巴菲特致合伙人的信（1962年）①基本规则

January 18, 1963

1963年1月18日

The Ground Rules

Some partners have confessed (that's the proper word) that they sometimes find it difficult to wade through my entire annual letter. Since I seem to be getting more long-winded each year, I have decided to emphasize certain axioms on the first pages. Everyone should be entirely clear on these points. To most of you this material will seem unduly repetitious, but I would rather have nine partners out of ten mildly bored than have one out of ten with any basic misconceptions.

基本规则

有几个合伙人向我坦白（是该坦白），说我的年度信太长了，他们都读不完。我好像确实一年比一年啰嗦，于是我决定在第一页就把最重要的基本原则列出来。所有人都应该把这些原则完全看明白。大多数合伙人可能觉得没必要一再重复，但我还是要这么做。我宁愿10 位合伙人里有 9 位略感厌倦，也不愿剩下的 1 位对基本原则存在误解。

1.In no sense is any rate of return guaranteed to partners. Partners who withdraw one-half of 1% monthly are doing just that--withdrawing. If we earn more than 6% per annum over a period of years, the withdrawals will be covered by earnings and the principal will increase. If we don't earn 6%, the monthly payments are partially or wholly a return of capital.

1.合伙基金绝对不向合伙人做任何收益率保证。按照每月 0.5%利率提现的合伙人就是在提取自己的现金。如果我们的长期收益率高于每年 6%，合伙人的盈利金额会大于提现金额，合伙人的本金会增加。如果我们收益率达不到 6%，则每月的利息部分是或全部是本金的返还。

2.Any year in which we fail to achieve at least a plus 6% performance will be followed by a year when partners receiving monthly payments will find those payments lowered.

2.对于获得利息的合伙人而言，某一年我们的业绩没达到 6%以上，下一年他们得到的利息会减少。

3.Whenever we talk of yearly gains or losses, we are talking about market values; that is, how we stand with assets valued at market at yearend against how we stood on the same basis at the beginning of the year. This may bear very little relationship to the realized results for tax purposes in a given year.

3.我们在讲每年的收益或亏损时，说的都是市值变化，也就是年末与年初相比，按市值计算的资产变化。报税时使用的是实现的损益，在任何一年中，我们所说的合伙基金的年度收益与应税所得额基本无关。

4.Whether we do a good job or a poor job is not to be measured by whether we are plus or minus for the year. It is instead to be measured against the general experience in securities as measured by the Dow-Jones Industrial Average, leading investment companies, etc. If our record is better than that of these yardsticks, we consider it a good year whether we are plus or minus. If we do poorer, we deserve the tomatoes.

4.我们做的好坏与否，不能用我们某一年的盈亏衡量。衡量我们表现的标准是投资股票的普遍业绩，即与道指和大型基金对比。只要我们的业绩比标准高，无论我们盈亏，我们都认为这一年做得很好。如果我们低于标准，我应该受到责备。

5.While I much prefer a five-year test, I feel three years is an absolute minimum for judging performance. It is a certainty that we will have years when the partnership performance is poorer, perhaps substantially so, than the Dow. If any three-year or longer period produces poor results, we all should start looking around for other places to have our money. An exception to the latter statement would be three years covering a speculative explosion in a bull market.

5.我认为评价表现应该看五年，至少要看三年，低于三年的业绩没有意义。我们的合伙基金肯定有落后道指的年份，甚至是远远落后。除非处于投机炽热的疯牛市，如果三年或三年以上，我们表现不如道指，我们都应该把钱拿出来，另寻门路。

6.I am not in the business of predicting general stock market or business fluctuations. If you think I can do this, or think it is essential to an investment program, you should not be in the partnership.

6.我不做预测股市涨跌或经济波动的事。如果你觉得我能预测出来，或者认为不预测就做不了投资，合伙基金不适合你。

7.I cannot promise results to partners. What I can and do promise is that:
a. Our investments will be chosen on the basis of value, not popularity;
b. That we will attempt to bring risk of permanent capital loss (not short-term quotational loss) to an absolute minimum by obtaining a wide margin of safety in each commitment and a diversity of commitments; and
c. My wife, children and I will have virtually our entire net worth invested in the partnership.

7.我无法向合伙人承诺业绩。我能做出承诺并保证做到的是：
a.我们选择投资的依据是价值高低，不是流行与否。
b.我们在每一笔投资中都追求极大的安全边际并分散投资，力图将永久性资本损失（不是短期账面亏损）的风险降到绝对最小值。
c.我的妻子、子女和我把我们的所有净资产都投在合伙基金里。