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On why Omaha: 'Home's always been home, always will be home. A lot of friends are here but I just feel good here. My grandchildren are now going to the same public high school that my kids went to, my wife went to, my dad went to - almost 100 years and there's a lot of continuity here. It's a great life, you feel like you're part of a community.' Lives in house bought in 1958 (46 years ago at time of interview). 'I'm happy there.' Been in same office for 42 years. 'Everything falls into place.' Contrast to complexity of corporate life he wants to avoid.
Buffett describes two-part job: First is asset allocation - '$100M to $150M a week coming in to Berkshire after all needs of operating businesses are taken care of. My job is to allocate that among anything in the world that makes sense to me - marketable securities, bonds, equities, whole businesses, or cash. That's my sole responsibility. We don't do that by committee, we don't do it by advisors, that's my job.' Second is having 'talented high-grade managers running our businesses who are happy running them. When I buy a business I'm usually buying the manager with it because I don't know how to run the business.' Tests whether sellers 'love the money or love the business - it's okay to love money to some extent but they have to love the business, have passion for it.' Managers want to 'paint their own canvas' and get 'applause from a knowledgeable observer.'
Susie (archival interview) recounts meeting: Was going to be Warren's youngest sister's roommate at Northwestern. 'I walked into their house and he was sitting in this chair in the living room and he made some sarcastic quip. I hadn't even met him, so I made one back. I thought who is this jerk and that's how we met.' Warren pursued her while she dated others - 'Doesn't Warren always get what he wants?' He'd come to her house, sit with her father Doc Thompson. Warren got out Doc's mandolin from attic, played ukulele with him. 'My father fell in love with Warren and he kept saying to me: you don't understand this boy, he has a heart of gold - no pun intended.' Buffett confirms his father Doc was 'best human being I've known' - 'If I could be three-quarters of the man he was I'd be very pleased with myself.'
Graham's influence: 'There are half a dozen that had tremendous influence and certainly Ben Graham influenced me enormously in terms of giving me the investment framework to work - I wouldn't be remotely where I am without Ben Graham.' Read the book and 'said I want to meet this guy... I wanted to see the messiah if I was going to be a disciple, in terms of investing sure.' Didn't know Graham was teaching at Columbia until leafing through catalog - 'his name popped out at me and that's when I wrote and said will you take me.' When asked about the book's impact: 'I said that this makes sense, makes sense, makes sense. Nothing up till then really made sense.' Principles remain unchanged: 'Principles are absolutely the same... You just see more ways to apply them. The applications come up in different forms but the principles remain the same.'
Daily routine: Up around 6:45, reads papers at home (some online). Gets to office around 8am. 'I have no schedule to speak of - here's my date book, just take a look [shows empty book]. I just don't do it, I don't want to live that way. I decided that a long time ago - back when I was delivering papers as a kid. I knew what I enjoyed and what I didn't enjoy.' Day consists of reading: 'I read 5 newspapers a day, all kinds of annual reports and magazines and 10-Ks and 10-Qs. I would say I spend 75% of the day at least, maybe 85% reading. The rest on the phone... I buy or sell stocks or bonds or foreign currencies but that doesn't take much time.' Home by 5-6 (no set time). Evenings: 'play bridge or read some more.' Would 'pay $5 million a year for the ability to play online bridge 12 hours a week - it's worth it to me compared to cost of a second home which wouldn't mean a thing to me.'
On Gates donation reaction: 'It just surprised me that there was so much reaction to it.' Understands the drama angle: 'The second richest person wants to give his money to the first richest person - that makes it funny. If it was the 20th or something like that it wouldn't have had the same impact.' Most surprising: 'Everybody asked about the kids as if somehow the kids are going to be pissed off. To know your kids and how much they love you and what a great family it is - it's like the thought never occurred yet everybody wonders.' Reality: 'They think it's the best thing that's ever happened. Two of the three kids have told me in the past they would rather have me give more money to the foundation than to give that same money to them. They consider themselves ungodly blessed and they love working with the foundation. Literally two of the three have said at Christmas: don't give money to me, give the money to the foundation.' Closes on future: 'It doesn't get any better than this... You're just playing lucky in life if you get to do something that you love doing with people that you love being around.'
6 topics covered
3 speakers
8 concepts discussed
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