巴菲特的甜蜜投資 投資者受益巨大

Warren Buffett has done a lot of good for investors. That is why so much of the financial world is celebrating his half century as an owner of Berkshire Hathaway, the textile company he has transformed into a conglomerate like no other.

沃倫•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)讓投資者受益巨大。這也是在巴菲特執掌伯克希爾哈撒韋公司(Berkshire Hathaway)半個世紀之際金融界許多人對他讚不絕口的原因，因爲巴菲特把這家紡織公司轉變成爲一家無可匹敵的綜合企業。

But the Oracle of Omaha also has been a big help to dentists — and I would suggest that side of Mr Buffett merits consideration, too, as we take stock of the man who has made value investing a key canon of today’s capitalist creed.

但是，這位“奧馬哈先知”(Oracle of Omaha)也極大地幫助了牙科醫生——我認爲，在我們盤點這位讓價值投資成爲如今資本主義經典信條的人物時，這也是他值得考慮的一面。

One of the more intriguing themes of Mr Buffett’s career has been his big bet on the enduring appeal of sugar — from cane or corn or other sources. Although his portfolio runs the gamut from banks and insurers to railroad, manufacturing and energy companies, it includes substantial holdings in candy, ice cream, chewing gum, soft drinks and the heavily sweetened condiment that is ketchup.

巴菲特投資生涯中比較耐人尋味的一個主題是，對糖的持久吸引力的大筆押注——從甘蔗到玉米再到煉糖的其他原料。儘管他的投資組合覆蓋銀行、保險、鐵路、製造業和能源公司等各個領域，但還有很大一部分是對糖果、冰激凌、口香糖、軟飲料以及番茄醬這類重甜味調味品公司的持股。

Mr Buffett flashed his financial sweet tooth in 1972 when he acquired See’s Candies for $25m. He has since been quoted as calling the California sweets maker a “dream business” because it can increase profits without much new capital and thereby throw off cash for other investments by Berkshire.

1972年，巴菲特以2500萬美元收購了時思糖果(See’s Candies)，展現了他對投資糖果企業的金融胃口。從那之後，他稱這家加州糖果製造商爲“夢幻企業”的說法常被引用，而他之所以這樣說，是因爲它不需要很多新資本就可以提升利潤，因此可以騰出現金用於伯克希爾的其他投資。

At last report, these also included interests in Coca-Cola, a sugary drinks maker; Wrigley, a chewing gum and confectionery concern; Heinz, the ketchup kings (at least in my house); as well as owning Dairy Queen, a self-described US-based purveyor of “crave-satisfying treats and food”, including its legendary soft-serve ice cream.

在最近一份投資報告中，巴菲特的“甜蜜”投資清單還包含對含糖飲料製造商可口可樂(Coca-Cola)的持股；口香糖和糖果公司箭牌(Wrigley)；番茄醬霸主（至少在我家是這樣）亨氏(Heinz)；以及Dairy Queen——一家自述爲提供“滿足渴望的美食”（包括其傳奇般的軟冰激凌）的美國食品商。

From a public health standpoint, Mr Buffett could obviously find better things to do with his money. Sugar can be bad for people. Eating too much of it can help make them obese and raise the risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. If you don’t brush your teeth promptly, as our mothers used to tell us, tooth decay can result.

從公衆健康的角度來講，巴菲特顯然能夠找到更好的投資選項。糖可能會對人的健康有害。吃糖過多可能會造成人們肥胖，增加患心臟病及2型糖尿病的風險。如果你不像媽媽過去常教導的那樣及時刷牙，可能造成蛀牙。

But Mr Buffett has never really made it his business to change the world through new technologies, miracle cures or what have you. He has a social conscience as he is making clear by leaving most of his fortune to charity; but in allocating capital, he generally avoids the questions that the late Robert Kennedy used to raise on the campaign trail when he would say: “Some people see things as they are and say, why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?”

但是巴菲特從未以通過新技術、靈丹妙藥或諸如此類的事物改變世界爲己任。他有一顆社會公德心，他把大部分財富獻給慈善的行動可以表明這一點；但在進行資本配置時，他通常會避免已故的羅伯特•肯尼迪(Robert Kennedy)曾在競選造勢時提出的問題——“有人看到已發生的事，問‘爲什麼’？而我夢想的是從未發生的事情，問‘爲什麼不呢’？”

Rather, Mr Buffett’s greatness — and anyone who has done something as well as he has for so long is great — has been defined by his acceptance of the world as he has found it.

相反，巴菲特的偉大——任何在如此長的時間裏把某件事做得像他一樣好的人都是偉大的——在於對他所發現的世界本來面目的接受。

He works within the context of the human condition, such as it is, and gives the people what they want, provided he feels that he can get away with it.

他在人類現實環境（儘管不盡如人意）以內工作，爲人們提供他們想要的東西，只要他認爲自己能夠超然事外。

He is a crowd pleaser with a refined sense of crowd dynamics. The subtlety of his thinking can be discerned in the classic scene in the book Barbarians at the Gate in which Mr Buffett, then a director and leading shareholder of Salomon Brothers, is asked by John Gutfreund, the investment bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, about the wisdom of bidding for RJR Nabisco, the maker of cigarettes and snack foods.

他能夠取悅大衆，擁有對大衆心態的精確感知。他思想的微妙之處，可以從《門口的野蠻人》(Barbarians at the Gate)一書中的一個經典場景中看出：當時作爲所羅門兄弟(Salomon Brothers)董事和主要股東的巴菲特，被這家投資銀行的董事長兼CEO約翰•古德菲瑞德(John Gutfreund)問及對競購香菸及食品公司RJR納比斯科(RJR Nabisco)的見解。

Mr Buffett said at the time — this was in 1988 — that he thought it would be a good deal for Salomon. “I’ll tell you why I like the cigarette business,” Mr Buffett was quoted as telling Mr Gutfreund. “It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It’s addictive. And there’s fantastic brand loyalty.”

那是1988年，巴菲特當時表示，他認爲這對所羅門來說是一筆好交易。“我來告訴你我爲什麼喜歡香菸行業，”巴菲特是這樣對古德菲瑞德說的，“香菸的成本只要1美分，但售價可以達到1美元。香菸讓人上癮。而且香菸擁有不可思議的品牌忠實度。”

But Mr Buffett decided against using any of his own money to back the bid. Mr Buffett reckoned it was a bad deal for him because he didn’t need the grief of owning a tobacco company at that stage of his life, a position he expounded upon six years later when he told a Berkshire annual meeting that such investments “are fraught with questions that relate to societal attitudes” and those of the Clinton administration.

但是巴菲特決定不用自己的錢來支持這項競購。巴菲特認爲，這對他來說是筆糟糕的交易，因爲在當時的人生階段他不想爲擁有一家菸草公司而煩惱——6年後在伯克希爾的年度會議上，他詳細解釋了當時的立場：這樣的投資“充斥着與社會態度相關的問題”，還要應對克林頓當局的刁難。

In this sense, investing in the sweet things in life is a way for Mr Buffett to have his cake and eat it, too. As See’s Candies taught Mr Buffett all those years ago, sugary treats have similarities to cigarettes: they are cheap to make and hard for some people to resist. But they don’t generate the same sort of political heat and can be happily consumed in the proper quantities, as the 84-year-old Mr Buffett’s personal example suggests. He has made a great show of his love for Cherry Coke over the years, putting his mouth where his money is in this case.

從這層意義來講，對巴菲特來說，投資生活中常見的甜品行業是魚和熊掌兼得的一個方式。就像時思糖果多年前就教會巴菲特的，甜品和香菸有着相似之處：它們製作成本都很低，而且讓一些人難以抗拒。但糖果不會像菸草一樣激起政治牴觸，可以讓人愉悅地適量享用——84歲的巴菲特本人的例子就是證明。多年來，他顯示了自己對櫻桃味可口可樂的極大喜愛，在這個投資上，他的口味與投資品味保持一致。

Swilling all that soda also has not hurt the Buffett brand, either. We all have our vices (one of mine is drinking too much coffee but I will leave it at that), and every time Mr Buffett feeds his sugar habit in public he seems more a man of the people, a regular Joe capable of relating to other citizens of the republic.

狂飲汽水同樣也沒有損壞巴菲特的形象。我們都有自己的不良嗜好（我的一個不良嗜好是喝咖啡太多，但我會順其自然），每次巴菲特在公開場合滿足自己的糖癮時，他看起來更像普羅大衆、一個能與共和國的其他公民扯上關係的普通人。

It is a remarkable achievement for the multi-billionaire son of a US congressman. But Mr Buffett has pulled it off. He has come to resemble one of those characters we know from the gentle television advertisements where people find peace, love and/or understanding over a can of soda or stick of gum. Try as we might to resist, they always look kind of sweet.

對於美國議員的兒子兼億萬富翁而言，這是一項卓越的成就。但是巴菲特確實做到了。他已經變得像是我們從溫情的電視廣告中看到的那些人物一樣，能從一瓶汽水或者一塊口香糖中感受到平靜、愛意和理解。儘管我們試着去抗拒，但他們看起來總是有幾分甜蜜。