Warren Buffett fortune. Warren Buffett - biography, will and other details. Warren Buffett's personal life
The life of a billionaire and investor who regularly tops the Forbes list is legendary. An extraordinary lifestyle, the generosity of a philanthropist, the history of personal family relationships - all this is an inexhaustible source of interest and the basis of the plots of books and films about the biography of Warren Buffett.
Childhood and youth
Warren Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 31, 1930. The only son of three Buffett children. Father Howard Buffett, an entrepreneur and stock player, remained a role model and an object of adoration for his son. In addition to success in business, Buffett Sr. built a political career, winning congressional elections.
From early childhood, the boy showed mathematical talents unusual for his age, easily multiplying complex numbers in his mind. Friends considered him a child prodigy, and the student graduated from the class program as an external student and showed miracles of making money.
The biography of a billionaire from school is connected with investment, earnings and business. As Warren himself admits, he was attracted by the process of increasing capital. He always knew that he would become the owner of billions.
The first profit was received by the boy at the age of six. I bought a six-pack of Coke for 25 cents at my grandfather's store, then sold each one individually for 6, making 5 cents in net proceeds.
The purchase of the first shares took place when Warren was 11. With the money shared with his sister, the young businessman bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred at a price of $ 38.25 each. Some time later, the price dropped to $27, which made the small businessman thoroughly worried.
When the price tag rose to $40, Buffett hurried to sell the shares, earning a net profit of $5 (commission included). And some time later, the price soared to $202 per security. So the novice investor learned the first rule - take your time and be patient.
The teenager's ways of earning money were striking in their variety and strategic planning. Having settled down at the age of 13 to earn money as a paperboy, Buffett revised the delivery route, which allowed him to improve the path and increase the number of customers. Accordingly, the amount of earnings also increased.
At the same age of 13, a teenager submits his first tax return, indicating for deduction a bicycle and a watch purchased with his own money.
The next thing was the installation of slot machines for "Paintball" in hairdressing salons. After persuading a friend to work together, Buffett bought failed machines, repaired them and installed them in waiting places, such as beauty salons.
The money earned was saved and accumulated by the thrifty Warren. Soon, the savings were enough to buy a land plot, which the entrepreneur leased to farmers, receiving a source of passive income.
As for studies, after graduating from school, the young man was not eager to spend time on further education. Moreover, by that time I already knew more than some teachers and earned money on my own. At the insistence of his parents, the young man nevertheless entered the University of Pennsylvania. By the way, since 1942 the family lived in Washington, which Warren was unhappy with. He loved his hometown.
In the end, studying in Pennsylvania did not work out. The young man left the university, moved back to Nebraska and received a bachelor's degree in his native state. After that, he made an attempt to enter Harvard, but was rejected due to being too young.
It turned out to be a favor of fate. Entering Columbia University, the aspiring businessman fell under the wing of Benjamin Graham, an investor and financier. The teacher significantly influenced Buffett's life, taught the young man the basic golden rules of the investor, instilled a love for business and long-term investments.
Business
In 1956, in his native Omaha, Buffett creates his first investment partnership of his own, achieving an incredible 251% growth in stock prices over five years. The investor's tactic was to carefully analyze companies, which was not limited only to annual earnings reports. The millionaire was interested in the biographies of top managers, the history of the company, and development prospects.
The strategy and foresight of the entrepreneur led to the fact that in 1965, after dissolving the partnership, the investor acquires a textile company on the verge of ruin Berkshire Hathaway. Then there is a change in the direction of the company's activities to insurance transactions and investments. Now the organization is still the main one for the billionaire.
Buffett adheres to the rule of investing in simple and understandable areas of business. Often acquires stakes in those companies whose products he prefers to use. During the investment activity, the entrepreneur acquired shares in Coca-Cola, Washington Post, Gillette, McDonald's.
At the same time, the "Oracle of Omaha", as Buffett was nicknamed in the press, notes that it is pointless to predict the stock market. Investments are worthy only of those companies that will remain on the market for many years. Warren's famous quote reads:
"Favorite stock sale date is never."
Long-term investment with an average investment period of 10 years is a distinctive feature of the stock exchange strategy of a billionaire. Patience and perseverance are at the top of Buffett's list of golden rules for investing.
It is interesting to note that for a long time IT companies did not deserve Buffett's attention. Most likely, the reason for this lies in the conservatism of the billionaire. He himself repeatedly admitted that you need to invest in those industries in which you understand something. It wasn't until 2011 that Warren acquired a stake in IBM.
Is it any wonder that Warren Buffett, his talents as an investor and stock strategist, became an enticing subject for writing books. The billionaire shared the secrets of success and investment lessons with the author of the book “Warren Buffett. How to Turn $5 into $50 Billion by Robert Hagstrom and the first authorized biography, Warren Buffett. The World's Best Investor, written by Alice Schroeder.
The legendary billionaire also appeared on movie screens. A lot of documentaries have been shot about the life of an investor, among the latest is Becoming Warren Buffett, released in 2017.
Personal life
In 1952, Susan Thompson became the wife of the investor. In marriage, the couple had three children - Susan, Howard and Peter. The wife supported her husband, influenced her husband's political views, as well as his attitude to charity. However, when the children grew up, Susan left Warren and the rest of their lives the couple lived separately, while not officially dissolving the marriage.
Meanwhile, the woman did not cease to be a friend to Buffett. She also introduced the investor to Astrid Menks, with whom the billionaire has since been on close terms. Astrid is a native of Latvia who has lived all her life in the States.
Susan maintained an excellent relationship with her husband and his new lover until the end of her days. In 2004, Buffett's wife died of cancer, and two years later, Warren legalized a relationship with Astrid that lasted more than 20 years.
By the way, Buffett himself did not escape the test of oncological disease. In 2012, he successfully completed a five-month course of treatment for prostate cancer.
The lifestyle of a billionaire is different from the usual and stereotypical. The investor lives in a five-bedroom house in Omaha, modest for a rich man, bought back in the 50s. The billionaire loves fast food, and considers five daily cans of his adored Cola to be the secret of his longevity and vigor.
The children of the Buffetts were brought up in the ascetic conditions of an ordinary middle-class family. All went to public school and, until conscious adulthood, were not even aware of their father's wealth. However, the billionaire family fully supports the lifestyle of the head of the family.
The investor is distinguished by generosity in charitable actions. In 2010, having donated more than 50% of his own capital to the Gates Foundation, the leader of the Forbes list shocked his contemporaries. In the same year, together with a friend, a campaign called "The Giving Pledge" was organized. Those wishing to join are required to pledge to donate at least half of their wealth to good causes.
Warren Buffett now
In March 2018, Forbes magazine published the next ranking of the richest people in the world. According to the results and reports for 2017, Buffett ranked third on the list. The billionaire lost his fortune to Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and his bridge partner Bill Gates.
In January 2018, Buffett made a lot of noise about the change in leadership of the investment company and the readiness to name a successor. However, the investor assured that he himself feels great and continues to love what he does.
Condition assessment
Name Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, philanthropist and personal friend bill gates, known to many. He became a millionaire at 31, a billionaire after 40, and at 70+ topped the list of the richest people on the planet. Buffett does not keep secrets from his business, but he does not say too much either - his "impeccably winning strategies" are constantly changing, and in some ways he even contradicts.
Biography of Warren Buffett
Donald Trump has a great line:
There are many ways to make a career, but the surest of them is to be born into the right family.
And no matter how much they talk about Buffett, as a person who has made himself, one cannot deny the main thing. Warren's father is Howard Buffett, who was elected to the US Congress four times from the Republican Party and made a fortune in investments and food.
Warren Buffett, in telling his life story, recalls his first business experience selling Coca-Cola. Then he bought a package for 25 cents and sold all six bottles for five cents. True, something else causes a smile: at the age of 11, she and her sister bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for $37, and sold them for $40, although a week later the shares were trading at $200. Thus, the first commandment of the investor was born: never rush!
Buffett first got to the NYSE at the age of 10, where his father brought him. That is, by the age of 11 (and the first investment), he understood the basics of stock trading and knew how and why people buy and sell shares. At 17, he entered the Pennsylvania School of Finance, but earned a degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Second Commandment: Learn!
Rejecting an invitation from Harvard University for a master's degree, he rushed to Columbia University. One of the most prominent economists of that time taught there. Benjamin Graham who wrote a number of books on economics. After reading them all, Buffett came up with two more commandments of a successful investor: first, it is impossible to predict the stock market. Secondly, it is not the leaders that bring profit, but the “dark horses”.
In 1960, Buffett acquired the medical company Sanborn Map Company, and the circumstances of the purchase have already entered the textbooks of micro- and macroeconomics. Buffett, as a consultant, suggested that doctors find 10 colleagues who are ready to invest $10,000 each in a common business. After a strong publicity campaign, the investor discovered that Sanborn Map Company shares were trading at $45 per share on the market, with a real cost of $65. The company turned out to be a typical "dark horse" and a few days later was completely redeemed.
Career
In parallel with his studies, Warren Buffett founded the financial agency Buffett-Falk & Co, where he worked from 1951 to 1954 as a simple seller. From 1954 to 1956, after selling his office, he worked for Graham-Newman Corp as a securities analyst. In 1957, he created Buffett Associates, and introduced a new rule: before buying a company, you should learn everything, up to the biographies of the founders and managers.
Six years earlier, in 1951, Buffett bought the insurance company Geico, of which he included directors - he introduces it into Buffett Associates. Meanwhile, the portfolio of the office shows incredible liquidity (+1,122% over 10 years versus +122% for Dow Jones), and Warren Buffett has a new postulate: the best time to sell shares is never, capital investment is everything!
In 1954, Buffett forms a partnership with his teacher, Graham, but, despite their success, in 1957 they part as enemies. The reason was Graham's excessive rigidity in business and the rejection of simple human relationships. Immediately after that, Buffett forms six investment partnerships, where he puts a new theory at the forefront: with people you need to be extremely flexible and play by their rules.
Of course, talking about the honesty of the richest man in the world is not entirely correct. In 1965, he approached the owner of the unprofitable Berkshire Hataway factory with an offer to “roll out” the business in a couple of years. He agreed, and Buffett set a condition: he and CEO Seabury Stanton must buy back the company's shares. Starting at 7.60 a share, they bought more and more, pushing the price up to 14.86 (real value of the shares was $19) until Buffett took control. At the next meeting of directors, he removed Stanton from participating in the affairs of the company and offered to sell his stake for a penny. Postulate from Buffett: who owns a controlling stake, he owns everything.
Interesting fact. Berkshire Hataway has paid only one dividend in its entire life, in 1967, with 10 cents per share. Since then, Warren Buffett has sent letters to shareholders every six months, boasting about the company's success and explaining that all profits will be put into new acquisitions.
Buffett isn't lying when he talks about maximum stock holdings. In 1973, he bought a block of shares Washington Post Company, he keeps it still. The portfolio contains ABC Capital(1979) Salomon Inc.(1987) and Coca Cola (1988).
But the investor does not believe in high technologies out of principle, and swears that he will never invest money either in (Bill Gates is offended), or in microprocessors or conductors. The catchphrase comes to the rescue: I don't invest in something I don't understand and I can't predict success in 10-20 years.
Warren Buffett became a billionaire in 1990 when he Berkshire Hataway on . After a series of high-profile mergers, scandals and raiding (capital allows), his investment company has become the most expensive in the world, showing a capitalization of $ 328 billion.
By 2007 the price of just one share of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was 140 thousand dollars.
During the crisis of 2007-2008, having disseminated information about the losses of $ 77 billion and talking about “ historical justice” (and seriously lowering the price of his shares), Buffett bought a controlling stake in a leading investment bank for $ 10 billion. Goldman Sachs. Also, the brainchild of the great financier received the right to purchase a stake in General Electric worth $ 3 billion. In the same year, Buffett was named the richest man on the planet.
Buffett's attention to a particular company is considered a good sign: it means that the market really underestimates it. Acquisition attemptConocoPhillips in 2009, when energy prices fell to zero, led to a 30% increase in the company's quotes, which allowed it to easily get out of the crisis. Warren Buffett, who offered up to $50 per share, estimatedConocoPhillips to several billion dollars.
In 2009 year Buffett was bought BNSF Railway, the second largest transcontinental railroad in North America. It is laid on the territory of 28 states of the central region and the west coast of the United States, and also partially enters Canada. The total length of the Class I railway is 52.3 thousand kilometers, its fleet includes 7 thousand locomotives, and more than 40 thousand employees are employed at all enterprises. The company's office is located in Texas, and its purchase cost Buffett $26 billion.
And while the American media wrote about it, the investor suddenly bought out a 5.5% stake in IBM (10 years earlier he swore that he would not invest in hi-tech) and Media General Corporation, which manages 63 newspapers in the southeastern United States. Another legendary phrase came to the rescue: talking about one, try to do another! It is no coincidence that in the 2nd quarter of 2014, when there was talk of an imminent fall in Asian and European indices, it showed a net profit of 6.7 billion US dollars.
In 2015 together with a well-known Italian realtor Alessandro Proto, Buffett bought the Greek island of Saint Thomas in the Sardonic Gulf. This purchase cost entrepreneurs 15 million euros, but the money still has to be spent - Proto and Buffett are going to invest in real estate development on the island.
But not only the acquisition of new companies, islands and shares is the richest American entrepreneur - Buffett is an active philanthropist. For example, in 2010 he gave away about half of his multi-billion dollar fortune ( $37 billion) to famous charitable foundations, and to this day this is the most generous act in all of history. Most of the money went to a foundation led by Bill and Melinda Gates, whose main goal is to improve health care and education systems, overcome hunger in poor countries, fight common diseases ( tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria).
Buffett's personal life and family
In April 2012, the billionaire was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. Five months after that, Buffett said that he underwent a full course of radiotherapy and managed to get rid of the disease. Warren Buffett is currently in perfect health. As for his personal life, the entrepreneur is married to Astrid Menks. A native of Latvia, who has lived all her life in America, she worked as a waitress in Nebraska. She was 32 when she met Buffett - he went to the cafe where his future lover worked. Soon Astrid and Warren began to live together, but they got married only 29 years later, in 2006. The ceremony lasted only 15 minutes, and only the closest friends and relatives of the newlyweds were invited to the celebration.
Warren has three children, all from his first wife. Susan Thompson Buffett who passed away from cancer in 2004 ( at that time, the spouses no longer lived together, but the divorce was not filed).
The eldest daughter of an entrepreneur, Susan Alice Buffett, named after her mother, is a philanthropist. She works on issues of social justice, and also provides grants in the field of public education as part of her own foundation. The daughter of a great entrepreneur is on the boards of charitable organizations Buffett Foundation and Girls Inc.. Susan lives in Omaha, Nebraska and was married to attorney Allen Greenberg, but the couple is currently separated.
son of a billionaire Howard Graham Buffett, like his father, is engaged in entrepreneurship. Lives in Decatur, Illinois and runs the family farm. He published more than a dozen books on nature conservation, the state of mankind, his articles were published on the pages Washington Post And The Wall Street Journal. He is married to Devon Morse and has a son with his wife. Howard Warren Buffett. He is fond of photography, is actively involved in charity work in his own fund. He is a Doctor of Philosophy and holder of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor granted by the Mexican government to a foreign citizen.
Billionaire's youngest child Peter Buffett decided to dedicate his life to music. Peter is an award winner Emmy"and the author of 17 music albums. Was married twice. His first wife, Mary Buffett, already had two daughters from a past relationship, and Peter adopted them. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce, and Peter married a second time, his chosen one was Jennifer Buffett. Peter, like other children of Warren Buffett, is involved in charity work. He is co-chair of the Foundation novo– an organization dedicated to driving transformation in a global society, abandoning a culture of domination and exploitation in favor of equality and partnership.
Testament of Warren Buffett
In 2010, together with Bill Gates, Buffett founded the company The Giving Pledge (« The Oath of Giving”), which aims to inspire the rich people of this world to give some of their finances to charity. The founders of the program solve legal issues and take a promise from the participants - each of them writes a public declaration of intent to transfer part of the finances to charitable organizations. To date, the company has more than 130 billionaire members from around the world.
Buffett himself also adheres to the principles for which the “Giving Pledge” was created. His testament states that 99% of his wealth after death will be given to large charitable foundations.
Like Bill Gates, Buffett believes that each of his children should succeed without the help of their wealthy parent.
Buffett's family will only own a small fraction of his massive multi-billion dollar fortune, with most of it left to his wife.
Many financial analysts call the well-known entrepreneur a prophet and wizard in the field of investments - he managed to successfully earn money by predicting crises, market changes and successfully getting out of difficult financial situations. To this day, Buffett continues to run Berkshire Hathaway, engage in charitable work and multiply his wealth many times over.
Today, the behavior of Warren Buffett is considered a phenomenon, and the company he leads is a model of management.
Berkshire Hataway shares have become the most valuable asset on the New York Stock Exchange, trading at over $200,000 per share.
As before, before acquiring, he carefully studies all the ins and outs of the purchased structure and personally communicates with employees. Currently, the main portfolio of the investment company Berkshire Hataway contains 100% of the shares of 70 companies, and it is also a minority shareholder in more than 50 structures throughout America and the world.
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
Warren Edward Buffett is a business tycoon, consistently ranked among the richest people on the planet, head of investment and financial holding Berkshire Hathaway, author of tutorials on the principles of capital investment, philanthropist. In 2010, he launched an unprecedented initiative. He urged world business leaders to take the so-called "Giving Pledge", that is, to sign a commitment that they will spend more than half of their income on charity. In 2016, the number of people who signed this document reached 154.In 2015, Warren was ranked third in The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, behind only Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Inditex clothing maker Amancio Ortega. In the first 6 months of 2016 alone, his fortune grew by $2.7 billion and was estimated at $65 billion (against 89 Gates and 73 Ortega), and the amount of donations to philanthropic organizations, primarily to the foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates, amounted to $2.9 billion
The talented entrepreneur and intellectual, who has amazing intuition and even received the ironic nickname "The Oracle", is known for his commitment to long-term investments and personal thrift. In terms of political preferences, during the 2016 presidential campaign, he actively supported and sponsored Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Childhood and family of Warren Buffett
The future legendary investor was born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, in the family of a stock trader, later a congressman, and a housewife, a former fashion model. The couple had two more daughters - the eldest Doris and Roberta, the youngest child in the family. 
The father's profession influenced his son's passion for finance. Already at the age of 6, he surprised his parents with his ingenuity - he bought several cans of Coca-Cola and sold them to his home at twice the price. At the age of 11, having combined his savings with his sister, he bought 3 shares of the Cities Service company, which supplied gas to city houses, on the stock exchange. Their price initially fell, making him nervous, and then rose from $38 to $40. At this point, Warren hurried to sell the shares and made a small profit, but soon regretted it bitterly, since later the value of the securities increased 5 times. This experience made him later be more measured, take his time and always give preference to long-term investments.
When his father entered Congress in 1942, the Buffetts moved to the US capital. In Washington, Warren continued his studies at school. He did not abandon business experiments either. At first, the boy became a Washington Post peddler and saved $ 1.2 thousand in a year. He used them to buy a 40-acre (about 16 hectares) plot of land, which he began leasing to farmers.
Warren Buffett's success story
At 15, the young entrepreneur and a friend invested $75 to buy three used pinball machines and install them in barbershops. Shortly thereafter, the teenager announced to his family about his intention to become a millionaire by the age of 30. Looking ahead, we note that his prediction was fulfilled almost on time - at the age of 31 he became the owner of a millionth fortune.
Education of Warren Buffett
At the insistence of his parents in 1947, the young man entered the financial school of the University of Pennsylvania. He himself would have preferred to focus on his business projects and not waste time studying, but his father convinced him of the need for a decent education. 
After his father left Congress in 1948, the family returned to his hometown, and the young man transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where in 1949 he received a bachelor's degree in business administration.
Then there was an unsuccessful attempt to continue his studies at Harvard, after which the future billionaire successfully became a student at Columbia University Business School, where the famous economist Benjamin Graham, the founder of the concept of value investing, taught at that time. By 1951, Warren had acquired a master's degree in economics. In addition, he was a free student at the New York Institute of Finance.
Warren Buffett business
Upon graduation, the future financial tycoon worked for his father's company Buffett-Falk & Co., then at Graham-Newman Corp. his mentor Benjamin Graham. Acquaintance with his book "The Intelligent Investor" he later called the most rewarding experience of those years. 
In 1956, in partnership with friends and seven relatives, he established the investment company Buffett Associates. His investment decisions were almost always correct and consistently brought dividends to all shareholders.
In 1962, he began to buy securities of the Berkshire Hathaway textile factory close to bankruptcy, after 3 years he became the holder of 49 percent of the shares and at the same time its director. Subsequently, thanks to reprofiling and wise investments, the company acquired the status of one of the leaders in the financial market, and its value was estimated at $ 360 billion. The meeting of shareholders of The Berkshire Hathaway annually gathers about 20 thousand guests, for which it received the playful nickname "Woodstock for capitalists" in the press
To date, Warren Buffett's investment portfolio includes shares of many well-known international corporations: Coca-Cola, American Express, McDonald's, PetroChina, Iscar Metalworking, Kia Motors and others. In 2009, he became the owner of the transcontinental railway BNSF Railway.
In 2010, the billionaire made the most generous in history, an unprecedented act - he donated more than half of his capital, about $ 37 billion, to charity.
Warren Buffett Interview
In 2011, Warren invested more than $10 billion in IBM, purchasing about 6 percent of the shares in this largest software developer.
According to Forbes, the legendary entrepreneur earned an average of $37 million a day in 2013.
Warren Buffett's personal life
In 1949, young Warren was infatuated with a girl whose boyfriend played a miniature ukulele guitar. In an attempt to compete with a rival, he also acquired one of these musical instruments and learned to play it. And although he failed to conquer the beauty’s heart then, the love of playing the ukulele became part of his life. 
At 22, he married Susan Thompson. The couple raised three children - Susie, Howard and Peter, but after 25 years of marriage they began to live separately, although they were not officially divorced. In 2004, Susan died of cancer, and 2 years later the financier remarried his longtime friend Astrid Menks. He then turned 76 years old, and the bride - 60.
The oligarch is unpretentious in everyday life, conservative, loves to play bridge, allegedly spending at least 12 hours a week on this activity. He is a devoted fan of the Nebraska Football Club, where he was appointed an honorary assistant coach.
The head of the financial empire lives in the central region of his native city in a house bought back in 1958 for $31.5 thousand. In addition, he owns a $4 million home in Laguna Beach, California. In 1989, he bought a private jet for $6.7 million, but later called this purchase an unjustified waste of money.
After his son's adopted daughter, his beloved granddaughter Nicole, starred in Jamie Johnson's documentary "The One Percent", which told about the cruel financial stratification of society, Warren disowned her relationship and deprived her of financial assistance.
In April 2012, one of the most famous investors in the world fell ill with prostate cancer. The doctors successfully completed the treatment of this serious disease in September of the same year.
Warren Buffett today
In 2015, he partnered with Alessandro Proto, an Italian billionaire and the alleged protagonist of E.L. James' erotic bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey, to acquire the Aegean island of Saint Thomas for €15 million. The money guru believes there are so many opportunities in Greece that many people will be willing to invest in local land and real estate. Both businessmen intend to engage in luxury real estate there.Warren Buffett's advice
Until recently, the legendary investor was in no hurry to invest in enterprises specializing in the development of advanced technologies. He invested in the transport, insurance business and many industries. However, at the beginning of 2016, he already owned 10 million Apple shares worth $1 billion, and in August he increased his stake in the American IT corporation to 15 million ($1.6 billion).
By pushing Zara owner Amancio Ortega to take second place. Buffett is the largest philanthropist and one of the most successful investors in history. His company Berkshire Hathaway has stakes in 60 companies in various industries, including Geico and Duracell. The investor continues to successfully develop his business and increased revenue in 2016 by $15 billion, and now owns a total of $75.6 billion.
Warren Buffett's life had its ups and downs, like all people, but they strengthened his flair, which earned him such nicknames as "The Oracle of Omaho" and "The Seer." We present to your attention 15 facts about the famous billionaire that will surprise you.
1 He bought his first shares at the age of 11
While other kids were playing games, 11-year-old Warren tried his hand at the stock exchange. Bought my first three shares for $38, then sold them for $40 and, after deducting the commission, made a $5 profit. A few days later, the share price skyrocketed to $200, and from that Buffett learned a lesson – those who are patient are rewarded.
2 Earned $53,000 at 16
Warren Buffett was a tactful and surprisingly hardworking worker from an early age. Delivering newspapers to The Washington Post every morning, he earned $175, more than the salaries of many teachers of the day. He also worked part-time selling collectible stamps, golf balls, and polishing cars. At 16, he was able to earn $53,000 and refused to go to college - he did not see the point.
3 He Wasn't Accepted To Harvard Business School
A few years later, Warren still decided to get an education and chose the Harvard Business School. But after a short interview, he was refused there.
Buffett was disappointed by this, but later decided to go to Columbia University after learning that there were professors Benjamin Graham (the "father of value investing") and David Dodd. He wrote in a letter: “Dear Dodd, I thought you were dead, but I found you alive and teaching at Columbia University. I would be flattered if you accepted me.” Warren was accepted.
4 He eats like a 6 year old
Warren Buffett is like a child in his eating habits. Likes ice cream, Utz potato sticks and Coca-Cola. According to him, a quarter of his daily calories are Coca-Cola.
He enjoyed eating at DQ so much that he decided to buy it. He takes his grandchildren and grandchildren of friends there every Sunday and treats them to ice cream.
When asked how he manages to stay healthy with such a salty and sweet diet, Warren Buffett replied that he checked the statistics: “The lowest mortality among 6-year-olds. So I decided to eat like a 6-year-old child.”
5 Lives in the same house since 1958
Warren Buffett is unassuming in life and is not a lover of luxury.
He bought his house in Omaha, where he lives to this day, in 1958 for $31,500. This is a simple house with five bedrooms and one bathroom.
6 His father-in-law told him that he would be a loser
When Buffett proposed to his wife in 1951, his father-in-law invited him to chat. In a conversation, he confessed to him that he did not believe in himself or in his future. His fiancee's father was adamant that Warren Buffett would fail.
Buffett told CNBC that he thought his daughter would starve to death and Warren would fail. “But it's not your fault. They are all Democrats and they are all commies.”
7 People Pay Millions To Have Breakfast With Him
Knowing that the famous billionaire can give invaluable advice, it is not surprising that many are willing to pay for the right to chat with him. To do this, Buffett holds an auction once a year, with the winner of which he has breakfast. If in 2007 the amount was $600 thousand, then in 2012 a record was set - $3.5 million. A total of $20 million was raised.
The proceeds go to charity.
8 He Was Earning $37 Million A Day In 2013
At the beginning of 2013, he had $46 billion, at the end - 59. The reason for this was a sharp increase in share prices.
9 About 94% Of His Wealth Was Made After Age 60
Success can come at any age. Although Warren Buffett was a successful man before the age of 60, he earned $ 94 of his fortune after 60 years. At 60, he had over $3.8 billion.
10 He Has 20 Suits And He Didn't Pay For Any Of Them
Buffett has only 20 suits and they are all created by one designer - Madame Lee. It started with a case in China, where several guys knocked on the door of his hotel room and started to do a fitting, wrapping it with a centimeter tape. They asked him to choose a suit from a catalog because Madame Lee wanted to give him a present.
Later they met with her and it was the beginning of a professional relationship between Warren Buffett and Chinese designer Li Guilian (Dalian Dayang Trands). He threw out the rest of the brands and has since worn only the suits of this brand.
Madam Lee later began making costumes for Buffett's friend Bill Gates and other influential people.
11 Spending billions on charity
In June 2010, Buffett announced that he was donating half of his $37 billion fortune to five charitable foundations. Bill Gates followed suit, with whom they launched the Giving Pledge philanthropic campaign to encourage billionaires around the world to donate a portion of their wealth to charity. 105 billionaires joined the action.
12 80% of their day is spent reading
Buffett is known for his love of reading. As soon as he wakes up, he pokes his head not at a smartphone, like most modern people, but at a newspaper. When asked what the key to success is, he pointed to a pile of books: “Read 500 of these pages every day. This is how knowledge works. They accumulate like compound interest.”
13 Survived Cancer
In April 2012, he was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. After 100 days of treatment, in September of the same year, he announced that he was completely healthy.
14 He Uses A Nokia Clamshell
Screenshot from the program on CNN
In 2013, on CNN, Warren Buffett, in response to a request from the host, showed his old Nokia flip phone, which he jokingly said was given to him by Alexander Graham Bell.
15 Buffett plays the ukulele
At 18, Warren was in love with an Omaha girl, Betty Gallagher, who loved to listen to the radio. To his horror, he learned that she had a boyfriend. After that, Buffett thought: what would he do that this guy can’t do. The solution was to learn how to play the ukulele, which he still can.
22.11.2014 8 162 0 Reading time: 20 min.
Who is Warren Buffett?
Now investor Warren Buffett owns a fortune of about $ 66 billion and in 2014 takes 4th place in the world ranking of the richest people in the world according to Forbes (in 2008 he occupied the first position in this ranking). Buffett, 84, is the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, a large textile corporation, in which he acquired a controlling stake back in 1965.
Warren Buffett is in friendly and even partnership relations with the first person of Forbes - Bill Gates and is known as the largest philanthropist in the history of the world. He has donated more than $40 billion in total.
Of course, he did not come to all this at once. Next is the biography and success story of Warren Buffett.
Childhood and youth of Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett was born in 1930 in a small town in the US state of Nebraska, his father was a politician and stock trader. From early childhood, he showed high rates of development: even before school he learned to read and count well, quickly assimilated any information and showed high erudition for his age. The people around him considered Buffett a child prodigy.
Warren Buffett got his first financial experience at the age of six. One day he went to a store owned by his grandfather, bought a package of 6 bottles of Coca-Cola there for 25 cents, and then resold each of them separately for 5 cents, helping out 30 cents for the whole lot and earning 5 cents in net profit.
Already at the age of 11, Warren Buffett got his first experience of stock trading and transactions with securities. Since his father was a stockbroker, Buffett had access to stock information, watched stock prices change, and one day decided to make his first trade. He purchased 2 shares of Cities Service (one for himself and one for his older sister) for about $38 each and began to watch their value move further. After that, the price of these securities began to fall and soon dropped to $27. Warren Buffett was nervous, but he didn't take any action. Then the shares began to rise in price again, and when their value reached $40 per share, he sold them, thereby earning about $4 of speculative profit.
However, just a few days later, the value of Cities Service shares skyrocketed to $202, and Warren Buffett realized that if he had endured these few days, he could have earned not $4, but more than $300. Then he did not do it, because he was ready to risk his money, but he did not want to risk his sister's money. In the future, already being a rich and successful person, investor Warren Buffett often recalled this case as the biggest mistake in his investment practice. But it was from her that he learned the most important lesson, which in the future helped him get rich:
You can’t panic when prices fall, if you are confident in your forecast, you need to focus on long-term rather than short-term investments.
After this incident, Warren Buffett moved away from stock trading for a while and began to earn money by working as a press peddler. Moreover, he developed his own special optimized route, which allowed him to ride a bicycle around a larger number of addressees during working hours, which means to earn more.
At the age of 13, Warren Buffett paid income tax for the first time, filled out and submitted a declaration to the tax authorities, in which he indicated all his cash receipts and deducted the cost of purchasing a watch and a bicycle, justifying this by the fact that these costs are directly related to his earnings.
Soon, Warren Buffett's salary rose to the level of his boss's salary, and later doubled it. Buffett saved the money he earned by creating.
When the savings amounted to $ 1,500, Warren Buffett purchased a land plot with this money and leased it to local farmers, thereby creating his first.
Further, the sphere of interests of Warren switched to the field of gambling. He began to buy broken old pinball machines very cheaply, repair them through workshops, and install them in busy waiting areas, in particular in hairdressers. Thus, already in his youth, Warren Buffett organized a business that brought him about $ 600 in net income per month. It was on these machines that he earned his first $10,000.
Parents sent Buffett to study business at one of the prestigious institutions in Pennsylvania, but from the very beginning he was not interested there: he already knew the curriculum better than his teachers, moreover, from a practical rather than a theoretical point of view. Therefore, a year later, Warren Buffett left this university and returned to his native state, where he organized the printing business of publishing newspapers, first taking the position of head of the delivery department, and then becoming a co-owner of the enterprise. In parallel with doing business, he studied at the university of his state, which he later graduated from.
How did Warren Buffett become an investor?
A successful business brought Warren good money, he again had savings, which he decided to increase by returning to. Soon, his father entrusted him with management and family capital, so Buffett began to increase not only his own savings on the stock market, but also the finances of his parents.
After graduating from his first university at the age of 20, Buffett decided to continue his education and applied for admission to Harvard, but they were not accepted due to being too young. As a result, Buffett entered Washington's Columbia University, where at that time one of the "sharks of the stock market" - Benjamin Graham - taught. In the 1920s, when many perceived stock trading as a casino game, Graham perceived it as a complex science. He carefully analyzed the market, studied the financial statements of companies and predicted quotes, which allowed him to earn good money on the stock market and become a popular stock trader.
However, after listening to Graham's lectures, Warren Buffett drew completely opposite conclusions from them: he was sure that it was not the financial statements that were more important, but the real position of the business on the market, its prospects. Buffett openly debated with Graham, and as a result became the only student who received the highest mark from the guru. However, they were in constant confrontation: Graham did not like the "upstart" Buffett, and did not recommend him to engage in stock trading. Buffett, in spite of everything, after graduating from the university, asked to work at the Graham Foundation, and even said that he agreed to work for him for free, but was refused.
Warren Buffett got married and got a job teaching at one of the local universities, and after a while Graham called him, saying that he had changed his mind and was ready to hire him. Warren Buffett worked for Graham for 6 years, proving in practice that his principles of investing work better than those of Graham: during this period he earned more for the company than it has earned during its entire existence. At the same time, Buffett created a total of 140 thousand dollars and decided to open his own business on it.
So in 1957, investor Warren Buffett formed Buffett Associates, his first investment company. Several entrepreneurs, seeing Buffett's ability to, entrusted him with their capital in management. The initial capital of the company was 105 thousand dollars, and after six months Warren Buffett was able to increase it 3 times.
The main principle of investing, which was guided by investor Warren Buffett, was the long-term investment of capital in companies that were led by the best, in his opinion, managers. It was in such companies that he saw the maximum prospects for development, which meant that their shares would grow well in price. Buffett did not engage in short-term speculation, when asked about the best period to sell stocks, he answered: "Never."
This strategy brought Buffett very good results. During the first 5 years of Buffett Associates' activity, the shares in which the company's capital was invested rose in price by more than 250%, and during the same period rose by only 74%. And over the next 5 years, Warren Buffett's shares rose by more than 1150%, while the Dow Jones index - by only 122%.
12 years later, in 1969, the value of the partnership's assets amounted to $102 million (I remind you that the initial capital was $105,000). At this point, Warren Buffett closed the company and sold off its assets, but in the process acquired a new textile company, Berkshire Hathaway. At that moment, this company was in a deep crisis, but Buffett, starting in 1965, gradually bought back its shares at a very low price, until he became the owner of a controlling stake.
However, investor Warren Buffett did not further develop the company in his core area, and directed all of its income to further operations with securities on the stock market. At that time, American legislation introduced significant tax breaks for insurance companies, and Buffett immediately took advantage of this. Seeing great prospects for the development of the insurance business, he bought out 5 large insurance companies and "hit the bull's-eye": the value of the companies grew very quickly, and when Buffett went into his 50s, his fortune was already estimated at $ 28 billion.
Investor Warren Buffett preferred to invest only in those companies whose products he personally liked. So, for example, he bought shares:
- the company behind the favorite drink Coca-cola;
- shaving company Gillette, whose products he used to shave every morning;
- his favorite newspaper, The Washington Post, which he looked through daily;
- the Walt Disney film company, whose cartoons he was very fond of, etc.
Shares of companies during their stay in the assets of Warren Buffett increased in price by 10-100 times.
Interestingly, Buffett invested virtually nothing in high-tech stocks, which also rose in value very well. He explained this by the fact that he did not even have a computer. By the way, Warren Buffett never even uses a calculator, because he is able to perform all the necessary mathematical calculations in his mind.
Warren Buffett: interesting facts
It is noteworthy that investor Warren Buffett has never in his life afforded the purchase of any luxury items. Even now, being a billionaire and one of the richest people on the planet, he lives in an old house in his hometown of Omaha and drives simple cars, for example, an old Honda model, which he bought from his hands about 20 years ago for $ 700. However, he has one weakness - private jets: in his life he bought several of them.
Warren Buffett often eats at fast food restaurants, and he liked one of the fast food chains so much that he bought it. And once a year, he arranges a charity auction: anyone can compete to get the right to have breakfast with a famous global investor. The maximum amount that was raised at this auction in 2012 was $3.5 million. All proceeds traditionally go to charity.
Warren Buffett has always adhered to the main principle: money should not be spent, but invested.
Investor Warren Buffett has written several books on investing, many of his expressions have become catchphrases. And he himself repeatedly became a character in the works of other authors. The most famous book about Buffett is perhaps Alice Schroeder's Warren Buffett is the World's Best Investor.
Buffett has a good sense of humor and always likes to joke, including on himself.
The famous investor Warren Buffett is also known as the world's largest philanthropist. in 2010, he donated exactly half of his fortune (about $37 billion) to five charitable foundations. This act went down in history as the largest act of charity in world history.
Warren Buffett, as befits a successful investor, has on several occasions predicted significant price movements in world markets with great accuracy. So, in 2003, he predicted the fall of the dollar and transferred his capital to 13 other currencies, and indeed, it happened. He also predicted what happened in recent years and the fall in prices for American real estate.
However, there were mistakes in his career as an investor. For example, just recently, in 2014, Warren Buffett lost about $ 2 billion in shares of the British retail company Tesco in a few days, before that he suffered significant losses on investments in IBM shares. Perhaps such miscalculations are related to the age of the investor, after all, in principle, not everyone will be able to invest in their ninth decade.
It was a brief biography and success story of Warren Buffett, an investor with a worldwide reputation. I think that in this story everyone can highlight something important for themselves, after all, Warren Buffett is a person from whom you can really learn a lot. The most important rules that he followed in the conduct of investment activities, I highlighted in a separate article:.
Stay on the Financial genius, improve your financial literacy, learn the latest ways to make money and invest, learn how to use personal finances wisely and effectively. See you in new posts!
Estimate:
