Thank you readers and to those who participated in the book contest.
I ll do a short write up on Gold vs Stocks.

Gold vs Business

As you’ll have mentioned, gold is an unproductive asset and it actually has no intrinsic value. When
one buys gold, he/she is hoping someone in future will offer a high price to
it.

I like the way Motley Fool puts it and I was also kind of looking for this in the answer:

One who buys gold is hoping for the greater fool to buy it from them for a
higher price at some future date. But that’s not investing — it’s gambling.

Click here for the link.

But it is different when it comes to buying a share of a business. Be it the
stock price goes up or down, it doesn’t matter to Warren Buffett because he is more
interested in the cash flows the business brings about, not about how much the
business is valued in the stock market. In fact he is even happy when the price
drops, so he could attempt to buy more at that lower price.

Warren Buffett on IBM:

“It’s kind of been doing exactly what I like ever since we started
buying it,” Buffett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on
Monday. “People have this misconception that—when we buy a stock—we want
it to go up. That’s the last thing we want it to do.”

The value of gold is purely speculative and depends on how much others are
offering. As for a business, there is an intrinsic value it on the basis on its
future cash flows it can potentially generate.
He is also very consistent in his philosophy in value investing and this also explains why he doesn’t chase after the latest car models or owns big houses.

Predictability
of Future Earnings

So how to know if the company will continue to
generate cash flow? It can go bankrupt..
Well there is no guarantee that company will always stay profitable, but
Warren Buffett buys into a company which he understands
very well and their earnings are predictable.

 “Our approach is very much profiting
from lack of change rather than from change. With Wrigley chewing
gum, it’s the lack of change that appeals to me.”

In every crisis , some business will eventually fail due to the competitive
landscape chances. However some companies are resilient and
have longer life spans. For instance Wrigley gum is a business in a slow
changing industry.  Consumer taste for gum may change, but the gum
industry is unlikely to experience a radical shift other than changing flavors
and ingredients. Same goes to Coca Cola & MacDonald’s. If these companies
have been around for 100 years going through all
stock market cycles to emerge stronger each time, chances are that they’ll still be
around for the next 100 years. Can you’ll think of listed companies in Singapore which will still be around for the next 20-30 years. For those who have yet to start investing, probably that share could be your first investment. But do also consider the valuation too. You can read up on the PE ratio by clicking here , which is one of the oldest and most frequently used metrics to value stocks.

I would like to end off with my favourite quote by Benjamin Graham:
  

Investment is most prudent when it is most businesslike

So true…