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21. Buffett Partnership files, “Miscellaneous Expense” and “Postage and Insurance Expense,” 1956 and 1957.

22. Warren Buffett’s first letter to partners, December 27, 1956.

23. During the war, people bought Liberty Bonds, which paid low interest rates, as a patriotic duty. When rates subsequently rose, the bonds traded “below par”—face value. Stock promoters offered shares to Liberty Bond owners in exchange for the par value of the bonds. Thus bondholders thought they were getting $100 worth of stock for a bond selling in the market for, say, $85, when in fact the stock was worth little if anything. Salesmen also promised some buyers board seats, according to Hayden Ahmanson, who told Buffett this.

24. From 1928 to 1954, the manual was published in five volumes annually as Moody’s Manual of Investments, one volume each for government securities; banks, insurance companies, investment trusts, real estate, finance and credit companies; industrial securities; railroad securities; and public-utility securities. In 1955, Moody’s began publishing Moody’s Bank and Finance Manual separately.

25. Buffett says Hayden Ahmanson gave him this version of events.

26. Buffett: “He was my partner in National American insurance. Dan didn’t have a lot of money, so he was using his money that he had originally planned to put in the partnership, and borrowed some money too.”

27. Under the Williams Act, passed in 1968, you could not do this today, nor could Howard Ahmanson buy back the stock piecemeal. The act requires buyers to make a “tender offer” that puts all sellers on a level playing field under the same price and terms.

28. According to Fred Stanback, when Buffett had “bought all he could pay for,” he also let Stanback start buying.

29. A year later, Buffett sold the National American stock for around $125 (to the best of his memory) to J. M. Kaplan, a New York businessman who had reorganized and headed Welch’s Grape Juice in the 1940s and ’50s and was later known for his philanthropy. Kaplan eventually sold the stock back to Howard Ahmanson.

30. See, for example, Bill Brown, “The Collecting Mania,” University of Chicago Magazine, Vol. 94, No. 1., October 2001.

31. Interview with Chuck Peterson. This was insurance proceeds from her husband’s estate. By then, Buffett had decided to offer his partners several choices of risk versus reward. Mrs. Peterson chose a fee structure that shifted more of both to Warren. He had to beat the market by 6%, not 4%, before earning anything. But he got one third of everything he made above that. Under this structure, only Warren’s capital was at risk for the 25% payback-of-losses provision. Certificate of Limited Partnership, Underwood Partnership, Ltd., June 12, 1957.

32. Arthur Wiesenberger, Investment Companies. New York: Arthur W. Wiesenberger & Co., released annually from 1941.

33. United States & International Securities Corp. was formed amid much fanfare in October 1928 by Dillon, Read & Co. and promptly sank into ignominy, becoming a cigar butt by 1950. Clarence Dillon, the founder of Dillon, Read, was called before the Pecora hearings in 1933 to explain how Dillon, Read obtained control of US&IS and US&FS, which were capitalized at $90 million, for $5 million.

34. Quote is from Lee Seeman. Buffett confirms the substance of the statement. The intriguing question is who or what prompted Wiesenberger to make the phone call.

35. Lee Seeman’s recollection in an interview is that Dorothy Davis made the comparison.

36. Buffett, recalling a conversation with Eddie Davis.

37. Dacee resembled the Buffett Fund. Buffett was credited 25% of any profits over a 4% hurdle rate. Certificate of Limited Partnership, Dacee Ltd., August 9, 1957.

38. Congressional records note a Washington, D.C., furniture store was giving away shares of uranium stock with any purchase for a Washington’s Birthday sale. (Stock Market Study, Hearings before the Committee on Banking and Currency of the United States Senate, March 1955.)

39. Monen