Warren Buffett's birthday
Those looking for someone to be their role model can’t go wrong with Warren Buffet. The “Oracle of Omaha” lives a relatively simple life but has amassed one of the world’s greatest fortunes, repeatedly appearing among the wealthiest Americans during his later life. He’s famous for his investment and life-related wisdom and widely loved for his modesty, humility, and frugality. Despite being one of the world’s wealthiest people, he still lives in the same house he bought in 1958 and drives an old car.
From Paperboy To Billionaire
Warren Edward Buffett was born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska. The son of a congressman and homemaker, he showed an early interest in business and investing, selling everything from door-to-door magazines to chewing gum as a child. He loved delivering newspapers for pocket money and investing in pinball machines, one of his earliest plays.
Warren bought his first stock at 11 and generated an impressive net worth of $10,000 by the time he graduated high school, equivalent to around $100,000 today. Following senior high school, he attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before moving to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. While studying, he encountered the principles of investing from his mentor Benjamin Graham.
Graham taught him the virtues of value investing: buying assets undervalued by the market and waiting for them to appreciate based on their intrinsic worth. Buffett applied this strategy for the next seventy years, looking for bargain basement companies with excellent management and investing in them.
By 1956, at just 26, he formed an investment partnership with total funds of $100,000. He continued to grow the partnership’s assets into the millions until 1969 when he dissolved the company and took control of the struggling textile firm Berkshire Hathaway.
Eventually, Berkshire became Buffett’s holding company. He used it to take ownership of shares in various firms, from retail giants to collar companies. Eventually, the humble firm he founded became one of America’s biggest conglomerates, worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
From Miser To Philanthropist
At the same time, Warren developed his attitude toward money. For many years, the world-renowned investor was a miser, saving and investing every penny for a rainy day. He continued living in the $31,500 house he bought in 1958 and drove a Cadillac XTS, bought in 2014 for $45,000. He ate Mcdonald’s and drank Cherry Coke for lunch, and paid himself a modest annual salary.
However, despite being stingy towards himself, Buffett is generous to other people. He’s joined other billionaires in pledging 99% of his wealth to charity during his lifetime and after he is gone. He believes in leaving children with enough money so that they can do what they want.
Warren Buffett inspires us with his humor, insight, and wisdom. For him, success isn’t just about money but also passion, purpose, and principles. He is someone millions of people around the world want to emulate. But he never loses his values or voice.
