Interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet and My Comments

``Wall Street likes to characterize the proliferation of frenzied financial games as a sophisticated, prosocial activity, facilitating the fine-tuning of a complex economy. But the truth is otherwise: Short-term transactions frequently act as an invisible foot, kicking society in the shins." - Warren Buffett

I’d like to thank my pal Raul Policarpio for passing on to me this very interesting subject, a summary of the life of the world’s second richest man....

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that 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 never travels 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 his CEO’s only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder’s money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9) Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffett.

10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

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While I do not know about the authenticity of this article I would like to share my insights on this interview:

1. My icon shows of a regimented way of living which reflects on his investing philosophy.

2. His aversion to credit cards is a sign of discipline. Why pay for the financing charges on unproductive expenditures?

3. While he may not be as sociable by way of avoiding the high society crowd, his contribution to the investing world, his invaluable shared insights makes him one of the world’s well respected and greatly admired persons.

In 2006, a lunch date auction with Mr. Buffett for charity purposes raised US $620,000. In other words, one person shelled out US $620,000 (€341,000) just to have lunch with him! Would anyone pay for the same amount to have lunch with any of the other members of the “high society” crowd?

Further as stated above, Bill Gates became a devotee or protégé of Warren Buffett, to the point that Mr. Gates is now a board of director in Mr. Buffett’s flagship Berkshire Hathaway and a beneficiary of Mr. Buffett’s $37 billion donation to the Gates Foundation.

Could it be that winning the respect of the world’s richest man is considerably worth more than that of the “high society crowd”?

4. It is the embodiment of Humility at its finest!

5. Mr. Buffett loves Coke [drinks five cherry cokes a day (!) according to CNN], his Berkshire Hathaway is Coke’s second largest shareholder according to fundinguniverse.com!

6. Mr. Buffett loves to play Poker [so does Mr. Gates]! The Billionaire recently went BROKE in a Texas charity tournament last December, according to MSNBC.

Do you have what it takes to emulate Mr. Buffett? I don’t.