Transcription
Warren, how would you define true success?
Well, I've said many times that if you get to be 65 or 70 and later, and the people that you want to have love you actually do love you, 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 painters—I'm gonna never seen anybody that, if they have a lot of people that love them, that there's other than happy. And I've seen some very, very wealthy people that they can have testimonial dinners, do named schools, have sir, and everything, there is nobody, nobody loves him. You know, their own kids would say, "He's in the attic. He's in the attic." You know?
Okay, what are three pieces of advice you would give to people who are looking to succeed in business?
Well, by far the best investment you can make is in yourself. I mean that. For example, communication skills. I tell the students that come that they're going to graduate schools in business and they're learning all these complicated formulas, all that. If they just learned to communicate better, both in writing and in person, they increase their value at least 50%. No, 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, get both your ideas. And that's, that's relatively easy. I did it myself with a Dale Carnegie course. Some people wish I'd take a shorter course, not by talking later on, but it, it's just hugely important. And you, 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'll be the only car you're getting the rest of your life, you take care of it like you can't believe. And if you scratch, you'd fix that moment. You read the owner's manual, you keep it in the garage, into all these things. And you get exactly one mind 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 rust it out if you haven't done anything. So, you know, you should really make sure that you just remember that you just got one mind and body to get through life with. And do the most with it.
What about life advice?
Well, my advice, you know, the most important thing, aside from the things I've talked about already, is it's really who you associate with. You want to 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 want to have the right heroes. You want people, if you want to emulate somebody, you better pick very carefully who you want to 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, who you admire, who you, who you want to 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. You'll, you want to pick a spouse that's a little better than you are, and then he or she, and you hope they don't figure it out too fast.
Great. Biggest mistakes people make when investing?
Well, they, they try to, but they, they just don't realize that all you have to do is just buy across the shin 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. But you buy a farm, you buy an apartment house, so you can't resell it tomorrow. I don't know the costs of moving around or, you know, you get something handed to you, liquidity, you know, which is instant. And so, and the, the cost of doing it is 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.
You have a pretty cool morning routine regarding what you have for breakfast and how prosperous you feel. What is that?
Well, that way, and I was actually send somebody over to them now to get me something. Since, since I sent the publicity I from earlier describing my habits at McDonald's, hey, I know somebody happened had somebody go in the office, but that was, that was more for entertainment value. I, I actually eat exactly what I like to eat. Yep. If I liked it on my sixth birthday, and 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 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 lived 89 or whatever it may be, if you eat nothing but broccoli and Brussels sprouts and onions and all these things," and I, I didn't take the last year off. It probably won't be that good anyway, you know. I mean, so I eat what I like. I, I, I am not venturesome in that area.
Like how you lumped in onions with broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Never heard them. I just don't have like onions. I don't put them in the same category. You and George H.W. Bush.
I think it's business school worth it? 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'm, you know, we have all kinds of jobs at 70 or so thousand a year, 80 thousand a year, that college training is not abuse. And I actually was not keen on going to college myself. Yeah, my dad, kind of jolly man, when he can get me to do anything, but and if they'd had an SAT test those days, he would have taken the test for me. Yeah. But, but because I just, I was, I knew I could have a good time and I liked investing and I didn't really feel like 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, that everything. I think depending on what your interests are in life, I don't think, 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 right, last questions, the lightning rounds. There's a few. Do you ever drink water?
Only under duress.
What is your favorite all-time song?
It's undoubtedly "My Way."
What about movie? Favorite movie?
Well, I like "The Bridge on the River Kwai" because of the lot, there were a lot of lessons in that. Pleasant was a, you know, enormously fascinating. Catchy tune. Also catchy tune. Also the ending of that was sort of the story of life, you know. He created the railroad, the enemy did come in across it, you know, it got it.
Favorite book?
Well, the favorite book, from the best book that had the most impact on my life was "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham.
I knew you were gonna say that. Favorite TV show?
It's probably going to be "The Nebraskans." Some huge bowl gave him winning.
And finally, what do you carry in your wallet and how much money do you tend to carry around?
Well, I probably carry maybe $400. Oh, yeah. 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 of you. It's pretty simple. And credit cards. I've got an American Express card, which I got in 1964. But I, I pay cash 98% of the time. If I'm an arrest, always pay cash. It's just easier.
Warren Buffett, thanks very much.