
• There's a fun 5K run on Sunday morning at 8 a.m. It's $55 to register, which you can do here.

I hope to see you there!

4) And speaking of Munger, David Senra, host of the Founders podcast, had the rare privilege of spending a few hours with him recently and dedicated an episode to what he learned: "I had dinner with Charlie Munger" (listen on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here). Here's a summary:

The blueprint he gave me was simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices.

He has never forgotten the importance of having friends in high places.

Most people systematically undervalue their time.

Charlie took the excess capital out of Blue Chip Stamp and invested it in profitable businesses.

Charlie started seeing the advantages of investing in better businesses that didn't have big capital requirements and did have lots of free cash that could be reinvested in expanding operations or buying new businesses.

Go for great.

In everything I've done it really pays to go after the best people in the world.

If you're in a good business just know that it's human nature to mess it up. Don't mess it up. Just stay there and let time do its work.

One truly great business will make your unborn grandchildren wealthy.

I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span.

Charlie Munger on how he made $400 or $500 million by reading Barron's for 50 years.

One of the reasons Charlie and Warren have never worried about anyone mimicking their investment style is because no other institution or individual has the discipline the patience to wait as long as they can.

Wisdom is prevention.

Wise people step on big and growing troubles early.

I am continually amazed at the number of people who are presented with an opportunity and pass. There's your basic dividing line between the people who shoot up in their careers like a rocket ship, and those who don't – right there.

We just got after it and we stayed after it.

Some brand names own a piece of consumer's minds and they do not have any direct competition.

We are individual-opportunity driven.

Size and market domination can create their own kind of durable competitive advantage.

Extreme specialization is the way to succeed. Most people are way better off specializing than trying to understand the world.

Wise people want to avoid other people who are just total rat poison and there are a lot of them.

Charlie and I have seen so much of the ordinary in business that we can truly appreciate a virtuoso performance.

Charlie looks at nearly everything through the lens of history. You aren't changing human nature. Things will just keep repeating forever.

There should be more willingness to take the blows of life as they fall. That's what manhood is, taking life as it falls. Not whining all the time and trying to fix it by whining.

5) I've been doing a lot of research about how both Ukraine and Russia are engaging in a "new kind of war" – to be specific, as the Wall Street Journal correctly notes in the article below, "Commercially available drones selling for as little as $3,000 are revolutionizing combat."

I'm hosting a Zoom call to share what I've learned at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow (Wednesday, March 29).

Because of the sensitive nature of the topic and some of what I'll be saying and showing (trust me, things that will blow your mind), I ask that you send an e-mail to RSVP and I'll send you the link.

Here are various articles on the topic:

• Ukraine's Drone Spotters on Front Lines Wage New Kind of War (WSJ)
• Ukraine's Software Warrior Brigade(WSJ)
• How Ukrainian drone pilots are changing the course of the war against Russia (PBS video)
• The secretive Ukrainian special forces taking the fight across the border (The Guardian)
• On the River at Night, Ambushing Russians (New York Times)

Here's a photo from one of these articles:

Best regards,

Whitney

P.S. I welcome your feedback at WTDfeedback@empirefinancialresearch.com.