59. Not that he can’t be ruthless, but Buffett tends to look for win-win situations where possible. Contrast that with the Wall Street art of “ripping the face off” of clients.
60. He’s often described as a “learning machine,” extending his natural abilities and allowing him to make behemoth investing decisions over the span of just hours.
61. He added to Ben Graham’s teachings with the help of that learning ability and Munger’s counsel.
62. Now is a good time to point out that companies’ annual reports, which are available to all, are the primary fuel in his learning machine. He reads them voraciously to compare and contrast companies and build his business knowledge base. See the next point.
63. When asked what the most important key to his success was, Buffett answered, “focus.” His biographer Alice Schroeder elaborates: He has “focus like you have never seen on anybody else.” For good or ill, Buffett’s entire life has been dedicated to investing. It’s much harder than he lets on.
64. There are plenty of business fish in the sea: “There are all kinds of businesses that I don’t understand, but that doesn’t cause me to stay up at night. It just means I go on to the next one, and that’s what the individual investor should do.”
65. How many people can pull off being a contrarian by buying shares of Coca-Cola?
66. Even in an investing world full of Buffett students and imitators, he manages to surprise.
67. He takes every legal, ethical advantage available in the current system, but he lobbies for a better system. For example, he supports higher taxes for the rich, more severe estate taxes, and a level playing field. As he puts it, “I don’t like anything where the bottom 20% keep getting a poorer and poorer deal.”
68. He is grateful for the advantages he has had in life — like many of us, he won the “ovarian lottery.”
69. When he talks, E. F. Hutton listens.
70. Like many geniuses, he is frequently the confounding exception to the rule. For example, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) has never paid a dividend and only started share repurchases recently. It also doesn’t split the chairman and CEO roles. And we shareholders thank him for it.
71. Buffett buys what he knows (and frequently loves), but he doesn’t overpay out of affection. He has the discipline to wait decades for the right opportunity.
72. He gives credit to his direct reports.
73. Not only is Buffett a great investor and manager, but he’s one hell of a writer. My jealousy grows.
74. He once picked up a date in a hearse he co-owned.
75. Before making his money work for him, he worked for his money early on with a series of jobs, schemes, and ventures. These included a paper route, selling chewing gum door to door, a pinball business, a sales job at J.C. Penney’s, caddying, marking up refurbished golf balls, and founding a horse-racing tip sheet.
76. He’s a permabull — on women.
77. It’s very possible that the house you live in is worth more than the house Buffett lives in — the house in Omaha he bought in 1958.
78. Over the years, he has relied on a similar set of answers to oft-asked questions. That his philosophy has stayed stable throughout that time is remarkable.
79. His wealth has bought him the ultimate trophy: He does whatever he wants to do just about every single day.
80. He’s the outsized calming influence a lot of us need. From his biography Snowball: “If a tornado were barreling straight toward Kiewit Plaza [where his office is], Buffett would say that things were ‘never better’ before mentioning the twister.”
81. Anyone who can make the hyper-opinionated Charlie Munger regularly utter “I have nothing to add” must be saying something impressive.
82. When his time to step down finally comes, it will take a village (a CEO, a chairman, and multiple portfolio investors) to perform his current responsibilities.
83. That said, he fully expects this list to one day reach well into the triple digits. And I look forward to adding those lines. Happy birthday, Mr. Buffett!
The article 83 Reasons We Love Warren Buffett originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Anand Chokkavelu, CFA.
Anand Chokkavelu, CFA owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
