📖Duan Yongping

Insist on Margin of Safety

🌿 Intermediate★★★★★

Never overpay; wait patiently for prices with substantial margin of safety.

💬

Never pay more than a business is worth. Wait for prices that provide a significant margin of safety. Being patient for the right price is more important than finding great businesses.

— Duan Yongping Interview，2020

🏠 Everyday Analogy

Imagine crossing a river on foot: if the water is 1.2 meters deep and you are 1.8 meters tall, you still want extra room for unexpected holes or waves. You do not cross where the water reaches your chin; you choose the shallowest, safest path. Margin of safety in investing is that extra depth buffer so that misjudgments or surprises do not drown you financially.

📖 Core Interpretation

Price discipline protects against analytical errors and unforeseen risks
💎 Key Insight：Duan is disciplined about valuation, refusing to buy even excellent businesses at inflated prices. He waits months or years for market corrections or pessimism to create opportunities with large margins of safety. Overpaying destroys returns even for great companies. Patience is essential—most of investing is waiting for the right pitch. This contrasts with momentum strategies that chase rising prices.

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❓ Why It Matters

Duan's major investments came during market crashes when prices offered large safety margins

🎯 How to Practice

Calculate intrinsic value conservatively and only buy at significant discounts

🎙️ Master's Voice

Do not do what you do not understand, even if everyone else is doing it.
Duan stayed away from investments and businesses he did not understand, even when they were popular. This discipline protected him from many bubbles and bad investments.

⚔️ Practical Guide

✅ Decision Checklist

  • Do I understand this?
  • Am I following the crowd?
  • Is popularity driving my decision?

📋 Action Steps

  1. Stay within your circle of competence
  2. Resist the urge to follow popular trends
  3. Accept missing opportunities you do not understand

🚨 Warning Signs

  • Investing in things you do not understand
  • Following the crowd into unfamiliar territory
  • FOMO driving decisions

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

✕Confusing a low price with true cheapness
✕Using one metric without business context
✕Overly optimistic assumptions that erase margin of safety

📚 Case Studies

1
Investing in NetEase (1995)
Duan Yongping invested in early-stage NetEase at a low valuation, insisting on a wide margin of safety given China’s nascent internet sector and high business uncertainty.
✨ Outcome：Weathered tech volatility; NetEase became a multi‑bagger and a core long‑term holding.
2
Avoiding Overpriced Chinese Equities (2008)
During the pre-crisis boom, many Chinese stocks traded at extreme valuations. Duan emphasized only buying when prices were well below conservative intrinsic value estimates.
✨ Outcome：Avoided severe drawdowns in 2008 crash and preserved capital for later opportunities.

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