Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is very rich, in fact he's the third richest person in the world. While this is the case, one would have no idea that he was this rich by watching a day in the life of Warren Buffett without a look into his bank account. While most billionaires like to flaunt their wealth with fast cars, big houses, and luxurious yachts, Warren Buffett lives a life of relative normalcy. Instead of spending all of his money on himself in extravagant ways, Warren Buffett likes to give his money back to people who need it more than he does. As possibly the most successful investor of all time, one could look at Warren Buffett as a genius who is just great at picking stocks. While he is very smart, perhaps his success is brought from more than just intelligence. What separates Warren Buffett from the other intelligent investors is his restraint, work ethic, and humility.

Warren Buffett was born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska and he was the son of Howard Buffett, who was a United States congressman. Because his father was a United States congressman, Warren Buffett was fairly connected as a child to influential people. Buffett had an interest in finance and investing from an early age. His father, on top of being a United States Senator, was also a stockbroker. Warren Buffett would often spend time at the brokerage firm and talk to customers and employees as well as reading about investing. When he was 10, he was able to visit the New York Stock Exchange, and when he was 11, he bought his first shares of stock. It was certainly not the last stock that he bought.

Young Warren Buffett (inevitablewealthportfolio.com ())

Warren Buffett was not just interested in finance. He took on a lot of entrepreneurial ventures even at a very young age and was a very hard worker. Buffett would go from door-to-door selling gum, Coca Cola bottles, or magazines. He also worked at a grocery store. When he was in high school, he delivered newspapers and also sold golf balls and stamps and did other odd jobs. Also as a sophomore, he and a friend spent only $25 to buy a pinball machine and made over $1000 by allowing people to pay money to play it after setting it up at a barber shop. After High School, Buffett did not want to go to college, but he was pressured by his father. He enrolled in the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, but he transferred to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln after his sophomore year and graduated with a degree in Business Administration. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, Buffett enrolled at the University of Columbia because he wanted to learn under Benjamin Graham, who was a great financial thinker of his time. Buffett graduated with a master's in economics in 1951, at the age of 21.

Soon after he graduated from Columbia University, he went to work for Benjamin Graham at his partnership. Warren Buffett worked as a Securities analyst. There he was able to learn and develop his own trading strategy. Warren Buffett's strategy was much different than many other strategies at the time, and he learned this under Benjamin Graham. Many people in the finance industry at the time were merely speculators. These people would try to time the market for rises and falls but they were basically playing a guessing game. Benjamin Graham was able to popularize a type of investing called fundamental analysis. Instead of trying to time whether a stock would rise or fall in the short amount of time, Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett would try to figure out the value of the company from the financial statements of the company and how viable the industry was for the future. This investing strategy has been very good for the firm and allowed for much safer investments in companies and has allowed for less people to lose large sums of money because of risky investments not paying off. Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham's investing philosophy has been adopted by many and is still used today.

Warren Buffett (telegraph.co.uk ())

This simple, but perfectly executed strategy of Buffett's was able to pay off rather quickly and in 2002, he became a billionaire. This is when he began publicly selling shares of his holding company, Berkshire - Hathaway, on the New York Stock Exchange. Presently, Buffett it is worth approximately 60 billion dollars. Although he is very wealthy, he does not allow this to change him. In 1957, at the age of 27, he bought a 5 bedroom house in Omaha, Nebraska for $31,000. Instead of constantly buying new houses in big cities, he has lived in the same house for almost 60 years. Also, Buffett is known for driving the same car for several years before he sells it. Buffett does not feel the need for luxury, he has what he needs, and does not live extravagantly.

Instead of using all his money on himself, Warren Buffett has become a well-known philanthropist with his fortune. In December of 2010, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg all signed a pact called The Gates - Buffett giving pledge, in which they all vowed to give at least half of their fortune to charitable causes. They also invited other wealthy people to do the same. Within only six years of the Pledge being initiated, there are already hundreds of families who have over 100 million dollars who have signed the giving pledge and have promised to give at least half of their fortune to charity. On top of giving just half of his money to charity, Warren Buffett has announced that he plans to give 99% of his fortune to charity with in his lifetime. Warren Buffett has received some notoriety for announcing that his children will not receive a significant amount of inheritance from him. He believes that they should be able to have enough money to do what they want with their lives, but not enough to where they don't have to do anything with their lives. He gave each of his children shares of his Berkshire - Hathaway stock, some of his children have already cashed it in and some of his children still hold their stock. His Buffett Foundation gives away hundreds of million dollars each year to charity and he also conducts many other charity fundraisers. He always auctions off his old car to raise money for foundations and will often auction off himself to eat with donors at luncheons. Not only has Warren Buffett donated a lot to charity, but he has inspired many other successful business people to do the same.

Warren Buffett is a very influential person in the world of finance and in the world of philanthropy. He has inspired many people through the way he has lived his life. He worked for everything he has gotten, he helped to revolutionize the financial industry through his logical and patient approach to investing, and he has changed many lives through his leadership and charitable donations. Warren Buffett was able to be successful, but is still able to live his life in humility for others. That is why he is my hero.