A life well lived - Warren Buffet
Intro
The Snowball is a book written by Alice Schroeder who worked in the finance industry, it provides a candid and objective glimpse of Warren’s life chronologically from childhood until the 2008 financial crash. It uses the analogy of rolling a snowball for Warren as he goes through life, readers would initially assume the snowball refers to his net worth but it is much more than money and includes his relationships and experiences he acquired through life. The book is easy to read because it feels like you are right there throughout his life at all his major life events such as when his father became Congressmen, his marriage with Susie, when his father died and many more major events. After reading this book you feel a connect with Warren and seem him as a sweet, shy, logical, loyal and passionate man who found confrontation in his personal life difficult but had the ability to compartmentalise his issues. He was initially ruthless in business and was able to layoff a large amount of people but mellowed out as time went on. He loved teaching, especially young people because their habits have not completely formed. He focused his entire life into building his business and thought of it as his grand painting, but at times neglecting his family. After reading the book you are left with a well of emotions, in awe with what he achieved, sadness from all the pain he experienced and the utmost respect for the principled life he lived of honesty, loyalty, kindness and humility.
Key to success
From early on you get the impression that Warren is destined to succeed in life. He had an insatiable drive to earn money and that became his passion. By the age of 16 he had $5,000 ($50,000) today from fixing and installing pinball machines, delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and horse betting. This likely lead him into stock picking as he saw it as a way to make money. He was also rebellious, refused to each vegetables, did what he liked and even stole from a golf store. On top of his passion to make money he was intelligent, read everything, analytical, self driven, confident in his own abilities, focused and a photographic memory. Given all these attributes and coupled with a great family with a father in Congress and a grandfather who owned a business, Warren was destined for success in life. He simply stayed focused in rolling his Snowball.
His bedrock
Susie his wife was his foundation and always supported him by taking care of his needs and their children. They met in highschool and dated on and off, but when Warren got his chance to move back to Omaha after moving away for university, he married her right away. Warren trusted his wife completely and thought she would outlive him so he would give his wealth to her foundation when he passed away. His wife was an exceptionally kind person and always placed others’ needs above her own no matter how sick she was, she didn’t want others to be concerned with her and preferred to take care of people instead. She would open her home to anyone that was experiencing misfortune and at times frustrating Warren because she would spend too much time and money on people who needed her like the sick and homeless. Susie was an outstanding person and Warren loved her very much. Susie felt he needed her and would take close care of his needs such as keeping him clean and tidy.
The mistresses and lovers
Susie and warren lived a complex life one consequence of Warren being rarely at home due to business was that Susie would feed deprived of love and affection. She ended up, moving away from Warren to California with her tennis coach. The book hints at Warren having affairs with other women as well such as Katharine Graham (owner of Washington Post) and Astrid Menks. Although I say affairs they were approved by his wife and in fact Astrid was introduced to Warren by Susie and she was glad that Susie was taking care of him after she left to San Francisco. It was a strange relationship and the three were seen together holding each others’ hands. It was certainly a strange romantic life and likely Warren and Susie were no longer romantically involved after she moved out. We are left with a picture of Warren as someone who does like to indulge in his women as well as fast food but he manages to do so with honesty.
Trials and tribulations
Throughout Warren’s life he faced many difficulties, the first major one was when is father died. He deeply respected his father and saw him as a mentor. He also had a relative die from drug overdose. His wife effectively left him and went to San Francisco with her tennis coach and used his money to fund her life with her lover. This was around the same time he was having a legal battle that might tarnish his reputation and see him land in jail because of his company Blue Chip Stamps for its role in the acquisition of Wesco Financial Corporation in the 1970s. In the late 1990s he sat on the board of Solomon Brothers where they were tangled up with the government for violating their rules by a rogue trader. The problem was that John Gutfreund sat on the problem and did not notify the government which lead to a Government investigation and since they had a negative view of the Solomon Brothers they threaten their rights to trade which would destroy the company. Then Susie passed away from a stroke in 2004 hitting Warren the hardest after is life long companion passed away he locked himself in his room for two weeks. Despite all the pain and suffering Warren remains upbeat with has the ability to wash negative experiences down the drain.
The crazy story of Rose Blumkin
Warren meets many interesting people that he admired and non more so than Rose Blumkin. He acquired her store when she was 94. The store was started by Rose from nothing and she grew it by undercutting her competitors even at a loss, she could make high risk decisions at a moments notice and never looked back. She arrived in the country with no English and left her home at a young age to escape the atrocities that were happening in that period in Russia. She worked non stop earning enough money to migrate her entire family to America. Rose characterises the types of business owners Warren like to acquire businesses from, he wants people to keep working in their business after he buys it because they loved what they were doing so much and that is what Rose did until her death at the age of 104.
Notable quotes
Intensity is the price of excellence
Smart people will always find a way
People ask me where they should go to work, and I always tell them to go to work for whom they admire the most. It’s crazy to take little in between jobs just because they look good in your resume. That’s like saving sex for your old age. Do what you love and work for whom you admire the most and you’ve given yourself the best chance in life you can.
Instead of looking for success make a list of how to fail instead - through sloth, envy, resentment, self-pity, entitlement, all the mental habits of self-defeat. Avoid these qualities and you will succeed.
Final thoughts
Warren is widely regarded as one of the most legendary investors but I would like to extend that to one of the most legendary people. He managed to remain relatively unscathed despite the world he lived in, both in terms of business, surviving three major stock market crashes and in his personal life, by keeping those he loved close to him. I think that is an understated aspect of Warren, it is rare to seem someone in his position remain loyal to those that were with him from the beginning. Warren was a human and nevertheless had faults and cloud have been more attentive to those around him. He never wasted a minute of his life and lived it to the fullest by doing what he loved with the people he loved and that is something truely beautiful. We should all strive for this in our lives as well, Warren’s biography should been seen as a life well lived.