Warren Buffett Bio and Quotes

The Warren Buffett Way

[UPDATE 3 : Warren Buffett is putting together a cartoon series called "The Secret Millionaire's Club" to teach kids about finance - something that schools should be doing in my opinion - That's All Folks !]

[UPDATE 2 : The winning bid was US $1,680,300.00 - which is about $500,000 less than last year's auction - so a bargain for someone ! ]

[UPDATE : The Warren Buffett Online Lunch Auction is underway - if you want to have lunch with Warren Buffet you can bid for the privilege over at that online atucion place. Last year the winner paid $2.1 million and so far this year the bidding is $135,678 and there is 2 days 9 hours adn 52 minutes left - all the money goes to the Glide Foundation charity]

Warren Edward Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 30, 1930. He is currently the second richest man in the world behind his friend Bill Gates. He is also the most famous and most successful investor ever. In addition to this he is a philanthropist and great American businessman. At the moment he has an estimated net worth of around $40 billion, down from $60 billion and is still the the largest shareholder in and Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway. This article was first published here - Warren Buffett Quotes

His success when it comes to investing in stocks is legendary. He is not infallible, as recent events have shown, when he invested in oil when oil was at its peak at $147 a barrel but his current net worth is proof that his decisions are more often right than wrong. He is not interested in the short-termhe is famous for long-term buy and hold 'value investing', saying that if you aren't prepared to own a company for ten years then you shouldn't own it for ten minutes. He prefers to buy stocks in companies that are well run and holds them for the long-term (i.e. decades). Over time, he argues, the markets always go up, so it makes sense to hold on to good investments.

He pays himself an annual salary of around $100,000, which is very small compared to the millions that other CEOs pay themselves and he still lives in the house he bought in Omaha, Nebraska for $31,500 back in 1958. The house today is valued around $700,000, which is not enormous for a man of his vast wealth.

Recently he has made a name for himself as known philanthropist, after announcing in 2006, that he would be donating his enormous fortune to charity. 83% of it has been set aside for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In June 2006 he made a donation of approximately 10,000,000 Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Foundation, which at the time were worth approximately $30 billion, making it the largest charitable donation ever. The Foundation will receive 5% of the donation in July each year.

He filed his first income tax return at the age of 13 and charged his bicycle as a work expense at $35.

He was married to Susan Thompson in 1952 and they remained married until the year of her death 2004, although they had been living separately since 1977. In 2006 he married Astrid Menks his long-time companion. It was Susan Buffett herself that had brought about the meeting between Warren Buffett and Astrid Menks before leaving to pursue her career as a singer.

Warren Buffett has three children but he will not be leaving them a "significant proportion" of his wealth. He has said on this subject "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing."

Update : Goldman Sachs has just been charged with fraud by the SEC and its stock price has slumped by 14% - as Warren Buffett has a sizeable interest in Goldman Sachs then his investments will have been affected too

Warren Buffettt's Book Recommendations

Which book is most representative of his thinking ? Warren Buffett himself says it is : The Essays of Warren Buffett, by Warren Buffett, edited by Larry Cunningham He also recommends The Intelligent Investor chapters 8 and 20.

Books on Investing and Investing Tips recommended by Warren Buffett

The Intelligent Investor, by Ben Graham ("the most important investment book, especially chapters 8 and 20")
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, by Phil Fisher ("I highly recommend his books, especially the early ones")
John Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years, by John Bogle ("Any investor who owns or is thinking of owning shares in a fund should read this book cover to cover.")
The Smartest Guys in the Room, by Bethany McLean (recommended by Buffett in his annual letter in 2003)

Recently a complete biography of Buffett was written by Alice Schroeder  entitled The Snowball

Famous Buffett quotes :
"Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill"
"[Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head. "
"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out." (Particularly apt at the moment when a lot of so-called emperors have been found to be wearing no clothes)
"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago"
"If you're in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent" (A comment he made on a tax system that lets him pay less tax than his secretary)
"I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will."
"Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results."
"A girl in a convertible is worth five in the phonebook. "
"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. "

He was greedy back in October 2008 when he started buying stocks again, after years of being out of the market. He bought too early and people have criticized him for it, but he is a long-term investor and no doubt he will be proved right.