Just as many smart people fail in the investment business as stupid ones. Intellectually active people are particularly attracted to elegant concepts, which can have the effect of distracting them from the simpler, more fundamental truths.

We do liquidation analysis and liquidation analysis only.

There is always something to do. You just need to look harder, be creative and a little flexible.

You find bargains among the unpopular things, the things that everybody hates. The key is that you must have patience.

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.

The company must be paying dividends. Preferably the dividend will have been increasing and have been paid for some time.

One of the dangers about net-net investing is that if you buy a net-net that begins to lose money your net-net goes down and your capacity to be able to make a profit becomes less secure. So the trick is not necessarily to predict what the earnings are going to be but to have a clear conviction that the company isn't going bust and that your margin of safety will remain intact over time.