Warren Edward Buffett (August 30, 1930, Omaha, Nebraska), often called the “Sage of Omaha” or the “Oracle of Omaha”, is an American investor, businessperson and philanthropist.
Buffett has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments managed through the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO. With an estimated current net worth of around US$52 billion.
In June 2006, he made a commitment to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The donation amounts to approximately $30 billion. Buffett’s donation is said to be the largest in U.S. history. At the time of the announcement the donation was enough to more than double the size of the foundation.
Despite his immense wealth, Buffett is renowned for his unpretentious and frugal lifestyle.
What Buffet says:
“Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.”
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies.
“Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, ‘I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.’ If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.”
Berkshire Hathaway 2005 Chairman’s Letter
“The perfect amount of money to leave children is enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” Richard I. Kirkland Jr., “Should You Leave It All to the Children?”,
Fortune, 29 September 1986
“If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I’d be fully invested. Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I’ve ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It’s a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.” Homespun Wisdom from the ‘Oracle of Omaha'”,
BusinessWeek, 5 July 1999
“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 percent.”
“If you don’t feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don’t own it for 10 minutes.”
“I really like my life. I’ve arranged my life so that I can do what I want.”
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