The price earning multiple must be less than ten or the inverse of the long term corporate bond rate, whichever is the less.

If it is cheap enough, we don't care what it is.

The company must be profitable. Preferably it will have increased its earnings for the past five years and there will have been no deficits over that period.

To put money into anything, anywhere, provided that the downside is measurable and acceptable and the chances of a good profit appear to be better than 50%. I will not take gambles, but it is part of my job description to be ready to take very carefully calculated risks.

We always look at the margin of safety in the balance sheet and then worry about the business.

I suspect that my thinking is an eclectic mix, not pure net-net because I couldn’t do it anyway so you have to have a new something to hang your hat on. But the framework stays the same.

The difference between the price we pay for a stock and its liquidation value gives us a margin of safety. This kind of investing is one of the most effective ways of achieving good long term results.