About

The Margin of Safety blog is the work of Milo M. Benningfield at Benningfield Financial Advisors, an independent, fee-only financial advisory firm in San Francisco.  (www.benningfieldadvisors.com)  I post notes here weekly, sometimes more, regarding investments, personal-finance issues, and other semi-related topics.

I practiced law for over a decade in California before becoming a registered investment advisor and earning the CFP® designation several years ago.  You can read more about my background here.

Warren Buffett’s mentor Benjamin Graham coined the term “margin of safety” in his book The Intelligent Investor.   It’s a term commonly applied to security valuation, but applies more broadly to any endeavor where we need to manage the risks of an uncertain future.  Creating a margin of safety is about leaving room for error in case we’re wrong and is, as Mr. Graham put it, ”available for absorbing the effect of miscalculations or worse than average luck.”