What You Need to Know About Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B)

5. Warren Buffett makes less money than you think
Last year, Buffett was paid just $423,000 from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) for his dual roles of CEO and chairman. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein made more than $8 million last year. Jamie Dimon, in an off-year for the CEO and COB of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), made just $1.67 million.

The low-profile of Buffett’s modest take-home pay is a refreshing change in this age of high-profile, high-paid, and sometimes low-performing corporate chiefs.

6. Berkshire directors “eat their own cooking”
Most of Berkshire’s directors have a major portion of their own net worth invested in the company. Buffett’s longtime managing partner Charlie Munger has 80% or more of his personal net worth tied up in Berkshire shares. Buffett’s portion is 98%. Now that’s confidence in your company’s product.

7. A solid return on equity
Trailing 12 months, Berkshire’s ROE is 8.87%. That’s not JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s 11.55%, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC)‘s 13.07%, or even BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)‘s 9.87%, but when you consider the range of wholly owned companies Berkshire manages, along with the array of common-stock holdings it has to monitor, 9.87% is very good.

Even big banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), which engage in such varied kinds of banking business, don’t face the same sort of operational and managerial challenges Berkshire does.

Foolish bottom line
When you invest in Berkshire Hathaway, you’re investing in the investing decisions of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Buffett and Munger rarely disappoint, and they put their own money where their mouths are. Performance and personal commitment: What more could you ask for from an investment?

The article 7 Things You Need to Know About Berkshire Hathaway originally appeared on Fool.com is written by John Grgurich.

Fool contributor John Grgurich owns shares of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. Follow John’s dispatches from the not-so-muddy trenches of big-banking and high-finance on Twitter @TMFGrgurich. The Motley Fool recommends American Express, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, BlackRock, Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Visa, and Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

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