The Superinvestors of Graham & Doddsville all lost money three years in a row during the mid-1970s.

Test: whether every investor or fund in Buffett's 1984 essay 'The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville' (as shown in its performance tables or other reliable records of those same funds) had a negative absolute return in each of three consecutive years in the mid-1970s (roughly 1972-1977). True: every featured investor had three consecutive losing years in that window. Mostly true: all but one or two did, or all had three consecutive losing years that run slightly outside the mid-1970s. Mixed: about half did. Mostly false: the claim rests on something real but overstates it. Examples: only a few had three straight losing years; most had only one or two losing years (for example 1973-74); or the 'three years' refers to underperforming the index rather than losing money. False: the records show most or all of them did not have three consecutive years of losses, for example because returns were positive in at least one year of every three-year mid-1970s span.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Charlie Munger: the 53% hole inside a 19.8% record Trading Primer · 7 October 2026

   “The partnership lost 31.9% in 1973 and 31.5% in 1974.”

2. E2 Charlie Munger: the 53% hole inside a 19.8% record Trading Primer · 7 October 2026

   “Eleven years of gains took $1 to $15.55 by the end of 1972.”

3. E3 Untitled Outstanding Investor Digest (reprint of Walter & Edwin Schloss Associates annual return table) · 22 April 2025

   “1972 +15.5% +19.0%”

4. E4 [PDF] 10 WAYS TO BEAT AN INDEX Tweedy, Browne Company LLC · 5 June 2026

   “Similarly, Windsor Fund’s three straight years of underperformance in the 1971–1973 period produced a cumulative decline of -11.2%, as compared to a cumulative increase of +17.3% for the S&P 500.”

5. E5 Walter & Edwin Schloss Associates, LP's Walter & Edwin Schloss - Part I Outstanding Investor Digest · 6 March 1989

   “1972 +15.5% +19.0%”

6. E6 Walter & Edwin Schloss Associates, LP's Walter & Edwin Schloss - Part I Outstanding Investor Digest · 6 March 1989

   “1975 +52.2% +37.2%”

7. E7 10 Ways to Beat an Index Tweedy, Browne Company LLC

   “Pacific Partners’ Results ( 7.2)% 16.4 17.1 (42.1) (34.4) 31.2”

8. E8 10 Ways to Beat an Index Tweedy, Browne Company LLC

   “The following, Table 2 and Table 3, show the year-by-year investment results of the seven investment managers in The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville:”

9. E9 The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville: Charlie Munger | Stockopedia Stockopedia · 26 February 2015

   “| 1972 | 8.3 | 18.2 |”

10. E10 The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville: Charlie Munger | Stockopedia Stockopedia · 26 February 2015

    “| 1975 | 73.2 | 44.4 |”

11. E11 Calendar Year Returns - Sequoia ETF Sequoia ETF · 8 July 2026

    “| 1972 | 3.01 | 1.09 | 2.48 | 0.23 | -0.88 | -2.83 | -1.51 | 3.96 | -2.25 | -1.77 | 4.87 | -2.46 | 3.61 | 18.98 |”

12. E12 Calendar Year Returns - Sequoia ETF Sequoia ETF · 8 July 2026

    “| 1975 | 20.81 | 9.33 | 9.03 | 5.18 | 4.87 | 6.64 | -3.46 | -3.74 | -2.05 | 4.41 | 2.11 | -1.55 | 61.84 | 37.30 |”

The Munger partnership lost money in 1973 and 1974 (E1). It had gains through 1972 (E2) and positive figures in its 1972 and 1975 table rows (E9, E10), so those losses were two years, not three. The Schloss table shows positive returns in 1972 and 1975 (E3, E5, E6), and the Sequoia table shows positive 1972 and 1975 figures (E11, E12), which rules out a three-year losing run that includes either of those years. Tweedy, Browne describes Windsor's three-year stretch in 1971–1973 as underperforming the index, with a cumulative decline (E4); it does not give the yearly returns, so it does not show whether each of those years was a loss. The 1973–74 losses are real, but the evidence does not support the claim that every featured investor lost money three years in a row.