The Investor's Shelf — one person
Prem Watsa
Founder, chairman and CEO, Fairfax Financial Holdings, 1985-present
Wrote no book, but forty consecutive annual shareholder letters that are among the most complete and candid primary records of insurance-float value investing.
42 letters · 7 books they recommend
Letters 42
Every Watsa letter from the first one in 1985 to 2025 is an individually addressable PDF under fairfax.ca/wp-content/uploads/ - 41 letters in total, in three filename generations: <year>-Letter.pdf for 1985-2000; no standalone file for 2001-2010, where the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of AR<year>.pdf; and per-year descriptive filenames from 2011 on. fairfax.ca/investors lists only 2017-2025; the earlier files are still live but unlinked.
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20252025
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20242024
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20232023
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20222022
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20212021
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20202020
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20192019
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20182018
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20172017
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20162016
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20152015
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20142014
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20132013
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20122012
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20112011
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2010 (in the 2010 Annual Report)2010 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2009 (in the 2009 Annual Report)2009 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2008 (in the 2008 Annual Report)2008 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2007 (in the 2007 Annual Report)2007 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2006 (in the 2006 Annual Report)2006 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2006 (standalone)2006
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2005 (in the 2005 Annual Report)2005 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2004 (in the 2004 Annual Report)2004 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2003 (in the 2003 Annual Report)2003 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2002 (in the 2002 Annual Report)2002 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 2001 (in the 2001 Annual Report)2001 · Fairfax posts no standalone letter file for this year; the Chairman's Letter is the opening section of the annual report PDF
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 20002000
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19991999
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19981998
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19971997
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19961996
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19951995
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19941994
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19931993
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19921992
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19911991
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19901990
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19891989
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19881988
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19871987
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19861986
- Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 19851985
Books they recommend 7
Watsa has written a Berkshire-style chairman's letter every year since 1985 and names books in them; each entry links to the letter and page.
Fairfax Financial 2020 Shareholders' Letter, p. 30 2
Business and Management 2
Vicki TenHaken
“''Lessons from Century Club Companies, Managing for Long Term Success'' by Vicki Tenhaken”
Arie de Geus
“Recently, I came across two books on long lived companies: ''The Living Company, Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment'' by Arie de Geus”
Fairfax Financial 2017 Shareholders' Letter, p. 22 1
Financial History 1
Charles Mackay
“Reminds me of the outstanding book ''Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds''.”
Fairfax Financial 2009 Annual Report, Chairman's Letter to Shareholders, p. 7 1
Investing 1
Benjamin Graham, David L. Dodd
“And I thought I got it from reading Security Analysis by Ben Graham!!”
Fairfax Financial 2016 Shareholders' Letter, p. 26 1
Philosophy 1
John Templeton · not in an entry yet
“we will be giving you a book by Sir John Templeton: this year, ''The Essential Worldwide Laws of Life''”
Fairfax Financial 1987 Chairman's Letter to Shareholders 1
Investing 1
Benjamin Graham
“As Ben Graham, dean of security analysts, stated a long time ago in his book ''The Intelligent Investor,''”
Fairfax Financial 2021 Shareholders' Letter, p. 35 1
Investing 1
Bruce C. N. Greenwald, Judd Kahn, Paul D. Sonkin, Michael van Biema
“George has also written a book on value investing, From Theory to Practice, which I highly recommend.”