巴菲特致股东的信（2005年）⑧如何使投资收益最小化

How to Minimize Investment Returns

如何使投资收益最小化

It’s been an easy matter for Berkshire and other owners of American equities to prosper over the years. Between December 31, 1899 and December 31, 1999, to give a really long-term example, the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497. (Guess what annual growth rate is required to produce this result; the surprising answer is at the end of this section.) This huge rise came about for a simple reason: Over the century American businesses did extraordinarily well and investors rode the wave of their prosperity. Businesses continue to do well. But now shareholders, through a series of self-inflicted wounds, are in a major way cutting the returns they will realize from their investments.

对于伯克希尔和其他美国股票投资人来说，过去这些年来大把赚钱简直是轻而易举的。一个真正称得上长期的例子是，从 1899 年 12 月 31 日到 1999 年 12 月 31 日的 100 年间，道琼斯指数从 66 点上涨到 11497 点(猜一猜需要多大的年增长率才能形成这一结果？在这一部分的结尾，你会看到一个吃惊的答案)。如此巨大的升幅只有一个十分简单的原因：20 世纪美国企业经营得非常出色，投资人借企业繁荣的东风赚得盆满钵满。目前美国企业经营继续良好，但如今的投资人由于受到了一系列的伤害，在相当大的程度上减少了他们本来能从投资中实现的收益。

The explanation of how this is happening begins with a fundamental truth: With unimportant exceptions, such as bankruptcies in which some of a company’s losses are borne by creditors, the most that owners in aggregate can earn between now and Judgment Day is what their businesses in aggregate earn. True, by buying and selling that is clever or lucky, investor A may take more than his share of the pie at the expense of investor B. And, yes, all investors feel richer when stocks soar. But an owner can exit only by having someone take his place. If one investor sells high, another must buy high. For owners as a whole, there is simply no magic – no shower of money from outer space – that will enable them to extract wealth from their companies beyond that created by the companies themselves.

要解释这一切是怎么回事，我们得从一个最基本的事实开始：除了一些无足轻重的情况例外(比如企业破产时企业的损失由债权人负担)，在大多数情况下，所有股东从现在开始到世界末日期间，所能获得的收益与他们所拥有的公司总体而言的收益相等。当然，通过聪明地买入和卖出，投资者 A 能够比投资者 B 获得更多的收益，但总体而言，A 赚的正好相当于 B 赔的，总的收益还是那么多。当股市上涨时，所有的投资者都会感觉更有钱了，但一个股东要退出，前提必须是有新的股东加入接替他的位置。如果一个投资者高价卖出，另一个投资者必须高价买入。所有的股东作为一个整体而言，如果没有从天而降的金钱暴雨神话发生的话，根本不可能从公司那里得到比公司所创造的收益更多的财富。

Indeed, owners must earn less than their businesses earn because of “frictional” costs. And that’s my point: These costs are now being incurred in amounts that will cause shareholders to earn far less than they historically have.

实际上，由于"摩擦"成本的存在，股东获得的收益肯定少于公司的收益。我个人的看法是：这些成本如今正变得越来越高，将会导致股东们未来的收益水平要远远低于他们的历史收益水平。

To understand how this toll has ballooned, imagine for a moment that all American corporations are, and always will be, owned by a single family. We’ll call them the Gotrocks. After paying taxes on dividends, this family – generation after generation – becomes richer by the aggregate amount earned by its companies. Today that amount is about $700 billion annually. Naturally, the family spends some of these dollars. But the portion it saves steadily compounds for its benefit. In the Gotrocks household everyone grows wealthier at the same pace, and all is harmonious.

为了弄清楚这些费用是如何飞涨起来的，你可以这样想象一下。美国所有的上市公司被一个美国家庭所拥有，而且将永远如此。我们称其为 GotRocks(牛逼家族)。对所得分红纳税之后，这个家庭的一代接一代依靠他们拥有的公司所获得的利润将变得更加富有。目前美国所有上市公司一年的收益约为 7,000 亿美元，这个家庭自然还得花费掉一些钱用于生活，但这个家庭所积蓄的那部分财富将会稳定地以复利不断地累积财富。在这个GotRocks 大家庭里，所有的人的财富都以同样的速度持续增长，一切都十分协调。

But let’s now assume that a few fast-talking Helpers approach the family and persuade each of its members to try to outsmart his relatives by buying certain of their holdings and selling them certain others. The Helpers – for a fee, of course – obligingly agree to handle these transactions. The Gotrocks still own all of corporate America; the trades just rearrange who owns what. So the family’s annual gain in wealth diminishes, equaling the earnings of American business minus commissions paid. The more that family members trade, the smaller their share of the pie and the larger the slice received by the Helpers. This fact is not lost upon these broker-Helpers: Activity is their friend and, in a wide variety of ways, they urge it on.

但让我们设想一下，几个伶牙俐齿的帮助者接近这个家庭，劝说每个家庭成员通过买入某一只股票和卖出另外一只股票来取得比其他家庭成员更好的投资业绩。这些帮助者十分热心地答应来处理这些交易，当然他们要收取一定的佣金。GotRocks 这个大家庭仍然包括美国所有的上市公司，这些交易只不过是重新安排哪些人持有哪些公司而已，因此，这个家庭每年的总体财富收益在减少。这些家庭成员交易的次数越多，他们从企业收益这个大饼中所分到份额就越少，那些作为经纪人的帮助者分到的份额却变得越多。这些作为经纪人的帮助者始终牢记的事实是：交易的活跃性是他们的朋友，因此他们总是想方设法提高客户交易的活跃性。

After a while, most of the family members realize that they are not doing so well at this new “beat-my-brother” game. Enter another set of Helpers. These newcomers explain to each member of the Gotrocks clan that by himself he’ll never outsmart the rest of the family. The suggested cure: “Hire a manager – yes, us – and get the job done professionally.” These manager-Helpers continue to use the broker-Helpers to execute trades; the managers may even increase their activity so as to permit the brokers to prosper still more. Overall, a bigger slice of the pie now goes to the two classes of Helpers.

不久之后，大多数家庭成员意识到，在这种新的"打败我兄弟"的游戏中，这些经纪人做得并不好，于是又来了另一批帮助者。第二批帮助者对每个家庭成员解释说，只靠成员们自己的努力是很难胜过其他家庭成员的，他们给出的解决办法是："聘用一个经理人，就是我们，我们会做得非常专业"。第二批帮助者兼经理人继续使用第一批帮助者兼经纪人进行交易，这些经理人甚至提高了交易的活跃性以致那些经纪人业务更加兴隆。总之，企业收益这张大饼的更大一块儿落入了这两批帮助者的私囊。

The family’s disappointment grows. Each of its members is now employing professionals. Yet overall, the group’s finances have taken a turn for the worse. The solution? More help, of course.

这个大家庭的失望与日俱增。每个家庭成员都聘用了专业人士，但这个家庭整体的财务状况却每况愈下，怎么办？答案是显而易见的：要寻求更多的帮助。

It arrives in the form of financial planners and institutional consultants, who weigh in to advise the Gotrocks on selecting manager-Helpers. The befuddled family welcomes this assistance. By now its members know they can pick neither the right stocks nor the right stock-pickers. Why, one might ask, should they expect success in picking the right consultant? But this question does not occur to the Gotrocks, and the consultant-Helpers certainly don’t suggest it to them.

第三批帮助者的身份是财务规划专家和机构咨询专家，他们正在仔细斟酌向 GotRocks 这个大家庭提供关于选择经理人的建议，已经晕头晕脑的这个家庭对他们的协助自然非常欢迎。事到如今，这些家庭成员才明白，他们自己既不能选择合适的股票，也不能选择合适的选股人。有人就会产生疑问，为什么他们还想成功地选择合适的顾问呢？遗憾的是，GotRocks 这个大家庭并没有产生类似的疑问，第三批帮助者兼顾问当然肯定不会向他们说明这个问题。

The Gotrocks, now supporting three classes of expensive Helpers, find that their results get worse, and they sink into despair. But just as hope seems lost, a fourth group – we’ll call them the hyper-Helpers – appears. These friendly folk explain to the Gotrocks that their unsatisfactory results are occurring because the existing Helpers – brokers, managers, consultants – are not sufficiently motivated and are simply going through the motions. “What,” the new Helpers ask, “can you expect from such a bunch of zombies?”

GotRocks 这个大家庭现在要为这三批帮助者支付昂贵的费用，但他们却发现情况更加不妙，他们陷入了绝望之中。但就在最后的希望即将破灭之时，第四批帮助者——我们称其为超级帮助者出现了。他们态度十分友好地向这个大家庭解释，他们至今无法得到理想结果的原因在于现有的三批帮助者(经纪人、经理人、顾问)的积极性没有充分调动起来，他们只不过是走过场而已。第四批人说："你们能指望这些行尸走肉做什么呢？"

The new arrivals offer a breathtakingly simple solution: Pay more money. Brimming with self-confidence, the hyper-Helpers assert that huge contingent payments – in addition to stiff fixed fees – are what each family member must fork over in order to really outmaneuver his relatives.

新来的第四批帮助者提出了一个惊人的简单解决之道——支付更多的回报。超级帮助者充满自信地断言：舍不得孩子套不着狼，为了真正做到超越其他家庭成员的投资业务，每个家庭成员必须付出更多的代价：在固定的佣金之外，因事而定，支付巨额的或有费用(按盈利分成)。

The more observant members of the family see that some of the hyper-Helpers are really just manager-Helpers wearing new uniforms, bearing sewn-on sexy names like HEDGE FUND or PRIVATE EQUITY. The new Helpers, however, assure the Gotrocks that this change of clothing is all-important, bestowing on its wearers magical powers similar to those acquired by mild-mannered Clark Kent when he changed into his Superman costume. Calmed by this explanation, the family decides to pay up.

这个家庭中比较敏锐的成员发现，第四批超级帮助者其实就是第二批帮助者兼经理人，只不过是穿上新的工作服、上面绣着吸引人的对冲基金或私人股权投资公司而已。可是第四批帮助者向这个大家庭信誓旦旦地说，工作服的变化非常重要，会赐予穿着者一种魔力，就像本来性格温和的 ClarkKent 换上超人衣服之后就威力无比一样。这个家庭听信了他们的解释，决定全部付清或有费用。

And that’s where we are today: A record portion of the earnings that would go in their entirety to owners – if they all just stayed in their rocking chairs – is now going to a swelling army of Helpers. Particularly expensive is the recent pandemic of profit arrangements under which Helpers receive large portions of the winnings when they are smart or lucky, and leave family members with all of the losses – and large fixed fees to boot – when the Helpers are dumb or unlucky (or occasionally crooked).

这正是我们投资人今天的处境：如果投资人只是老老实实地躺在摇椅上休息的话，所有上市公司收益中一个创纪录的比例本来会全部装进他们的口袋里，而如今却落入了队伍日益庞大的帮助者们的口袋。最近广为流行的盈利分配机制使这个家庭付出的代价更加昂贵，根据这种分配机制，由于帮助者的聪明或运气所取得的盈利，大部分归帮助者所有，而由于帮助者的无能或运气不好所发生的损失则全部由家庭成员承担，同时还得支付大笔的固定佣金。

A sufficient number of arrangements like this – heads, the Helper takes much of the winnings; tails, the Gotrocks lose and pay dearly for the privilege of doing so – may make it more accurate to call the family the Hadrocks. Today, in fact, the family’s frictional costs of all sorts may well amount to 20% of the earnings of American business. In other words, the burden of paying Helpers may cause American equity investors, overall, to earn only 80% or so of what they would earn if they just sat still and listened to no one.

大量的盈利分配安排与此类似，都是帮助者拿大头，而由 GotRocks 这个家庭承担损失，而且还要为如此安排而享有的特权支付昂贵的费用，因此，我们也许将 GotRocks(牛逼家族)这个家庭的名字改为 HadRocks(愚蠢家族)更为恰当。如今事实上这个家庭的所有这样那样的摩擦成本大约要占到所有美国上市公司盈利的 20%，也就是说，支付给帮助者的负担，使美国股票投资者总体上只能得到所有上市公司收益的 80%，而如果他们静静地坐在家里休息而不听任何人的建议的话，就能稳稳得到 100%。

Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, “I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.” If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.

很久以前，牛顿发现了三大运动定律，这的确是天才的伟大发现。但牛顿的天才却并没有延伸到投资中。牛顿在南海泡沫中损失惨重，后来他对此解释说："我能够计算星球的运动，却无法计算人类的疯狂。"如果不是这次投资损失造成的巨大创伤，也许牛顿就会发现第四大运动定律：对于投资者整体而言，交易的增加导致了收益的减少。

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Here’s the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this section: To get very specific, the Dow increased from 65.73 to 11,497.12 in the 20th century, and that amounts to a gain of 5.3% compounded annually. (Investors would also have received dividends, of course.) To achieve an equal rate of gain in the 21st century, the Dow will have to rise by December 31, 2099 to – brace yourself – precisely 2,011,011.23. But I’m willing to settle for 2,000,000; six years into this century, the Dow has gained not at all.

这部分开始时提出的问题的答案如下：非常精确地说，20 世纪道琼斯指数从 65.73 点上涨到 11,497.12 点，总体上相当于每年 5.3%的复利收益率(当然投资者也收到分配的红利)。要在 21 世纪得到相同的收益率，道琼斯指数在 2099 年 12 月 31 日必须上涨到 2,011,011.23 点才能让你心满意足，而我只要能够达到 2,000,000 点就相当满意了。事实上，在 21 世纪过去的 6 年里，道琼斯指数根本没有任何上涨。