Sorry I couldn't do a meetup--had my mom and great aunt in tow--but I'm curious what you thought of the meeting. It was my first and I really enjoyed it but found a few things interesting, especially in light of mustachianism.
The main thing was that it really was a carnival of capitalism and I was surprised by the consumptive nature of events. Even though Warren was pimping jewelry and steakhouses, I couldn't help but wonder whether he would actually make those purchases himself. We're talking about a man who early in his career sold the family farm to get more capital for investment. Much has been made of his frugality and he has always been clear that retaining capital means retaining future earnings power.
Along those lines, it was also very interesting to me how many investors in Berkshire basically eschew Warren's type of frugal lifestyle. The people I stood in line next to had several houses and had bought very expensive plane tickets in to Omaha and jacked up hotel prices and all the like. Again, not very Buffett like. I guess you don't have to agree with his lifestyle choice in order to also want to profit from his investing prowess!
And, along the lines with not agreeing with his lifestyle practices, I was surprised how many people are openly hostile to his political views. I completely understand that politics is pretty emotionally driven and of course there will be a divergence of opinions among any group that large. I just didn't expect Warren to be in the tiny majority. I thought he did a great job of explaining his position and, like every decision he makes, there was a very clear, rational reasoning to his decision. It's so interesting that people can see his rationale for investing decisions but not political ones. I'm confused, do they think they are in the top 400 wage earning families that he described? THEY AREN'T. Are they defensive because they hope to be in the top 400 some day? THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT! Buffett is saying that changing the tax system is the only way to retain a level playing field. So, I'm confused by why the vast majority of shareholders seem to be against this idea.
Finally, one thing that really stood out to me is just the discipline it took/takes for Warren, Charlie and the company to continue with their investing philosophy over the very long run. I think that's my biggest take away. People can say yeah, great ideas but then they get pulled away by some other great philosophy at some point. To me, this was encapsulated by a financial advisor who asked a question to Warren and Charlie at the meeting--he stated he has nearly $1b of BRK under management and went on to ask a question about the share buy back and wouldn't it be advantageous to BRK to issue a dividend which would drive up the price of the shares after a buy back (I think that was the premise although it's a little fuzzy--something along those lines though). This is against BRK principles for two reasons.
1. we don't really give a damn about the share price. In the long run, it should roughly reflect book value but of course it will swing high and low on a scale for market reasons but the company is creating growing value and as long as the company's value is increasing substantially, the share price will, over the long run, follow along. We would never do anything, like issuing a dividend, merely to manipulate it's price in the market.
2. It's been clearly stated that as long as the company believes it has the ability to get a better return on investments than the market at large, it will never issue a dividend. Why return money to the shareholder when we can make even more money by keeping it?
It is crazy to me that a guy with $1 BILLION DOLLARS invested in this company doesn't understand the fundamental reasons that the company makes decisions. Obviously he is being blinded by the freaking huge payday he would get if a dividend was issued but to me it served as a great reminder that it takes an incredible amount of DISCIPLINE to stick to investing principles when there are so many pressures not to.
So, that's a summary of thoughts. I'd love to know what others thought if you happened to be there (or read the transcript online). There's a lot I didn't cover that I also thought was very interesting (renewable energy being a big one!)