He’s Called the Oracle of Omaha.
Warren was born on August 30, 1930. This was also the time of the Great Depression. Unemployment was high, global production of countries was almost -27%, and stocks lost most of their value.
Being born in a tough time didn’t crush his ambitions. He bought his first stock at age 11. And began filing taxes at 13. Warren used to deliver newspapers as his hustle. Pretty impressive.
By the time he was in high school, he and a friend had several pinball machines around their town, generating weekly cash flows. He once declared to his sister and friends that he’d become a millionaire by the age of 30.
Warren attended Columbia University. There he met and got to spend time with his mentor, Benjamin Graham. The mentor who taught him the ins and outs of finding companies with hidden values. In the 1960’s he bought a company name Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile business. He tried saving it but the competition from manufacturers in Asia was too much. That business was wound up but he kept the name. Today, that’s the name that his large organization goes by.
Geico, NetJets, See’s Candies, Duracell, and Dairy Queen. What do they all have in common? They are all owned by Warren’s Berkshire Hathaway. Oh yeah, and they own Fruit Of The Loom.
So just how rich is Warren Buffet?
First, let’s talk about a “secret weapon” to wealth creation. Can you guess what that is? If your first thought was Compound Interest then you’re correct. A little money put away on a consistent basis and earning interest will eventually snowball into an impressive sum.
The difference between compound interest and simple interest that you get from your savings account is this. Simple interest only pays interest on the initial amount deposited.
Compound interest pays you interest on your interest. So if you made a deposit of $100 and the expected annual interest is 10% then after a year you would’ve earned $10 for a total of $110 in your account. The following year you would make 10% of $110 bringing you to $121.
Do you now see how this can build wealth without you even having to add another dollar to your account?
This is one of the tools that Warren used to grow his net worth from his first million to his current net worth of $101.7 Billion
His wealth has since surpassed that 86.6 billion in the chart to the $101.7 billion he’s now worth at age 91. You also would’ve seen that he achieved his dream of making a million by age 30.
How He Spends His Billions
Warren is a known philanthropist. He has given away over $40 billion dollars to various foundations. His goal is to give away 99% of his wealth. I know that would make a lot of kids and family members mad. He has 3 kids and they get just enough to run their foundations and live.
There are some things Warren really enjoys. Like Mcdonald’s, ice cream and a good steak. He spends money to travel on private jets, and security. He once said, “I wear expensive suits, they just look cheap on me”.
Would You Live In the same house if you were to become a billionaire?
Well, Warren does. He bought this house for $31,500 in 1958 and it is still his primary residence today.
Many look up to him. His Berkshire Hathaway is listed on the stock exchange and over 30,000 people flock to Omaha each year to attend the annual shareholders meeting.
There are many life lessons that we can learn from Warren. Here are some of his most famous sayings:
“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”
“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”
“It's only when the tide goes out that you discover who's been swimming naked.”
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
“Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.”
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There is also another secret weapon that I forgot to mention. It’s even more important than compound interest. Subscribe to be the first to get it next week.