Warren Buffett = The Man…or possibly 100 of them.

The Oracle: Warren BuffettAs we all have come to know, Warren Buffett is a P.I.M.P. He can out-invest you, out-donate you, and even out-school you any day of the week. But *why* is that?

Does he drink a fancy potion every morning at 5a.m.? Is he related to both Chuck Norris AND Jack Bauer? Unfortunately I don’t know. But what I DO know is that he lives a simple life, with some pretty simple rules.

I base this conclusion on an email forwarded by none other than the guy who inspired the Wal-Mart is huge as my Johnson post – my dad. Amongst the old-man jokes and viral beer commercials, he does tend to slip in a few nuggets of info. every now and then (probably to see if i’m paying attention). So today’s post is based off a powerpoint slide he sent over that was “supposedly” inspired from a one hour interview by CNBC. My google skills couldn’t find this alleged interview, but it really doesn’t matter anyways as it’s the lessons here that are really important. You can check out the pretty pictures & slideshow here, or just read the stripped down points here:

  1. He bought his 1st share at age 11, and he regrets 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 initially resisted traveling 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. He has given the CEOs only two rules: #1 – Do not lose any of your shareholders’ money. #2 – Do not forget rule #1. (rule #3: fight club is Awesome!)
  8. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some popcorn and watch tv.
  9. Warren Buffett does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. (WHAT? crazy!)
  10. Warren initially didn’t think he had anything in common w/ Bill Gates. He scheduled his first meeting with him for only half an hour, but when they met, the meeting lasted for 10 hours!
  11. His advice to young people: “Stay away from credit cards & bank loans, and invest in yourself.” He also had the following to add:
    a) Money doesn’t create man, but it is the man who created money
    b) Live your life as simply as possible.
    c) Don’t do what others say – listen to them, but do what you feel good doing.
    d) Don’t follow brand names; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
    e) Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on those things you really need.

Again, the point isn’t whether all this is 100% fact (you can read his profile on wikipedia), but that you can become wealthy if you follow some pretty simple rules! Live below your means, invest early, don’t listen to everyone all the time, don’t go in debt, and don’t blow your money on fancy-pants stuff (or on fancy pants).

If you can master just a few of these you’ll be a LOT better off financially.For me, I’ve been trying to do the “live below your means” one and so far so good. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have some friends who think I make minimum wage ;) But that’s okay! All that matters is how I feel about it, and what I want out of life (Mrs. Budgetsaresexy included, ofcourse). It’s not always gonna be easy, but I guarantee you it’ll always be financially sexy!

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Here’s another cool Bio on Mr. Buffett by WideOpenWallet.com

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2 Comments

  1. kt- lifedividend July 21, 2010 at 3:07 PM

    birthsire hatharway company has like 80 companies now and i read that he bought a computer to play bridge over the internet. This guy is very rich but to me, there is such a thing as having too much money. I wouldn’t like to be this wealthy; i would go crazy

  2. J. Money July 21, 2010 at 3:59 PM

    Yeah, but he’s donating like 99% of it or something to charity when he’s gone. While I personally don’t dream of becoming a billionaire, you sure could do a LOT of good with it all if you wanted to! :)