The Making of World’s Richest Man? (Part II)
Oct 22, 2010 | Comments 0
As mentioned above patience and persistence coupled with risky endeavors are one of the secrets of Buffet’s success. He, however, does not gamble away his holdings indiscriminately, rather he aims at the stocks which he sure to bag in. once acquired, Buffet does not dump it. He keeps it, nurtures it. This old world attachment is his integrity and strength. Traditionally Buffet has remained keen to invest in non techno industries like beverages, entertainment industry etc. and retained his investment style and though people jumped in to the 90’s internet bubble Buffet remained aloof and concentrated his work on his existing strategy.
Apart from being a financial guru Lowenstein talks about Buffet as a person, a human, like us. His friends observe that his workspace is much unlike what one would expect. His office is devoid of computers and modern gizmos. His time is spent more in reading analyzing reports and communicating with people. Apart from an appetite for cheese burgers, things seldom distract Buffet. Even at exotic places his attentions seems to remain on his objective, despite their appeal.
Of his personal life Lowenstein states that he and his wife Susie live separately but are not divorced and she accompanies him at special occasions. His three children are now grown up and Buffet is said to have encouraged them to pursue their interests and not to run after money.
Buffet has long been known for his down to earth demeanor which is quite unlike what one would expect of an extremely rich person. He has always advocated eliminating segregation of people on ground of their color and status. He resigned from his rotary club membership for the same reason. Even at home he is long known to cater to friends from all colors, even in the 60’s when this appeared a little different.
He believes in a strong government which would tax the elite more, but that’s his personal inclination. He urges people not to shy away from tax or to find ways to evade it. He argues that taxes are inevitable and necessary, what should be done is to invest such an effort as to have a sufficient amount after taxes are deducted. Rather than wasting energy evading the system it is better to beat the system and make both ends meet in a reasonable way.
He does not approve of the insanely extravagant packages and stocks which CEO’s hoard at the expense of shareholders. Apart from causing the senior management to go sloppy these traits do not fit Buffet’s own austerity and work ethics. He believes in making more for the shareholders and that’s what he has been doing all his life, successfully.
Finally it is best to surmise this book as a financial dossier filled with colors which keep the interest of the reader and goes beyond quoting indifferently and taps into the mind and life of the great man. Being a financial analyst himself Lowenstein has done a great job in bringing the financial jargon to life for people who do not know the first thing about this field. He portrays Buffet as a person made of flesh and bone who likes to work with the same familiar people in his own personalized style he learnt from his mentor Benjamin Graham, has deep passion and sincerity with his work and most importantly, his tendency to hang on to things along with his loyalty and devotion. His methods have helped him thus enabled him to be the second richest man on earth. Owing to his nature he has pledged to contribute one billion dollars every year in philanthropy. Warren Buffet is a man worth being inspired by and a great model to emulate.

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