Assuming that you have achieved financial freedom, the money you have will not be squandered in the next life, and you are successful in your career, how do you plan to spend the rest of your life?
Perhaps on the one hand, I am deeply poisoned by consumerism, on the other hand, I am affected by the impetuous social atmosphere, and on the other hand, I have not planned my life well. When facing this problem, in addition to being sensual, traveling around the world, and increasing my knowledge, There are no creative answers.
However, there is such a person who don't buy famous paintings to reflect his style, nor buy luxury houses, but donate 99% of his wealth to the foundation. In his old age, he still insisted on a simple way of life. With BYD, according to the ups and downs of the stock market, he decides what McDonald's breakfast he wants to buy and brings it to the office to start the work he loves day after day. When teaching the local middle school students, there is no air, like a neighbor grandpa sharing his life story with the teenagers. He speaks methodically and thinks clearly, not at all like an 86-year-old. This is the third richest man in the world - Warren Buffett.
Buffett's history of doing business can be traced back to the age of seven. After borrowing a book from the library, 1,000 Ways to Earn $1,000, he went door-to-door selling gum, Coke, and weekly newspapers. These were saved one by one, and after applying the concept of compound interest, they finally turned into a few hundred dollars. Started buying stocks at the age of 11. He is particularly sensitive to numbers and has a good memory. At 87, he can still blurt out the population of Omaha, the city where he was born and founded. "There are numbers you just can't forget."
He cultivated the habit of reading since he was a child, and read all of his father's books when he was a child. In the era of rapid technological development, Buffett does not use a computer, but still maintains 5-6 hours of reading every day and keeps thinking. Few of his daughters say that although he seems to be by your side, his mind has already flown a thousand miles away. He admitted that he read a lot of knowledge about business investment in the book, but he did not understand people. People are really difficult to understand.
He is very focused on what he loves. One dinner, Bill Gates' father asked Buffett and Bill Gates a question, "What's the secret of your success?" The two wrote on their own paper, "Focus", focus. If I come across something that interests me, I want to study it and communicate with the best people in that field. However, the bandwidth of the human brain is limited, and when you concentrate on one thing, less bandwidth is allocated to other things. He put all his energy on the things he liked, so when his wife Susie left, it was difficult for him to take care of himself.
He loves investing in this job and career, and treats investing as a game. Earning money for him is not about accumulating wealth, not about enjoying life, but an activity he is good at and can keep doing. He spends less than 1% of what he earns, and when it comes to wealth, he implements the compound interest theory he believes in, using numbers as his scorecard.
To be able to do such a big job, in addition to my own efforts, it is also inseparable from the help of good teachers and friends. There are three friends worth mentioning. Ben Graham, Charlie Munger and Bill Gates. Ben Graham can be said to have shaped his career, and he still regards the two investment theories put forward by his mentor Ben Graham as his standard: 1. Don't lose money; 2. Always remember the first one. Charlie Munger is a wise man, smart, well-read, insight into human nature, and has upgraded Buffett's investment philosophy. Two people of equal knowledge, formed a great friendship, and Berkshire Hathaway, jointly in charge, became the world's great multinational group holding company. It can be said that there is no such great Buffett without Munger. Bill Gates was reluctant to meet Buffett at first, but after chatting, he became a close friend. Most of Buffett's wealth goes to the Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation. This is really an example of "The Average Of The Five People" --- You're The Average Of The Five People You Spend The Most Time With. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So choose your friends carefully.
In addition, Buffett created a work environment he liked and worked with the people he liked. Berkshire Hathaway has no redundant departments, and the 25-person team established 20 years ago remains the same. He wakes up every day looking forward to a new day of life and tap dances to work. Every year in May, Berkshire Hathaway holds a general meeting of shareholders, and all shareholders are welcome to ask them questions on the spot, ranging from the operation of the company to the investment policy. Unlike ordinary shareholders, BH shareholders rarely sell their shares. Most of them are long-term owners. After all, it is 227,000 US dollars a share, which will only rise and not fall. . . At the next event, Buffett will wear shorts and short sleeves, play guitar and sing on the competition table. BH is a close-knit community.
The family also gave Buffett a lot of enlightenment and influence. As he said, if his father was a shoe seller, he might have inherited his father's mantle. His father guided him to study and to invest, so when his father died, Buffett, who had always been calm, made impulse buys of stocks he should not have bought. The right partner, Susie, influenced his political leanings and his handling of wealth. Susie is keen on politics, and Buffett, who was originally a Republican, turned to the Republican camp. During the 2016 U.S. election, Buffett also spoke out against Trump and supported Hillary Clinton. At the same time, Susie believes that wealth needs to be given back to the society, and has a disagreement with Buffett on the way wealth is handled. After Susie's death, Buffett began to devote himself to charity, funding many groups related to education, LGBT, and women's equality.
Despite his great worldly success, Buffett is humble enough to attribute part of his success to his luck.
When I watched Becoming Warren Buffett on HBO and got a glimpse of Buffett's life, I really realized that there is a profound reason why he is Buffett and no one else. He is not defined by his wealth, his thinking is not limited, and he has great enthusiasm for his career.
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