Warren Buffett is a man who has made millions but he also started working at his father's brokerage when he was 11 years old, that's an age when most other kids were playing hide-n-seek and didn't know how to spell 'brokerage'. This financial wizard is by recent estimates, worth $46 billion but how he got there is the fascinating story.
It all began in the family grocery store back in Omaha. Buffett's great grandfather started the store in 1869 and it was in the Buffet family until 1969, till his uncle finally retired. But it's at this store, where he began going around his neighbourhood selling gum. This was before his stint at his father's firm.
Warren Buffett told CNBC's Liz Claman, "My grandfather would sell me Wrigley's chewing gum and I would go door to door around my neighbourhood selling it. He also sold me six Coca Cola for a quarter and I would sell it for a nickel each in the neighbourhood, so I made a small profit. I was always trying to do something like this."
From small beginnings come bigger things and so after selling gum, soft drinks and working with his father, by age 14, he had bought a 40 acres farm in Washington, Thurston County. But he confesses that he never enjoyed the farm as much as he enjoyed investing in stocks. But the first stock he bought was "Citi Service preferred stock. I had three shares and made all of $5 on it. I had bought it at $38.25 and then I sold it around $40, it went down to $27 in between and after I sold it at $40, it went to $200!"
From that poorly timed stock sale in 1944, he learnt a lesson that became his legendary investment strategy - which is essentially - patience pays, so buy them and hold them. He figured out two other critical things about himself in the 1940s - what he is good at and what he likes to do.
This pivotal moment in his journey came in 1956, when he was just 25 years old. This man who was rejected by Harvard and now armed with contributions from family and friends and $100 of his own money starts a limited partnership with seven people. Over the next nine years, Buffett turned a $105,000 into $26 million - a stunning 24,000 per cent increase! He had invested mostly in textile companies, farm equipment manufacturers and even a company making windmills.
Thirteen years later, Buffett forms another partnership that becomes one of the greatest teams in the history of investing. He convinces longtime friend Charlie Munger to quit his investment partnership to join Buffett as his Vice President of Berkshire Hathaway. And now with the 82-year-old Munger, Buffett sits on top of the greatest holding companies ever.
So, it's understandable that this man is looked up to for investment and business advice all the time. But what's the secret gift he's got? How does he pick the right investments all the time? He explains, "I look for something that I can understand to start with, there are all kinds of businesses I don't understand."
He's never had anything lacking - his acute business brain has made him a lot of money. He also feels that the youth of today are living better than John D Rockefeller. His own style remains the same - he lives in the same house for 48 years, carries no cellphone, has no computer on his office desk, does not move around with an entourage. As he puts it, "I have had everything I wanted all my life. At 20, I was having the time of my life doing what I did. Today, I'm eating the same things I always eat - burghers, fries and cherry coke. Only my clothes are more expensive now but they look cheap when I put them on!" At 76, he married his long-time companion, Astrid Menks at a low-key ceremony at his daughter Susan's house. He is also amazingly healthy for someone on a burghers-coke diet. He's also surprisingly down to earth. He moves around freely unencumbered by a security detail. He does have a few guards with him during the annual shareholders meeting but he says he doesn't feel the need to put himself in a cocoon.
Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:
1) Warren bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late! 2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers. 3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence. 4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him. 5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company. 6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. 7) Warren Buffet has given his CEO's only two rules. Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1. 8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television. 9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet. 10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. 11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.
He says, Remember: A. Money doesn’t create man but it is the man who created money. B. Live your life as simple as you are. C. Don’t do what others say, just listen them, but do what you feel good. D. Don’t go on brand name; just wear those things in which u feel comfortable! E. Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on them who really in need rather. F. After all it’s your life then why give chance to others to rule our life.”
Have a Nice Day,
WYD Team
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