The Oracle of Omaha is the success story of billionaire Warren Buffett. People pay millions to have breakfast with him. His father-in-law told him he would be a failure

This investor's fortune is measured in tens of billions of dollars, he is the third richest person in the world, but he behaves very modestly. He lives in a modest house in Nebraska and eats breakfast at McDonald's. Warren Buffett began striving for success as a child: already at the age of eleven he understood stocks, and by the age of sixteen he had accumulated an impressive amount. At the same time, he knows how to not only save, but also spend - he is constantly involved in charity work. Over the past ten years, he has donated more than twenty-seven billion dollars! If you're interested in learning more about him, check out this list of facts.

Early career

While his classmates were dreaming of a career in sports or Hollywood, ten-year-old Warren met for lunch with an employee of a New York stock exchange, and this determined his life goals. He became so inspired after traveling to New York with his father that he immediately decided he wanted to build a career in finance. Already at the age of eleven he was moving towards his goal.

First shares

Warren bought his first shares at the age of eleven. Each of the shares he bought cost him thirty-eight dollars.

Teenage years

When Buffett was a teenager, he earned almost two hundred dollars a month - more than his teachers! In addition to stocks, he earned money by delivering newspapers. All this helped him move towards success.

First state

When Warren turned sixteen, his fortune was already fifty-three thousand dollars. Delivering newspapers was only part of his business. In addition, he sold stamps and golf balls, polished cars, and opened a business related to slot machines, and a playground.

Failure at Harvard

Buffett was confident that he would be accepted into Harvard, but he was rejected. As the years passed, he himself noted that he was then emotionally immature. As a result of the refusal, he went to Columbia University, where for admission you only had to write an essay, and there was no interview, like at Harvard. This time the attempt brought him success.

Graham's refusal

Buffett dreamed of working with his idol, Benjamin Graham, but he turned him down. Warren did not give up and continued to share his ideas with Graham until he was won over and hired him.

Public speaking courses

When Buffett turned twenty-one, he was unsure of himself and afraid to speak in public. To cope with this, he took public speaking courses from Dale Carnegie. This not only helped his career, but also gave him the confidence to propose to his wife.

Humble House

Buffett still owns the house he bought for tens of thousands in 1956. This is a modest five-room house in Omaha, Nebraska. However, the houses in the neighborhood are valued at several million.

No computer

Warren doesn't have a computer on his desk, and he uses an old-fashioned phone, refusing to buy a smartphone. He holds an encyclopedia at hand. Perhaps his office is one of the most conservative among all that can be found among world business leaders.

The only email

Surprisingly, Warren has managed to successfully avoid technology all these years. In his life, he sent only one email - to Jeff Raikes of Microsoft. From then on, he never used email again.

Bridge game

Thanks to the refusal modern technologies Warren manages to find time to relax; for example, he loves to play bridge. Often his playing partner is Bill Gates, who also loves cards.

Constant reading

Buffett spends eighty percent of his working time reading a variety of books. This is his main occupation, which he has not changed for many years. Perhaps stunning erudition is the secret of investor success.

Favourite drink

The business tycoon is known for his bad eating habits. A quarter of his daily calories come from soda! He drinks cola constantly - several bottles a day. In addition, he loves to add more salt to his food, and does not refuse ice cream for breakfast. Apparently, his health does not suffer too much from this.

Success in old age

Buffett earned ninety-nine percent of his wealth after he was fifty. It seems that he has absolutely no intention of stopping on his path - the investor’s income is only growing.

Investment legend

Buffett is the best investor in the world. His continued success is longer than that of other famous investors like David Einhorn or Walter Schloss. No one in history has ever been able to sense all the fluctuations in the market so subtly.

Share price growth

If you had invested in Buffett's stock in 1964, for every thousand dollars you invested, you would now have thirteen million! He acquired an unprofitable textile factory and turned it into a legendary conglomerate.

Impressive comparison

Buffett's wealth exceeds the GDP of a country like Uruguay. It's even hard to imagine!

Philanthropy

Buffett lives very modestly, but he spends on charity without any doubt. Together with Bill Gates and his wife, he decided to give away most of his fortune for the benefit of the public. He sticks to his word firmly.

Huge investment

Buffett invested so much money in charity that it could have been used to build almost six innovative office centers for Apple, and one is valued at five billion!

Earnings per day

In 2013, Buffett earned thirty-seven million a day - more than Jennifer Lawrence made in a year.

Record donation

In July 2016, Buffett broke his own record of generosity - he donated almost three billion dollars.

Modest salary

According to rumors, the multi-billionaire's salary is only one hundred thousand dollars. He tries to spend modestly.

Inspirational lunch

Buffett offers to buy lunch from his company for charity. People are willing to pay millions for this!

Definition of success

According to Buffett, there is absolutely no point in measuring success in money. What matters more is how people treat you.

Pushing Zara owner Amancio Ortega to second place. Buffett is the largest philanthropist and one of the most successful investors in history. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, has stakes in 60 companies in a variety of industries, including Geico and Duracell. The investor continues to successfully develop his business and increased income in 2016 by $15 billion, and total amount now owns $75.6 billion.

Warren Buffett's life had ups and downs, like all people, but they strengthened his instincts, which is why he received nicknames such as “The Oracle of Omaho” and “The Seer.” We present to your attention 15 facts about the famous billionaire that will surprise you.

1 He bought his first shares at age 11

While other children played games, 11-year-old Warren tried his hand at the stock market. Bought my first three shares for $38, then sold them for $40 and, after commission, made a $5 profit. A few days later, the stock price soared to $200, and Buffett learned a lesson from this: those who are patient are rewarded.

2 Earned $53,000 at age 16

Warren Buffett was a tactful and amazingly hard worker from an early age. Delivering The Washington Post newspapers every morning, he earned $175, more than the salary of many teachers at the time. He also earned money selling collectible stamps, golf balls, and car polishing. At the age of 16, he was able to earn $53,000 and refused to go to college - he didn’t see the point.

3 He Wasn't Accepted At Harvard Business School

A few years later, Warren finally decided to get an education and chose Harvard Business School. But after a short interview he was refused.

Buffett was disappointed by this, but later decided to attend Columbia University after learning that Benjamin Graham (“the father of value investing”) and David Dodd were professors there. He wrote in a letter: “Dear Dodd, I thought you were dead, but I found you alive and teaching at Columbia University. I would be honored if you accepted me.” Warren was accepted.

4 He eats like a 6 year old

In his eating habits, Warren Buffett is like children. Loves ice cream, Utz potato sticks and Coca-Cola. A quarter of his daily calories come from Coca-Cola, he says.

He enjoyed eating at the DQ fast food chain so much that he decided to purchase it. Every Sunday he takes his grandchildren and his friends’ grandchildren there and treats them to ice cream.

When asked how he manages to stay healthy with such a salty and sweet diet, Warren Buffett replied that he checked the statistics: “The lowest mortality rate is among 6-year-old children. So I decided to eat like a 6-year-old.”

5 Lives in the same house since 1958

Warren Buffett is unpretentious in life and is not a fan of luxury.

He bought his house in Omaha, where he lives to this day, in 1958 for $31,500. This is a simple house with five bedrooms and one bathroom.

6 His father-in-law told him he'd be a failure

When Buffett proposed to his wife in 1951, his father-in-law invited him to talk. In the conversation, he admitted to him that he did not believe in either himself or his future. His fiancee's father was adamant that Warren Buffett would fail.

Buffett told CNBC in an interview that he believed that his daughter would die of hunger and Warren would fail. “But it’s not your fault. They’re all Democrats, and they’re all commies.”

7 People Pay Millions To Have Breakfast With Him

Knowing that the famous billionaire can give invaluable advice, it is not surprising that many are willing to pay for the right to communicate with him. To do this, Buffett holds an auction once a year, with the winner of which he has breakfast. If in 2007 the amount was $600 thousand, then in 2012 a record was set – $3.5 million. A total of $20 million was raised.

The proceeds go to charity.

8 He Made $37 Million A Day In 2013

At the beginning of 2013, he had $46 billion, at the end - 59. The reason for this was a sharp rise in stock prices.

9 Earned about 94% of my wealth after age 60

Success can come at any age. Although Warren Buffett was a successful man before the age of 60, he earned $94 of his fortune after the age of 60. At 60, he had more than $3.8 billion.

10 He has 20 suits and he didn’t pay for any of them.

Buffett has only 20 suits and they are all created by one designer - Madame Li. It started with an incident in China, where several guys knocked on his hotel room and started trying on him, wrapping him in measuring tape. They asked him to choose a suit from a catalog because Madame Li wanted to give him a gift.

They later met her and this was the beginning of a professional relationship between Warren Buffett and Chinese designer Li Guilian (Dalian Dayang Trands). He threw out other brands of clothing and from then on wore only suits from this brand.

Madame Li later began making suits for Buffett's friend Bill Gates and other influential people.

11 Spends Billions on Charity

In June 2010, Buffett announced the transfer of half of his fortune ($37 billion) to five charities. Bill Gates followed suit and launched the Giving Pledge, a philanthropic campaign to encourage billionaires around the world to donate part of their wealth to charity. 105 billionaires joined the action.

12 Spends 80% of his day reading

Buffett is known for his love of reading. As soon as he wakes up, he buries himself not in his smartphone, like most modern people, but in a newspaper. When asked what the key to success was, he pointed to a stack of books: “Read 500 of these pages every day. This is how knowledge works. They accumulate like compound interest.”

13 Survived cancer

In April 2012, he was diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer. After 100 days of treatment, in September of the same year he announced that he was completely healthy.

14 He uses a Nokia flip phone

Screenshot from a program on CNN

In 2013, on CNN, Warren Buffett, in response to the host's request, showed his old Nokia flip phone, which, as he jokingly said, was given to him by Alexander Graham Bell.

15 Buffett plays the ukulele

At age 18, Warren was in love with an Omaha girl, Betty Gallagher, who loved to listen to the radio. To his horror, he learned that she had a boyfriend. After which Buffett thought: what could he do that this guy can’t do? The solution was to learn to play the ukulele, which he still can do.

When the time came to receive higher education, Buffett, at the request of his parents, went to study at the University of Pennsylvania. This study turned out to be boring for the young man, because he knew much more about business than the professors. After studying for 1 year, he drops out and returns to Nebraska. There he again takes up newspaper work, only now Warren occupies the position of head of the delivery department, and after a while becomes a co-owner of the office. Buffett is gradually becoming interested in the stock market again. In parallel with all his affairs, he is graduating from the University of Nebraska.

After graduating from university, Buffett decided to continue his education, as he believed that additional knowledge could make him a “superman.” In 1950, he tries to enter Harvard, but the university commission does not accept him due to his “young age.” After this failure, Buffett entered Columbia University, which is located in Washington. Benjamin Graham, who had a fairly good reputation in the world, gave lectures there. investment business. Back in the 1920s, Graham became a well-known stock market player. He acquired undervalued shares, which after purchase almost immediately began to rise in price. In those days when almost all stock exchange players belonged to stock market like playing roulette, Graham treated it like a science. For this reason, he studied quite carefully financial reports those companies in which I wanted to invest my funds.

Mr. Graham taught his students that before buying or selling valuable papers they focused on analysis financial statements companies were not contacted special attention on the scope of their activities. Based on his experience, Graham argued that investments should be made not in those enterprises that are popular on the stock market today, but in those that are sold cheaper than them. real value. Graham called these promotions “cigar butts” (the cigarette butt has already been thrown away, but you can take a few more puffs from it).

After Buffett took the entire course, he concluded that he needed to do the exact opposite. He explained it this way:

“Why should I care about a company's reporting when I know its assets are worth more than they sell for? You need to buy not shares, but the business that is behind them!”

Later, thanks to this principle, Warren was able to earn much more than the entire Graham fund.

Buffett was the only person who managed to get Graham's highest score. Despite this, he did not advise his student to take up a job in finance.

Creation of an investment partnership

In 1957, Buffett decided to create his own investment partnership called Buffett Associates. To do this, he had to convince several entrepreneurs to invest $25 thousand each. The amount available in the company's initial capital amounted to 105 thousand. Six months later, it increased threefold.

Buffett tries to invest money in shares of only those companies that have established good management. He also, unlike his former teacher Graham, studies, in addition to the balance sheets of enterprises, their internal structure and the biographies of senior managers. In addition, he invested only in those enterprises that, according to his calculations, should remain on the market for a long time. This strategy made Buffett rich. In just 5 years of the life of his company, the shares that were in it grew by 251%.

In 1969, Buffett Associates was valued at $102 million. Buffett decides to sell all of his assets to the company. With the money he received, he buys a textile company - Berkshire Hathaway (at that time it was in crisis). The price of her shares was $8 per share, despite the fact that her net asset value allowed her to sell for $20. Buffett was able to quickly assess the benefits of stocks. In 3 years, he managed to buy out half of the VN company. Later he stopped developing the textile industry. Instead, Buffett used all the proceeds received from the company to purchase securities.

At that time everything Insurance companies in America received support from legislators in the form of tax breaks. Having assessed in time how much income this business could generate in the future, Warren gradually acquires the five largest insurance companies in America and turns out to be right again.

At forty, he becomes the owner of a 28 billion fortune.

Subsequently, he gradually begins to acquire stakes in other “ good companies" Among them: Coca-Cola, purchased by Buffett for $1.3 billion (now the value of these shares is $13.4 billion), Gillette, acquired for 600 million (now valued at 4.6 billion). And the 11 million invested in The Washington Post turned into a whole 1 billion. He also has shares in McDonald’s and Walt Disney.

Buffett seeks to invest money in companies whose products he himself uses. According to journalists, the elderly investor starts the day with a Coca-Cola drink, snacks mainly on hamburgers, shaves with Gillette razors and likes to read the Washington Post, and pays for his purchases plastic card American Express.

To the frequently asked question “why are there no IT companies in his shareholding?” Buffett responds:

“I don’t use their products because I don’t even have a PC.”

Buffett also does without a calculator; he makes all calculations in his head.

In 2008, Buffett becomes the richest person in the world.

Buffett's Quirks

Buffett is incredibly fond of saving, he can even be called stingy. He still lives in two-story house, which he bought back in 1957 for $31.5 thousand. Warren gets around in an old second-hand Honda that cost $700. And the billionaire himself doesn’t even look like a million. He usually buys things for himself at sales, as well as in ordinary inexpensive shops. Despite this, Buffett spends considerable sums on his passion for airplanes.

Buffett also behaves stingily with his children instead of giving them an extra penny. When son Howard shared with his father his idea of ​​​​buying a farm, Warren agreed to help him, but on one condition: Warren would buy the farm, and his son would lease it and pay interest on it to his father. Howard agreed because he wanted to get started as quickly as possible. The Oracle of Omaha behaved similarly when his daughter Susie asked him for money in order to pick up her car from the airport. He agreed to give her $20, but only after she wrote him a receipt.

According to the will written by Warren Buffett in 2010, upon his death, 99% of all funds will be transferred to charities, and his children will have a small amount left. Thus, Buffett will become the most generous person in the history of mankind in terms of charity.

Relax, game:

Billionaire Warren Buffett is known as one of the richest investors in the world, with his wealth seemingly growing by the day. But the Oracle of Omaha wasn't always as rich as it is now.

In fact, he earned 99% of his enormous wealth after his 50th birthday.

But that doesn't mean the 84-year-old Buffett was a failure until now. He started his financial path to prosperity at a very early age, and built his fortune gradually, over many years, decade by decade - something that all of us can do with a little persistence and a lot of hard work.

WARREN BUFFETT'S WEALTH IN DIFFERENT YEARS OF HIS LIFE

Buffett was born in 1930, at the height of the Great Depression, and showed his savvy and business acumen while still a child. At age 11, he was already buying shares: several preferred shares of Cities Service for $38 per share. When he was a teenager, he filed his first tax return, and also delivered newspapers and owned several slot machines at various points. By the time he graduated from high school, Buffett had already purchased a 16.19-acre farm in Omaha, Nebraska, and sold his slot machine business for $1,200.

Legend has it that as a young man, Buffett once said, quite prophetically, that he would become a millionaire by the age of 30, “and if not, then I will jump off the tall building in Omaha."

Take a look at net assets and Warren Buffett's earnings (according to Dividend.com), and also compare it with the average income of US households over the years (statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau). Find out how rich Warren Buffett was during your age and compared to the rest of America at the time.

WARREN BUFFETT AT 20-30: FIRST $100,000

After graduating from college, Buffett worked for his father's brokerage office as a stockbroker. When Buffett was 21, his net worth was a modest $20,000.

At the age of 24, Buffett was offered a job by his mentor, Benjamin Graham, with an annual salary of $12,000. According to U.S. Census Bureau, this was already about three times the annual median income of the average family in 1954—proof that Buffett was doing well on his path to success. By his 26th birthday, Buffett had net assets of $140,000.

WARREN BUFFETT AT 30-40: MILLIONAIRE STATUS

When Buffett turned 30, his net assets were estimated at $1 million. In 1960, the average household income in the United States was $5,600 per year.

By the age of 35, Buffett's business partnerships had grown to $26 million. The future billionaire bought a controlling stake in Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 (according to CNN), and by 1968 his partnership had grown to $104 million. At 39, Buffett's net worth was $25 million.

WARREN BUFFETT AT 40-50: RECOVERY AFTER FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES

By the age of 43, Buffett's personal net worth was estimated at $34 million. A year earlier, he used part of his capital to buy See's Candies for $25 million, an investment that was still generating income in 2015. But in the mid-1970s, Berkshire fell on hard times. By 1974, the company's falling shares had reduced Buffett's net asset value to $19 million. Buffett turned 44 that year.

Not a man to let his investing skills fall by the wayside, Buffett was able to recover financially. By the end of the decade, and at age 47, he had increased his net worth to $67 million. At that time, the average annual income of households in the United States was $16,530.

WARREN BUFFETT AT 50-60: BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE

Buffett's net worth totaled $376 million in 1982 and increased to $620 million in 1983. In 1986, at age 56, Buffett became a billionaire - all while earning a modest salary of $50,000 from Berkshire Hathaway.

Meanwhile, the average American family in 1986 earned about half as much as the Oracle of Omaha's salary—the median household income was $24,900. As Buffett approached his 60s, his assets were valued at $3.8 billion.

WARREN BUFFETT AT 60-70 YEARS OLD: GROWTH OF BERKSHIRE AND BUFFETT'S ASSETS

In a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders in 1990, Buffett wrote that he thought the company's assets would decline over the decade, and the second half of 1990 confirmed his predictions. But at the end of the year, the company was able to reach $362 million. Buffett’s personal fortune was also growing - by the age of 66, he owned $16.5 billion.

During the 90s, the average American family began to creep up on Buffett in terms of salary. According to the Census, the median annual household income by the end of the decade was close to $42,000.

WARREN BUFFETT AT 70-80: CHARITY AND GROWTH

In six years - from age 66 to 72 - Buffett's wealth more than doubled. At 72, he was worth a whopping $35.7 billion. But Buffett is starting to share his fortune. In 2006, he circulated letters promising to eventually donate 85% of his fortune to five charities, CNN reports.

The median household income in 2000 was $42,148.

WARREN BUFFETT AFTER 80: THERE IS NO LIMIT TO PERFECTION

As of mid-August 2015, Buffett's assets total $67 billion, making him one of the richest billionaires in the world after Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Helu. At 84, Buffett still appears to have no plans to rest on his laurels. Although he has an 11-figure net worth, Buffett earns just $100,000 a year from Berkshire Hathaway and spends it sparingly.

To this day, the investment master earns much more than the average American family. According to the most recent data from the Census Bureau, the average household income in the United States is about $51,939 per year.

I hope you know Warren Buffett. If not, then you will never earn respect in the financial industry, because they idolize it. And for a reason. Warren Buffett is one of richest people in a world that made its fortune through investment. In his book, he gave several tips that are quite simple and useful. We won’t say that they will help you earn millions, simply because no one can earn you millions except you.

But these tips will also help you find out the thoughts of a man who, thanks to his intelligence, became a billionaire. So here they are.

Borrow money wisely

Buffett warns against over-borrowing. Credit cards, installment plans, mortgages - all this will lead to the fact that one day your loan payments will exceed your expenses. And there will be no turning back.

I have seen many people fail because of alcohol. But I also saw no less people who went bankrupt due to excessive craving for loans. If you are smart enough, you can make money without borrowing.

Pay yourself first

If you want to learn how to save money, use this rule:

Don't try to save money after you've spent it. Set them aside immediately.

Simple and banal, but effective. Let's say you have enough income to cover your basic needs and you want to start saving money. Set aside the amount of money you need to pay your bills and needs, then set aside the amount you want to start saving with. Everything else you can spend.

This rule will help you finally pull yourself together and... Once you start doing this, there will be no turning back and it will become much easier for you to save the required amount every month.

Stop underestimating your money habits.

Once upon a time I came across some interesting mathematics. Imagine an ordinary girl working in an office. Every day she goes out to lunch at a nearby cafe and buys a latte and a muffin there. Let's assume that she spends 200 rubles on this. Now let's do the math. She will spend 1,000 rubles in a week, 4,000 rubles in a month, and 48,000 rubles in a year. You can save almost 50,000 rubles by giving up the simple habit of drinking coffee and a bun during your lunch break. I'm not even talking about the number of calories she won't eat either.

If you want to change, The best way- just stop doing them. Learn to understand your priorities and move in the right direction.

Price and value are not the same thing

Buffett is an incredibly frugal and moderate person in his needs. Its economy is determined by the value of the product. Here's what he says about this:

A long time ago Ben Graham told me that price is what you pay and value is what you get. It doesn't matter if we're talking about socks or stocks, I like to buy when the price is lowest.

However, being frugal does not mean buying everything on the cheap. But this also does not mean that you need to buy valuable things for a lot of money. In other words:

It's better to buy an incredible company at an ordinary price than an ordinary company at an incredible price.

If you want to become more economical, next time pay attention to more than just the price. The value of the product is also very important to you.

Investing is easier than you think

Here's a rule that's not easy to find in investing textbooks:

If you invest in index fund in small installments over 10 years, you will be in a better situation than those who invest at the same time, but all at once.

According to Buffett, investing is very simple. Here are some tips on where to start investing:

1. Learn basic investing terminology.
2. Open a brokerage account.
3. Choose an index fund (Buffett recommends VFINX).
4. Buy part of the fund.

It would be great if those who have it would share their opinion in the comments about how useful this information is for our countries.

Long-term investments are a priority

Buffett warns that it's easy to get burned by daily stock price swings. Therefore, his choice is long-term investment.

If you don't plan to hold the stock for 10 years, don't even think about buying it for 10 minutes. Collect a portfolio of companies that cost last years grew up. And only based on this portfolio, draw conclusions about buying shares.

If you've already bought stock in a company, Buffett advises not to look at its price every day. Save your nerves. Many famous investors buy stocks and forget about them for a while. We are not billionaires, so it will be difficult to forget about the money invested, but it is also stupid to waste your nerves updating the summary every minute.

Money isn't everything

It's easy for him to talk. He's a billionaire.

In his interview, Buffett said that he enjoys flying on a private jet, but having a dozen houses is already a burden. In addition, according to Buffett, there are two most valuable assets in his life: his health and his friends with whom he has been friends for a long time. , but do not forget that there are many important things in life without them.