Things I learned from Warren Buffett

I just went back to my notes from a video of Warren Buffett speaking his mind. Here are a few of his tips on investing, business, and life. The bolded text is Warren’s followed by my comments.

• There are no called strikes in the ballgame of investing. You do not lose a single penny by passing on any given investment. Even if someone else hits a homerun with it, doesn’t mean that you are missing out. That said, you will have to swing the bat if you ever want to get anywhere. Just make sure it is a good pitch.

• Do business with people you like and who share your objectives. Money should not be only consideration when making business decisions. We have all worked with some people who we would have paid any amount NOT to work with. If we could quantify joy and happiness, it would be easy to see that working with people you like would far outweigh the joy received by getting more money with bad business partners.

• Invest in companies selling products that consumers are not concerned with price. Good point.

• It’s not about the biggest motor, but the most efficient motor. A smaller company that is run efficiently is going to do better for their shareholders than a mammoth company with wasteful spending.

• Don’t worry about what the stock market will do, focus on what the company will do. Good companies can and will go up even in the middle of falling market.

• With Stocks it is hard to know WHEN something will happen, but it is easy to know WHAT will happen. Everyone seems to be concerned with the WHEN, but focusing on the WHAT seems to yield a nice fruit as Warren has proved.

• Find companies with endless demand for their products. Funeral homes will always be needed, because people are still dying.

• Leave your children enough money so they can do anything, but not enough that they don’t have to do anything. I like that.

• Decision making abilities fade as cash flow increases. If you only have $5 in your pocket until the end of the week, it is likely that you will make a good decision with it, because it is all you have. On the other hand, if you have $100 for the week, your decisions regarding a $5 purchase are far less critical since you have another $95. Therefore, people tend not to treat those decisions with the same respect they would if it was their last $5.

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