Warren Buffett is one of the shrewdest and most successful investors in the world. As a result, he has managed to amass an enormous fortune, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world.
His success has also made him one of the most influential voices in the investment world, with millions of people across the globe following the tips and advice he offers when making their own investments and business decisions.
However, there is much more to learn about Mr Buffett than his investment skills – his early life, education, his ways of doing business and charity work. These details make his story even more interesting.
An Early Start
Many financial experts recommend that you should start investing as early in life as possible, since fewer personal responsibilities mean that you have more of the returns to reinvest, making your earnings higher in time.
For Buffett, the investment bug bit after he met a member of the New York Exchange as a young boy. The experience convinced him to start buying various stocks by the age of 11, using the money from his paper route.
By the time he was 16, Buffett had a net worth of about $53,000. In his teen years, Buffett’s investments earned him about $175 per month which was, at the time, an impressive amount of money – much more than many of his teachers and other adults in his life were earning.
Buffett Endured Rejection by Harvard
Like most people who have gained success through years of hard work, Warren has experienced his fair share of disappointments. For instance, he had his mind set on going to Harvard and was so confident of being admitted that, after the admissions interview, he asked a friend to join him at the prestigious school. Unfortunately, he missed out on a place at Harvard and had to settle for Columbia University instead, since its admission process did not require an interview.
Perseverance
Making it to the top of the investment game needs patience and persistence, both of which are traits that Warren Buffett possesses in plenty. After he graduated from college, Buffet was determined to work for Benjamin Graham, who was a famous investor and celebrated author.
Graham initially refused to hire him because he was not Jewish. Undeterred, Buffett continued to pitch his ideas to Graham relentlessly until he caved in and decided to give Warren a chance, which was all he needed to get a foothold as an investor.
Technophobia
Even today, Warren Buffet has changed very little about the manner in which he carries out his daily duties. For instance, his office lacks any high-tech communication devices or computers, with the most advanced technology being a landline phone.
Although Buffett has had to make some exceptions in the sense that he owns a cell phone, it is one of the older, outdated flip phones instead of a smartphone.
All of this seems to suggest that he carries out a good part of his research by reading the set of Encyclopaedias that adorn his bookshelf.
In fact, he is on record as having stated that he has only sent one email in his entire life, a message to a Microsoft executive.
Philanthropy
As a man who has everything, Warren Buffett is surprisingly in-touch with the realities of having nothing. For this reason, he was one of the three founder signatories of the Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge.
The pledge is a statement of intent by Warren Buffett and his friend Bill Gates, two of the world’s wealthiest men, to donate half of their wealth to philanthropic causes, and it kick-started a trend of giving among the world’s super-rich. Besides acknowledging his skill as an investor, Mr Buffett also deserves respect as someone who works to make the world a better place.