Warren Buffett on why he chose bonds over stocks during the financial crisis: A shareholder asked Buffett why, during the 2009 crisis, he leaned toward debt instruments rather than equity. Specifically, why he invested $300 million in Harley-Davidson at 15% interest instead of buying the stock at $12 (which later traded at $33). Buffett's answer reveals his core investment philosophy: "I don't know whether Harley-Davidson equity is worth 33 or 20 or 45. I just have no view on that. I kind of like a business where your customers tattoo your name on their chest or something, but figuring out the economic value of that, you know, I'm not sure even going on questioning those guys I'd learn much from them." But what he did know was enough: "I do know, or I thought I knew, and I think I'm right, that A: Harley-Davidson was not going out of business, and B: 15% was going to look pretty damned attractive." The lesson is about decision difficulty. Buffett deliberately chose the simpler question: "I knew enough to lend them money. I didn't know enough to buy the equity. And that's frequently the case... I'll go with a simple decision." In other words, he didn't need to predict whether the motorcycle market would shrink or margins would get squeezed. He only needed to answer one question: are they going to go broke or not? Charlie Munger added another dimension to the answer, pointing to their responsibility as fiduciaries: "After all, we are a fiduciary for a lot of people, including people with permanent injuries, etc. And to some extent we are constrained by how aggressively we buy stocks versus something else." Munger also offered a broader insight for investors: "Very often when you're looking at a distressed situation and buy the bonds, you should have bought the stock. So I think you're looking in a promising area." Buffett tied it back to a principle Ben Graham wrote about in 1934: "In the analysis of senior securities, the junior securities usually do better, but you may sleep better with the senior securities." And this is where his philosophy crystallises. Berkshire has $60 billion of insurance liabilities extending out 50 years or more: "We would never have all of our money in stocks. We might have very significant amounts, but we are running this place so that it can stand anything." The payoff for that conservatism came during the crisis itself: "A couple years ago we felt very good about where that philosophy left us. We actually could do things at a time when most people were paralyzed, and we'll keep running it that way."