I still remember a cousin of mine talking to my father about the job he had landed at Vale do Rio Doce. He spoke about the company with his eyes full of pride and joy.

"— And on top of all that, now I'm also a shareholder in the company! They gave me shares on the Stock Exchange!"

How so? My cousin wasn't rich. How could someone who wasn't rich own shares on the Stock Exchange?

I needed to work at Vale...

After the Cap Cities acquisition in 1985, Buffett spent 3 long years "doing nothing," apart from some arbitrage (yes, he speculated) and small purchases. After the '87 crash, when everyone was still scared, Coca-Cola was trading at attractive prices according to Buffett's analysis, and little by little Berkshire invested approximately a quarter of its market value (1B) in the most successful syrup sellers on the planet!

Just 3 years later, the 1 billion invested in Coca-Cola was already worth 3.7 billion!

Everyone on Wall Street was looking for explanations. The answer was just one: Attitude.

During a weekend in January 2019, we received the terrible news of a Vale dam collapse. A true tragedy.

I know people will judge me for this, but minutes after the initial shock of the news, I started running my numbers.

On Monday, VALE3 opened down more than 20%. I bought.

A few days later, it fell even further. I bought.

In August, it fell another 20% from its last peak. I bought.

In March 2020, due to the pandemic, Vale traded at a staggering low. Do I need to say what I did?

Today, VALE3 has grown 245% in market value since the March quote.

Did I have insider information? Was I born with the gift of predicting market moves?

The information was all there, for everyone to see and to run the scenarios.

"Buy when there is blood in the streets." - Baron Rothschild

I, fully aware of my own insignificance, disagreed with what "the smart ones" were saying and decided to do what they wouldn't.

Attitude. That's the difference.

João Homem