5 Comments

Nicely done, Aaron. I've owned small businesses for 25+ years now, and it was only upon reading Buffett's letters that I really began to understand small business ownership at a higher level.

Similarly, the small business owner has something of a value-investing edge if they can pick up the fundamental concepts you outline here and start thinking of their own businesses as a slice of ownership (in my case, I own fractional shares anyway, so this part is easy). Applying the same logic that has kept a small business alive - not irrationally spending on things that won't make you any money, EG, helps when considering stock investments.

The ROE and retained earnings stuff was explained particularly well.

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Thanks! Yes I tried to write this article for as wide an audience as possible.

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I think it's helpful for both sides: small business owners, and investors. Even if you've lived in both worlds for a while (ahem), I think folks can find a lot of interesting stuff to consider here. Nice work!

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How about difference between ROE and ROC in terms of owners earnings ?

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In principle they are both measuring ROI, just slightly differently. ROIC is actually more comparable to ROA, but minus cash since cash represents "lazy" uninvested assets, and hence are backed out in the ROIC calculation.

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