[backordr]

It's not so much rich-people worship as it is about observing another individual who happened to become one of the richest people in the world. We can learn a lot from each other - being ignorant of the person next to you is a dangerous habit.

[floopidydoopidy]

We can learn a lot from a cross section of our entire population. From one man, we can learn about rich person worship and life lotteries.

[valuearb]

You should read some of Buffett's voluminous writings. There is nothing like a lottery going on, he's the most skilled investor the world has ever created.

In his twenties and thirties he ran the Buffett Partnerships and averaged around 35% a year returns, over 13 or 14 years, beating the market by a massive amount.

He retired around age 40, then bored went back to full time work running a company he controlled, Berkshire Hathaway. At one point he had beaten the market all but a couple of 50 years.

In his shareholder letters he describes very clearly how he does it. Its a combination of being an excellent value investor, understanding which companies have competitive moats, and working very hard at reducing negative psychological biases.

We can't be as good as investor as WEB, but reading and understanding his shareholder letters will make you a much better one in anything you do (buying a house, car, etc), and understanding the psychological biases that drive you to bad investing decisions can be applied in many areas.

[dv35z]

Completely agree. I honestly believe reading the shareholders letters is one of the best "life lessons" readings I have come across. One of the reasons for this is that it's written consistently across the span of one (intelligent) person's life, spanning decades of changes and challenge. WB is transparent about making predictions, and likewise reflective when they don't turn out. He's extremely gracious to everyone around him (constantly calling out great attributes about business partners, colleagues, and even competitors). He's got this consistently optimistic tone about him which is hard to ignore - what could be brittle-dry business writing, instead is full of cheeky humor, anecdotes, advice, etc.

In contrast, when I read [auto]biographies of notable people today, we are ONLY seeing the life from a snapshot in time - n accumulation of their life, from deliberately chosen points of view - and we never get to see that relatable part of "what was this person thinking when they were 35 years old, stuck in a panicked business climate".

I also think its fascinating to see people's decision-making processes and attitudes change over time. For example, anyone who has read WB's shareholder letters see his attitude change from "buy cigar butts, and sell those" (basically, find OK assets which are undervalued) to "pay a premium for great things, and hold them forever". WB even reflects on this attitude change at times - some of his earlier purchases (like the actual textile mill) was an attempt to identify decent businesses in a bad spot, buy them on the cheap, and turn them around. Later, he basically said - that was just a bad idea, and it's buying trouble for years. Instead, pay a premium for a company which is solid, run by solid people... and let that naturally appreciate in value, and get out of its way.

WB mentions Dale Carnegie frequently - I do think reading both "How to Make Friends & Influence People" and Berkshire's Letters to Shareholders could basically be a business course itself - how to do business honorably, ethically, and respectfully. Lots of lessons to be learned there.

[pg314]

I have an economics degree, but feel I've learned more from his shareholder's letters than 4 years of university. So I too recommend them.

The letters starting from 1995 can be consulted at http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/reports.html.

They are also available in book form 'Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders', starting from 1965 (with the early partnership letters).

Charlie Munger's Wesco Letters to Shareholders are also interesting, especially the early ones: http://www.wescofinancial.com/.

[floopidydoopidy]

So link to those articles. This article is legitimately just hero worship.