Warren Buffett

Interviewer: Warren, how would you define true success? Warren Buffett: Well, I've said many times that if you get to be 65 or 70 and later and the people that you wanna have love you actually do love you're a success.

I've never seen anybody that reaches that age, I mean, I'm not talking about somebody that's in extreme poverty or pain or something, but I've never seen anybody that if they have a lot of people that love them, that is other than happy, and I've seen some very wealthy people that they give testimonial dinners to and name schools after and everything, and they're nobody loves them, you know?

Their own kids would say, "He's in the attic, he's in the attic," you know? They never came. Interviewer: What are, say, three pieces of advice you would give to people who are looking to succeed in business? Warren Buffett: Well, by far the best investment you can make is in yourself.

I mean, the. For example, communication skills. I tell the students that come that, they're going to graduate schools and business and they're learning all these complicated formulas and all that. If they just learn to communicate better, and both in writing and in person, they increase their value at least 50%.

And I mean, if you can't communicate, somebody says, you know, it's like winking at a girl in the dark. Nothing happens, you know, basically. And you have to be able to get forth your ideas and that's, that's relatively easy.

I did it myself with a Dale Carnegie course. Some people wish I'd taken a shorter course now in terms of my talking later on. But it's just hugely important.

And if you invest in yourself, nobody can take it away from you. I mean, you. And the second thing, which I'll get a certain criticism for not living it, but I do tell the, those students, you know, that if I gave you a car, and it'd be the only car you get the rest of your life, you'd take care of it like you can't believe.

Any scratch, you'd fix that moment. You'd read the owner's manual. You'd keep it garaged and do all these things.

And you get exactly one mind and one, and one body in this world, and you can't start taking care of it when you're 50. By that time, you'll have rusted out if you haven't done anything. So you should, you should really make sure that you just remember that you just got one mind and body to get through life with and to do the most with it.

Interviewer: What about life advice? Warren Buffett: Well, life advice is, you know, the most important thing, aside from the things I've talked about already, is really who you associate with. You wanna associate with people that are better than you are.

I mean, basically you'll go in the direction of the people that you associate with. And you wanna have the right heroes. You want people.

If you wanna emulate somebody, you better pick very carefully who you wanna emulate. And when. Obviously you can't pick your parents.

They're gonna have an enormous influence on you but you don't get a choice on that. But you get choices as you go down the line, and you who you admire, who you who you wanna copy. And the most important for most people in terms of that decision is their spouse.

It's also important in terms of a partner in business, but the partner in life is the most important one. You wanna pick a spouse that's little, that's better than you are. And then he or she and and you hope they don't figure it out too fast.

Interviewer: Great. Biggest mistakes people make when investing. Warren Buffett: Well, they they try to They they just don't realize that all you have to do is just buy a cross-section of America, and they never listen to people like me or read the papers or do anything subsequently. They think, they think that because you can trade, you should trade.

They you buy a farm, you buy an apartment house, you can't resell it tomorrow. And you know, the costs of moving around are huge. Now you get something handed to you liquidity, you know, which is instant, you can sell, and the cost of doing it are pennies, you know, compared to other kinds of investment activity.

So because they can so easily move around, they do move around. And moving around is not smarter than investing. Interviewer: You have a pretty cool, morning routine regarding what you have for breakfast and how prosperous you feel.

What is that? Warren Buffett: Well, that and I will actually send somebody over to McDonald's usually to get me something. Since I since the publicity I got from earlier describing my habits at McDonald's, I now simply have them, have somebody go in the office. But that was, that was, more for entertainment value.

I actually eat, I eat exactly what I like to eat. If I liked it on my sixth birthday, at my sixth birthday party when we had hot dogs and hamburgers and Coke and ice cream with chocolate, I still like it, and I don't care about anything subsequently that I discovered it all by the time I was six.

And if somebody had offered me a deal when I was 20 and said, "You're gonna live one year longer, you know, instead of living to 88, you'll live to 89 or whatever it may be, if you eat nothing but broccoli and Brussels sprouts and onions and all these things," you know, I'd have said, "I'll, you know, take the last year off. It probably won't be that good anyway."

You know, I mean, so I eat what I like to eat. I I am not venturesome in that area. Interviewer: I like how you lumped in onions with broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

Well, I've never heard that Warren Buffett: before. I just don't happen to like onions. Okay. But I'm not, that, I don't put them in the same category.

Interviewer: Okay. You and George H.W. Bush, I think. Is business school worth it? Warren Buffett: Depends on the person, much more than it depends on the school.

I mean, I wouldn't worry. Some people are gonna get a lot out of advanced education, and some people are gonna get, very little. And I don't even think it's important that every person go to college at all.

I mean, we have all kinds of jobs at 70 or so thousand a year, 80,000 a year college training is not of use. And I actually was not keen on going to Really? Myself. Yeah, my dad, kind of jollied me into it.

He could get me to do anything. But if they'd had an SAT, test in those days, he would've taken the test for me. But 'cause I just, I was, I knew I could have a good time, and I liked investing and I didn't really feel.

I could read the books. So I don't. You know, it's, it's a big commitment to take four years, and the cost involved, and maybe the loans involved and everything.

I think depending on what your interests are in Yeah. I don't think it's for everybody. I think it's for a lot of people.

But there ought to be a reason you're going, and I didn't really see much reason. All Interviewer: right, last question. It's the lightning round, so there's a few.

Do you ever drink water? Warren Buffett: Only under, duress. Interviewer: What is your favorite all-time song, Warren?

Warren Buffett: It's undoubtedly, it's My Way. Interviewer: What about movie? Favorite movie. Warren Buffett: Well, I like The Bridge on the River Kwai because of the there were a lot of lessons in that, plus it was, you know, enormously fascinating.

Interviewer: Catchy tune also. Pardon me? Catchy tune also. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Very. Warren Buffett: Right.

But that, the ending of that was, sort of the story of life, you know? Is, he created the railroad, and did he really want the enemy to come in across it, you know? Got it. Favorite book.

Well, favorite book from an the the book that had the most impact on my life was The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham. Interviewer: I knew you were gonna say that. Favorite TV show?

Warren Buffett: Mm. It's, it's probably gonna be, it would be Nebraska in some huge bowl game and winning. Interviewer: Got it. And finally, what do you carry in your wallet, and how much money do you tend to carry around? Warren Buffett: Well, I probably carry, maybe $400.

I actually, my my wife likes to use cash, so I just take home, a chunk of cash every now and then she doles it out. She looks at my billfold and sees whether all the hundreds are gone. Six or two in there, but it's, it's pretty simple.

Any credit cards? I've got an American Express card, which I got in 1964, but I pay cash 98% of the time. I mean, if I'm in a restaurant, I always pay cash. It's just easier. Interviewer: Warren Buffett, thanks very much.

Mm.