Warren Buffett Dinner Price is this Fund Manager’s Bread and Butter

January 16, 2020

Jonathan Dash is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Dash Investments, Inc. As Chief Investment Officer, he is responsible for all the investment management and asset allocation decisions at the firm. He has over 25 years of experience in investment management.

Between 2006 and 2010, Mr. Dash was on the board of directors of Western Sizzlin Corporation, a 50-year-old franchising company with over $150 million in systemwide revenue. Mr. Dash graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in finance and has also completed a Harvard Business School program on corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions.

In this 4,279 word interview, Mr. Dash explains how buying dinner for Warren Buffett 27 years ago pays off for this fund manager:

“That year, which was about close to 27 years ago, I flew out to the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) annual meeting just to learn more. I really gravitated toward Warren Buffett’s investment philosophy. It made a lot of sense. He was the best investor in the world. And that’s a good source from which to learn.

So I went to that annual meeting. I got to meet Warren Buffett that year, and I was able to speak to him for a while, asking him many questions. He was kind enough to let me pick up the tab for his dinner that year for him and his family. I think he just saw a young kid who was looking to him and was OK with me doing that.

It’s been a tradition for the last 27 years. I go to that annual meeting every year. I see Warren Buffett at the steakhouse every year. He lets me pick up the tab. And every year, I’ve been able to ask him a few questions to brush up on my investment strategy and get a lot of good book recommendations.

I learned a lot out of that and taking that investing approach, which is really buying a great business with a great management team at a great price. ”

This fund manager believes the times call for more equity exposure:

“I think a lot of people out there have too much exposure to fixed income. When you read academic books on this topic — how much stocks you should have in your portfolio versus bonds — there’s a formula based on your age. And if you’re 80 years old, you should have 60% or 70% in bonds and 30% in equities or something of the sort.

That might be OK in a normal interest rate environment, somewhere between 5% and 8%.

But we’re in a very abnormal environment.”

Read the complete 4,279 word interview and get all the stock recommendations from this Warren Buffett inspired fund manager.