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Buffet’s approach to life is interesting for the same reason an Olympic gymnast is interesting. He has specialized to an extreme and is taking advantage of the

Buffet’s approach to life is interesting for the same reason an Olympic gymnast is interesting. He has specialized to an extreme and is taking advantage of the rewards of that specialization and natural talent in a unique way. It’s easy for me to feel shame that I don’t read 8 hours per day, as Warren and Charlie do. Buffett is a phenomenal investor but by all accounts, rather odd. He eats like crap, doesn’t exercise, had a profoundly weird relationship with his wife, and seems addicted to his work at the expense of everything else. My point is this: his practice of reading income statements and business reports 8 hours per day for 60 years doesn’t make him the kind of person I wish to emulate. Don’t get me wrong, I respect his levelheadedness toward money, lack of polish wrt PR, and generous philanthropic efforts. There’s a lot of good. But it’s easy to idolize the guy.

SquishyPanda23 8y ago
The way you describe it, he kind of sounds like a person with Aspergers with business as his special interest. Not saying that's what's going on. I don't know much about Buffet, but it sounds like some people with Aspergers I know that have other interests (mainly science). Personally, reading about the same thing 8 hours a day sounds like a dream job to me.
- chosenbreed37 8y ago
  Warren Buffet is an outlier among outliers. Clearly there are things anyone can pick up from his approach. I think I'd struggle to keep everything in my memory :-) but I think there is a lot to say about the kind of knowledge that one should seek to acquire. On reading I read also on Farnham Street that Charlie Munger reads quite broadly I wonder if it is the same with Mr Buffet
  - kharak 8y ago
    Same here, my memory is one of my worst attributes. If you ask me about tasks I've done last week, I might have trouble remembering them (or any details) without looking up Jiras. I get the argument of compounding knowledge, though. It should still apply to someone with bad memory. For instance, if I know that I'll be switching my career in about 3-5 years, won't I throw away a great deal of my knowledge and skills? Why do something like this in the first place? This goes in the same direction as focusing yourself on one thing and one thing only (in your career).
- Singletoned 8y ago
  I have previously concluded the same about him having Aspergers. From what I've read of him, he sounds quite strongly Aspy.
jboneal 8y ago
Controversial take: Buffett is actually not a great investor in the way people think. Via the float in his insurance companies, he receives a 0% infinite maturity loan to plow into the market. That financial leverage gives him the ability to beat the market year after year - not his own stockpicking prowess. If you were to start with $1B, then get an extra $2B that you never had to pay back, you too would do quite well holding Coca-Cola and other safe companies with moats. Your returns would be 3x everyone else's. Buffett himself has tried to explain the impact of float on Berkshire Hathaway but it never seems to sink in with people.
- sanderjd 8y ago
  I think by "actually not a great investor in the way people think", what you're saying is that he isn't a particularly outstanding stock picker. To the extent that that's the way in which people think he's a great investor, it's because lots of (most?) people think investing is just stock picking. But what makes him a great investor is exactly what you outlined. He found a great strategy - insurance float for leverage - and has executed it well for decades. It seems weird to me to say, "he's not a great investor, he just found a great investment strategy and executed it really well!" What makes someone a great investor if not that?
  - lbatx 8y ago
    That would be weird, but "he's not a great investor" is taken out of context from "he's not a great investor in the way people think". The way it would be said is "he's not a great investor in the way people think [stock picking], he's a great investor because he found this other strategy that works well." What about he's "not a great investor in the way people think" leads you to believe "he's not a great investor"?
    - chii 8y ago
      The average person is less likely to understand all the nuances of investing - and probably knows investing as stock picking. Therefore, when they were told about Buffett, they automatically assume he's good at stock picking.
SteveCoast 8y ago
And, you can get a lot of the benefit "for free" by just buying BRK.B shares, without all the pain of drinking cherry coke all day and reading SEC filings.
- niklasd 8y ago
  I'm not so sure thats true from a financial perspective, at least if you mean him being an outlier. The financial market should have priced in these benefits, that means you can expect only normal "market" returns from these shares. So you won't get them for free.
  - SteveCoast 8y ago
    You haven't looked at a graph of the stock I guess.
    - niklasd 8y ago
      I don't need to. Past performance does not predict future performance, thats one of the most basic lessons in stock investment. Also you have to compare the growth to an index to make a sensible argument, just looking at the graph won't really help me.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
MarkMc 8y ago
I greatly admire Warren Buffett. Sure, you wouldn't want to emulate a failed marriage or poor diet, but to me his positive qualities go beyond 'a lot of good'. It's not his practice of reading income statements you may want to emulate - rather it's his focus and enjoyment of work. It's his ability to ignore the naysayers and trust his own judgment - whether that be about the clothes he wears, the relationship he has with his wife, or the stocks he buys. It's his approach of helping others - by explaining his investment decisions, supporting the Giving Pledge and of course by being so financially generous. It's his approach to business - dealing honestly with employees, suppliers and shareholders, trusting others (eg. buying a billion dollar company on a handshake) and publicly admitting his investment mistakes. This contrasts particularly strongly with Donald Trump's approach to business.
ohaideredevs 8y ago
"He has specialized to an extreme and is taking advantage of the rewards of that specialization and natural talent in a unique way." Gates is another one of those people where most forget that his grandfather was a multi-millionaire, his mother was a director at IBM, and he had access to one of the first computers in the world. I.e. he is not an example of a self-made person, so anything he says is not really applicable to anyone looking to "make it." P.S. The last paragraph is all I am saying - I have nothing against Gates.
- foobiekr 8y ago
  How basic is required to qualify as self-made in a meaningful sense? I’m not talking about “Should he have grounded up sand and made his own chips and boards?” stuff, I mean lots of people have similar circumstances to Gates and made nothing of themselves. As it happens the high school I went to, as a kid from a mostly lower middle class family with severe issues being able to pay attention in school in the eighties, had a lot of kids of rich families. These kids had everything - expensive cars at 16, huge houses, nice places to live, etc. I have followed them along. It’s been 25+ years and basically none of them did anything with their lives, though to be frank I think they could certainly have been much happier and have had more experiences. The other misfits and I have done ok. So Gates started from a better place and did far, far better than his peers. Does he not get credit for that?
  - aabeshou 8y ago
    I would agree that wealth shouldn't negate his accomplishments. I think a lot of people who point out Gates' family wealth are reacting to the current political/ideological climate which would say "look, Bill Gates is self-made, so anyone can be!" neglecting the ridiculous enabling impact that enormous family wealth has, and shaming poor people for not being able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
    - pathseeker 8y ago
      >are reacting to the current political/ideological climate Which climate are you referring to? The current climate in the US on the left is being dominated by the narrative that rich people are only successful because of their environment so they don't have the claim to their money that they think they do. "Every billionaire is a policy failure" https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-policy-guy-every-billionaire-is-a-policy-failure/ https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/alexandria-ocasio-cor... This view is not a reaction to balance anything out, it's a policy position that billionaires should not exist because they do not deserve that much money.

SquishyPanda23 8y ago

The way you describe it, he kind of sounds like a person with Aspergers with business as his special interest. Not saying that's what's going on. I don't know much about Buffet, but it sounds like some people with Aspergers I know that have other interests (mainly science). Personally, reading about the same thing 8 hours a day sounds like a dream job to me.

chosenbreed37 8y ago
Warren Buffet is an outlier among outliers. Clearly there are things anyone can pick up from his approach. I think I'd struggle to keep everything in my memory :-) but I think there is a lot to say about the kind of knowledge that one should seek to acquire. On reading I read also on Farnham Street that Charlie Munger reads quite broadly I wonder if it is the same with Mr Buffet
- kharak 8y ago
  Same here, my memory is one of my worst attributes. If you ask me about tasks I've done last week, I might have trouble remembering them (or any details) without looking up Jiras. I get the argument of compounding knowledge, though. It should still apply to someone with bad memory. For instance, if I know that I'll be switching my career in about 3-5 years, won't I throw away a great deal of my knowledge and skills? Why do something like this in the first place? This goes in the same direction as focusing yourself on one thing and one thing only (in your career).
Singletoned 8y ago
I have previously concluded the same about him having Aspergers. From what I've read of him, he sounds quite strongly Aspy.

jboneal 8y ago

Controversial take: Buffett is actually not a great investor in the way people think. Via the float in his insurance companies, he receives a 0% infinite maturity loan to plow into the market. That financial leverage gives him the ability to beat the market year after year - not his own stockpicking prowess. If you were to start with $1B, then get an extra $2B that you never had to pay back, you too would do quite well holding Coca-Cola and other safe companies with moats. Your returns would be 3x everyone else's. Buffett himself has tried to explain the impact of float on Berkshire Hathaway but it never seems to sink in with people.

sanderjd 8y ago
I think by "actually not a great investor in the way people think", what you're saying is that he isn't a particularly outstanding stock picker. To the extent that that's the way in which people think he's a great investor, it's because lots of (most?) people think investing is just stock picking. But what makes him a great investor is exactly what you outlined. He found a great strategy - insurance float for leverage - and has executed it well for decades. It seems weird to me to say, "he's not a great investor, he just found a great investment strategy and executed it really well!" What makes someone a great investor if not that?
- lbatx 8y ago
  That would be weird, but "he's not a great investor" is taken out of context from "he's not a great investor in the way people think". The way it would be said is "he's not a great investor in the way people think [stock picking], he's a great investor because he found this other strategy that works well." What about he's "not a great investor in the way people think" leads you to believe "he's not a great investor"?
  - chii 8y ago
    The average person is less likely to understand all the nuances of investing - and probably knows investing as stock picking. Therefore, when they were told about Buffett, they automatically assume he's good at stock picking.

SteveCoast 8y ago

And, you can get a lot of the benefit "for free" by just buying BRK.B shares, without all the pain of drinking cherry coke all day and reading SEC filings.

niklasd 8y ago
I'm not so sure thats true from a financial perspective, at least if you mean him being an outlier. The financial market should have priced in these benefits, that means you can expect only normal "market" returns from these shares. So you won't get them for free.
- SteveCoast 8y ago
  You haven't looked at a graph of the stock I guess.
  - niklasd 8y ago
    I don't need to. Past performance does not predict future performance, thats one of the most basic lessons in stock investment. Also you have to compare the growth to an index to make a sensible argument, just looking at the graph won't really help me.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

MarkMc 8y ago

I greatly admire Warren Buffett. Sure, you wouldn't want to emulate a failed marriage or poor diet, but to me his positive qualities go beyond 'a lot of good'. It's not his practice of reading income statements you may want to emulate - rather it's his focus and enjoyment of work. It's his ability to ignore the naysayers and trust his own judgment - whether that be about the clothes he wears, the relationship he has with his wife, or the stocks he buys. It's his approach of helping others - by explaining his investment decisions, supporting the Giving Pledge and of course by being so financially generous. It's his approach to business - dealing honestly with employees, suppliers and shareholders, trusting others (eg. buying a billion dollar company on a handshake) and publicly admitting his investment mistakes. This contrasts particularly strongly with Donald Trump's approach to business.

ohaideredevs 8y ago

"He has specialized to an extreme and is taking advantage of the rewards of that specialization and natural talent in a unique way." Gates is another one of those people where most forget that his grandfather was a multi-millionaire, his mother was a director at IBM, and he had access to one of the first computers in the world. I.e. he is not an example of a self-made person, so anything he says is not really applicable to anyone looking to "make it." P.S. The last paragraph is all I am saying - I have nothing against Gates.

foobiekr 8y ago
How basic is required to qualify as self-made in a meaningful sense? I’m not talking about “Should he have grounded up sand and made his own chips and boards?” stuff, I mean lots of people have similar circumstances to Gates and made nothing of themselves. As it happens the high school I went to, as a kid from a mostly lower middle class family with severe issues being able to pay attention in school in the eighties, had a lot of kids of rich families. These kids had everything - expensive cars at 16, huge houses, nice places to live, etc. I have followed them along. It’s been 25+ years and basically none of them did anything with their lives, though to be frank I think they could certainly have been much happier and have had more experiences. The other misfits and I have done ok. So Gates started from a better place and did far, far better than his peers. Does he not get credit for that?
- aabeshou 8y ago
  I would agree that wealth shouldn't negate his accomplishments. I think a lot of people who point out Gates' family wealth are reacting to the current political/ideological climate which would say "look, Bill Gates is self-made, so anyone can be!" neglecting the ridiculous enabling impact that enormous family wealth has, and shaming poor people for not being able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
  - pathseeker 8y ago
    >are reacting to the current political/ideological climate Which climate are you referring to? The current climate in the US on the left is being dominated by the narrative that rich people are only successful because of their environment so they don't have the claim to their money that they think they do. "Every billionaire is a policy failure" https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-policy-guy-every-billionaire-is-a-policy-failure/ https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/alexandria-ocasio-cor... This view is not a reaction to balance anything out, it's a policy position that billionaires should not exist because they do not deserve that much money.