Financial Frameworks addresses the question "What is a wide moat stock?" in the first of a two-podcast discussion by providing an overview of how professionals define moat stocks - with a particular nod to Warren Buffett. And by taking a concrete and practical approach to the matter by looking at one stock in particular - Occidental Petroleum - using criteria outlined in the podcast and by present some professional investment opinions as to whether it qualifies or not. Guess what? There is considerable disagreement. The significant stake that Berkshire Hathaway has in Occidental (34% at this writing) is evidence that Berkshire is looking at Occidental in that light.

The discussion around Occidental makes it an excellent learning example because it is not a cut and dried proposition like a Coca Cola or Google. As Financial Frameworks always does, there are questions for listeners to answer. And all sources cited will be posted on Financial Frameworks website, https://finframeworks.com.

The next podcast will look at selecting moat stocks from the other end of the telescope by investigating how we - you and I - employ our investing skills in searching for moat stocks and counteract our biases to best analyze the information presented in this podcast. The next podcast will draw heavily from Daniel Kahneman and the late Charlie Munger. Who is currently being greatly missed at today's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. The reason for combining an examination of how you and I use our intuition to find and sort data with the objective information itself is my belief that both engines of our brains need to work together in order to succeed. Just having the data without examining how we make the "moat stock sausage" is only half of the process. Avoiding biases, counteracting impulses and selecting moat stocks in a disciplined process requires discipline as well as valuable information. I think you will enjoy both podcasts together.

Thank you for selecting Financial Frameworks as part of your financial education journey.

Mike Lehan

Financial Frameworks is focused on helping value investors integrate their skills and decision-making styles with solid fundamental financial concepts. This podcast provides a way to determine if an investment is close to meeting a person's criteria for making a solid, possibly exceptional, investment, but must be passed on because, while it is close, something is missing. Dr. Lehan, the author, is mindful of Warren Buffett's and the late Charlie Munger's admonition that "saying no most of the time" is a perquisite for excellent value investing.

The podcast walks through an example, then outlines the steps for listeners to walk through their own "mini-simulation" for applying one Buffett tool and two Philip Fisher tools to a prospective investment to see if it fits or is a near miss.

Financial Frameworks has been discussing what Dr. Lehan sees as difficult tasks when performing value investing. This podcast outlines his third hardest task, committing to the decision in a way that is self-aware, rational and available for review and future learning. Dr. Lehan points out Daniel Kahneman's research that proves that we don't always remember things correctly. Like other Financial Frameworks podcasts, Dr. Lehan focuses on things to do to make the clearest possible decision and learn for better decisions in the future.