原文信息：

• 标题：1962 November Letter to Partners
• 作者：Warren Buffett
• 发表时间：1962-11-01
• 链接：Buffett Partnership Letters 1957-1970
• 中文翻译参考：RanRan
• 整理：Ponge

BUFFETT PARTNERSHIP, LTD.

810 KIEWIT PLAZA

OMAHA 31, NEBRASKA

November 1, 1962

Here we go on the annual paper flurry. Two copies of an amended partnership agreement for 1963 are enclosed. The one with the General Provisions attached is to be kept by you and the other single-page agreement should be returned. There are no substantive changes of any sort from last year's agreement. This amendment is merely to allow for a few new partners and in several places to reword in clearer (we hope) language provisions of the present agreement. Practically all of the rewording is in General Provision 5 (paragraph 7 in last year's agreement). Rather than have a separate amending document, we have incorporated the changes into one complete document embodying the entire agreement.

我们一年一度的文书工作又开始了。随函附上两份 1963 年的修正合伙协议。附有一般条款的那份由你保存，另一份单页协议应予退回。与去年的协议相比，没有任何实质性变化。这次修订只是为了允许一些新的合作伙伴加入，并在一些地方以更清晰的语言（我们希望）重新表述目前协议中的条款。几乎所有的重新措辞都在总则第5条（去年协议的第7段）。我们没有制定单独的修订文件，而是将这些修改纳入一个完整的文件，体现在整个协议中。

We are also enclosing two commitment letters (one for you--one to be returned) on which you are to indicate your wishes regarding additions or withdrawals at January 1st. We would like to have the agreement and the commitment letter back by December 1st. However, the commitment letter can be amended right up until the end of the year (not after) so if you should have a change of plans and you have already mailed us your commitment letter, all you have to do is get in touch with me, and I will make whatever changes you desire.

我们还附上了两封承诺书（一封给你，一封退回），你要在上面注明你在1月1日的增减愿望。我们希望在12月1日前收到协议和承诺书。然而，承诺书可以在年底之前（而不是之后）进行修改，所以如果你的计划有变化，而你已经把承诺书寄给了我们，你所要做的就是与我联系，我会根据你的愿望进行修改。

Any withdrawals will be paid immediately after January 1st. Any additions must reach us by January 10th, and should they be paid in during November, they will take on the status of advance payments and draw interest at the rate of 6% until yearend.

任何提款将在1月1日之后立即支付。任何增加的款项必须在1月10日之前到达我们手中，如果它们在本年11月期间支付，它们将具有预付款的地位，并按6%的利率收取利息，直到年终。

Please be sure the signature on your partnership agreement is notarized. Partners in Omaha may obtain the notarization at our office if they wish. Also, be sure to let us know by an appropriate circle on the commitment letter whether you wish to receive monthly payments in 1963. In order to be sure everyone understands this, let me again state that these monthly payments are in no sense guaranteed earnings or anything of the sort. They represent a convenient form of regular withdrawal, which to the extent we earn better than 6% are payments from earnings, and to the extent we don't, are payments from capital.

请确保你在合伙协议上的签名是经过公证的。在奥马哈的合伙人如果愿意，可以在我们的办公室获得公证。此外，请务必在承诺书上用适当的圆圈告诉我们，你是否希望在1963年收到每月付款。为了确保每个人都明白这一点，让我再次声明，这些月度付款在任何意义上都不是保证收入或类似的东西。它们代表了一种方便的定期提款形式，如果我们的收益高于6%，则是来自收益的付款，如果我们没有，则是来自本金的付款。

Complete tax information for your 1962 return will be in your hands by January 20th. If you should need an estimate of your tax position before that time, let me know and I will give you a rough idea. We will also send out a short letter on taxes in late December.

1月20日之前，你将拿到1962年申报的完整税务信息。如果你在那之前需要对你的税务状况进行估计，请告诉我，我会给你一个大致的概念。我们还将在12月下旬发出一封关于税收的短信。

Having read this far, you are entitled to a report on how we have done to date in 1962. For the period ending October 31st, the Dow-Jones Industrials showed an overall loss, including dividends received, of approximately 16.8%. We intend to use the same method or valuing our controlling interest in Dempster Mill Manufacturing at this yearend that we did at the end of last year. This involved applying various discounts to the balance sheet items to reflect my opinion as to what could be realized on a very prompt sale. Last year this involved a 40% discount on inventories, a 15% discount on receivables, estimated auction value of fixed assets, etc., which led to an approximate value or $35.00 per share.

读到这里，我该向各位报告一下我们从年初到现在的投资情况了。从年初到 10 月 31 日，将股息计算在内，道指整体下跌 16.8%。我们持有登普斯特风车制造公司 (Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company) 的控股权益。本年末，我们打算仍使用去年末的方法对这部分控股权益估值。在计算时，我使用不同的折价率对资产负债表中的各个项目估值，得出短期内清算可实现的价值。在去年的计算中，我将存货打 6 折，应收账款打 8.5 折，再加上固定资产拍卖估算价，得到的估值是每股 35 美元左右。

The successful conversion of substantial portions of the assets of Dempster to cash, at virtually 100 cents on the dollar, has been the high point of 1962. For example, inventory of $4.2 million at last yearend will probably be about $1.9 million this yearend, reducing the discount on this item by about $920,000 (40% of $2.3 million reduction). I will give this story my full journalistic treatment in my annual letter. Suffice to say at this point that applying the same discounts described above will probably result in a yearend value of at least $50.00 per share. The extent of the asset conversion job can perhaps best be illustrated in a sentence by pointing out that whereas we had $166,000 of cash and $2,315,000 of liabilities at November 30, 1961 (Dempster fiscal yearend), we expect this year to have about $1 million in cash and investments (of the type the Partnership buys) against total liabilities of $250,000. Prospects for further improvement in this situation in 1963 appear good, and we expect a substantially expanded investment portfolio in Dempster next year.

1962 年，我们已成功将登普斯特的大量资产按原价变现，这是今年工作中的亮点。例如，去年的存货账面价值是 420 万美元，折价后 252 万美元，今年末存货账面价值可能是 160 万美元，库存减少 92 万美元。我将在 1962 年信中详细介绍这笔投资的进展。现在看来，按照去年同样的折价率，登普斯特年末的估值应该至少有每股 50 美元。我们的资产变现工作做得如何？或许只要看现金和负债的变化就很明了了。1961 年 11 月 30 日（登普斯特财年年末），我们拥有 16.6 万美元的现金，231.5 万美元的负债。预计今年末，我们会有相当于 100 万美元的现金和投资（投资风格与合伙基金一致）和 25 万美元的负债。我们看好 1963 年登普斯特的前景，明年将加快扩大登普斯特的投资组合。

Valuing Dempster at $50 per share, our overall gain (before any payments to partners) to October 31st for the Partnership has been 5.5%. This 22.3 percentage-points advantage over the Dow, if maintained until the end of the year, will be among the largest we have ever had. About 60% of this advantage was accomplished by the portfolio other than Dempster, and 40% was the result of increased value at Dempster.

按登普斯特每股 50 美元的估值，截止到 10 月 31 日（不计算支付给合伙人的利息），合伙基金的收益率是 5.5%。如果能将跑赢道指 22.3 个百分点的这个成绩保持到年末，这将是我们成立以来取得的最大领先优势。在这 22.3 个百分点的中，登普斯特的估值增加贡献了 40%，投资组合中的其他部分贡献了 60%。

I want all partners and prospective partners to realize the results described above are distinctly abnormal and will recur infrequently, if at all. This performance is mainly the result of having a large portion of our money in controlled assets and workout situations rather than general market situations at a time when the Dow declined substantially. If the Dow had advanced materially in 1962, we could have looked very bad on a relative basis, and our success to date in 1962 certainly does not reflect any ability on my part to guess the market (I never try), but merely reflects the fact that the high prices of generals partially forced me into other categories or investment. If the Dow had continued to soar, we would have been low man on the totem pole. We fully expect to have years when our method of operation will not even match the results of the Dow, although obviously I don't expect this on any long-term basis or I would throw in the towel and buy the Dow.

无论是老合伙人，还是新加入的，我希望大家都清楚地认识到，上述业绩纯属异常的极少数情况。我们能取得这个业绩，主要是因为在道指下跌时，我们将大部分资金投入到了控制类和套利类中。如果道指 1962 年是大幅上涨，我们的相对业绩会很差。到现在为止，我们 1962 年的业绩优异，这不是因为我能猜出市场的涨跌（我从来不猜），只是因为当时低估类价格太高，我没的选择，只能加大其他类型的仓位配置。要是后来道指继续飙升，我们现在就只能仰视道指了。我们肯定会有跟不上指数的时候，我们已经做好了充分的心理准备。我相信从长期来看，我们不可能落后道指，否则我早就低头认输买指数了。

I’ll cut this sermon short with the conclusion that I certainly do not want anyone to think that the pattern of the last few years is likely to be repeated; I expect future performance to reflect much smaller advantages on average over the Dow.

我就不多说了，只是希望大家别以为我们能一直保持过去几年的业绩记录，我们将来不会领先道指这么多。

Each letter ends with the request that you let me know about anything that isn't clear. Please be sure that you do this. We are all geared up with secretarial help, a new typewriter, etc., and we want to be sure that this letter and agreement are understood by all.

每封信的最后，我都会说，各位合伙人如果有疑问，请随时找我。这封信也一样，有不清楚的就问我。我们有了秘书，买了新打字机，希望大家都能对信中的内容一清二楚。

Cordially,

Warren E. Buffett

WEB:bf

P/S: There are no prizes for being the last ones to get in the agreement and commitment letter, so please get to it as soon as possible. Remember the commitment letter can be amended by a postcard or a phone call--we are just trying to get the bulk of the work out of the way well before December 31st so we can concentrate on getting the audit, tax information, etc., out pronto at yearend.