Question

A recent issue of Forbes magazine estimated Warren Buffett's wealth at $62 billion, give or take a few million. How much is $62 billion? If you invested $62 billion in an investment earning just 4%, you could spend $6.8 million per day—every day—forever.

So, how does Buffett spend his money? Basically, he doesn't! He still lives in the same house that he purchased in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1958 for $31,500. He still drives his own car (a Cadillac DTS). And, in case you believe that his kids are riding the road to Easy Street, think again. Buffett has committed to donate virtually all of his money to charity before he dies.  He has already started this process through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

How did Buffett amass this wealth? Through careful investing. He applies the basic techniques he learned in the 1950s from the great value investor Benjamin Graham. Buffett looks for companies that have good long-term potential but are currently underpriced. He invests in companies that have low exposure to debt and that reinvest their earnings for future growth. He does not get caught up in fads or the latest trends.

For example, Buffett sat out on the dot-com mania in the 1990s. When other investors put lots of money into fledgling high-tech firms, Buffett didn't bite because the dot-com companies failed to meet his criteria. He didn't get to enjoy the stock price boom on the way up, but on the other hand, he didn't have to suffer the plummet back down to Earth. When the dot-com bubble burst, everyone else suffered from investment shock. Buffett swooped in and scooped up deals on companies that he had been following for years.

In 2012, when the stock market reached near record highs, Buffett's returns significantly lagged behind the market. Only 26% of his investments at that time were in stock, and he was sitting on $38 billion in cash. One commentator noted that “if the past is any guide, just when Buffett seems to look most like a loser, the party is about to end.”

Provide comments on his investment philosophy and his philanthropy.

Answer 1

The approach that Warren Buffet follows is definitely worth following. It is said that you should invest in stock market only if you are planning for long terms gains. Stock market isn't for people who plan to make money in a very short term.

Earning returns from stock market needs a lots of efforts in understanding where to invest and on top of that the biggest thing to crack is WHEN to invest. And this is something which Buffet really understands. He does his homework and understands where to invest but one has to wait patiently to understand the timing of the investment. Similarly, he invested in dot com companies when most of the companies were falling down and when no one was ready to invest. However, when market came back and he knew that one day it would come back because he knows WHERE to invest, his worth increased again.

This is the mantra that he follows and which allows him to double his worth. This is also true in lots of cases where a lots of companies invest in smaller companies and then increase its worth. Softbank is one big example which invests huge some of money in small companies and when companies become big, it increases their worth.