Daddy M & M

Here is the updated 2025 analysis of Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Coca-Cola, incorporating the latest dividend and valuation figures from the 2024 copy -  https://daddymm.blogspot.com/2025/02/berkshire-hathaways-coca-cola-2025-02-05.html Using weighted CAGR to calculate the compounding return for the period, the average holding time from 1988/1989/1994 to 2025 is 34.67 years: Year of Purchase Years till 2025 1988 37 1989 36 1994 31 Average 34.67 The 2025 end of year market capital for Coca-Cola is $ 27,964,000,000 with accumulated dividend since 1988 is $ 12,440,771,000. For simplicity, I just assume the return is the year end market value plus the dividend, which is $ 40,404,771,000. To calculate the annualized return, we use the following formula: (Ending Value / Initial Investment)^(1 / average number of years) - 1 . In Buffett's case, this translates to: (40,404,771,000 / 1,298,900,000)^(1 / 34.67) - 1 = 10.42% . It's important to note that this calculation doesn...

I recently came across an incredibly insightful video by a YouTuber who pointed out something that completely flips standard economic theory on its head. They noted that Singapore did something almost no other country has had the courage to do: it resisted the ultimate temptation. In modern capitalism, real estate is treated as the ultimate "super-engine" of economic growth. Most governments are completely hooked on the short-term high of skyrocketing property markets to pump up their GDP. Yet, Singapore deliberately chose to provide public housing for roughly 80% and privade housing to 10% of its citizens, essentially taking the vast majority of its land out of the speculative market. According to traditional economic textbooks, this shouldn't make sense. But in reality? It is a masterclass in pragmatism. Flipping the Textbook on Its Head In global finance hubs like New York, London, or Hong Kong, land goes to the highest bidder. Real estate is treated as a financial ass...

When tourists visit Singapore, they marvel at the futuristic glass of Marina Bay Sands or the manicured split-levels of Jewel Chini. What they completely miss is the true "secret sauce" of Singapore’s economic and social success story: the humble HDB (Housing & Development Board) town planning. HDB estates are not just public housing; they are highly engineered, self-contained ecosystems designed to sustain human life, community, and economic productivity. The Super-Block Concept: A City Within a City An HDB town is built on a highly deliberate "Super-Block" or neighborhood principle. At its core, it ensures that a resident rarely needs to leave their local grid for daily survival. Porosity & Nature: Unlike gated communities, HDB complexes have no walls. The "Void Deck" (the open-air first floor) allows people, light, and tropical breezes to flow entirely unimpeded. The 5-Minute Radius: Within a single Super-Block grid, you will find a primary or...

It all started with a headline: Sir Stamford Raffles’ home was up for sale in 2018. Living here in Singapore, the news caught my eye and sparked a journey down a historical rabbit hole. I quickly realized that the man we learn about in textbooks—the one who stepped ashore an island of just a thousand souls—was far more complex than the bronze statue by the Singapore River suggests. To be honest, I used to wonder why we give him so much credit. Raffles spent less than ten months in total on the island. How does a sub-one-year residency earn you immortal fame? The answer lies not in his time on the ground, but in the sheer magnitude of his blueprint. In those few months, Raffles didn’t just pitch a tent; he established a free-trade port that defied the monopolies of the era. He drafted the Raffles Town Plan (the Jackson Plan) and enacted the Legal Social Reform of 1823. Walk through Chinatown or Little India today, and you are literally walking through his 200-year-old architectural dra...

  If a financial marketer were selling you a stock-picking newsletter today, here is the chart they would show you based on a $1,000 initial investment on Netflix's IPO day: Asset May 2002 Price May 2026 Price Headline Return Netflix (NFLX) ~$1.07 (split-adjusted) ~$86.00 ~720x ($1,000 becomes ~$720,000) Berkshire (BRK.B) ~$50.00 ~$474.00 ~9.5x ($1,000 becomes ~$9,500) (Note: Netflix underwent massive stock splits in 2004, 2015, and a 10-for-1 split in late 2025, adjusting its IPO price down mathematically to pennies). On paper, Netflix looks like the ultimate winner. But the chart lies by omission. It hides the brutal reality of Volatility Drag and the psychological impossibility of holding through Netflix's historical collapses. The Netflix Reality: The "Survivor's" Toll To earn that 720x return, you did not just "buy and hold." You had to sit paralyzed while the market wiped out years of your accumulated wealth—multiple times. The narrative never m...

The 194x Illusion: Why Historical Market Returns Are Misleading In the world of financial marketing, few narratives are as seductive—or as misleading—as the retrospective return. You have likely seen the headlines: "If you had invested in the Nasdaq 100 in 1988, your money would have multiplied by 194 times today!" Or perhaps comparisons are drawn to Warren Buffett’s legendary investment in Coca-Cola, boasting a 30x return. These staggering multiples are heavily marketed to convince retail investors to buy and hold passive index funds or blue-chip stocks, regardless of current valuations. However, these comparisons suffer from catastrophic flaws: they rely on a mathematical fantasy of how capital is deployed, they suffer from extreme hindsight bias, and they completely ignore the mechanics of real cash dividends. To invest intelligently, we must strip away the marketing and understand the reality of the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and the trap of the rearview mirror. The ...