📘 Warren Buffett – Complete Journey (Ups & Downs)
🧒 Early Life & Education
- Born: 30 August 1930, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
- Son of a stockbroker-politician father.
- Showed business skills early – sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles, and newspapers as a kid.
- At 11 years old, made his first stock investment (Cities Service Preferred) – bought at $38, sold at $40, but it went to $200 later. Lesson: patience is key.
- Studied at Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) → then University of Nebraska → then Columbia Business School, where he studied under Benjamin Graham (his lifelong mentor).
🏁 Early Career & First Investments
- 1951: Started career as an investment salesman.
- 1954: Worked at Graham-Newman Corp. under Benjamin Graham.
- 1956: Founded Buffett Partnership Ltd. with just $100 (his own) + small amounts from friends and family.
- By 1962, he became a millionaire through the partnership.
🚀 Berkshire Hathaway Takeover
- 1965: Took control of a struggling textile company, Berkshire Hathaway.
- Originally a textile business, but Buffett slowly shifted it into a holding company for investments.
- Acquired insurance company National Indemnity – this became a game-changer, as insurance premiums gave him investable cash (“float”).
📈 Major Successes
- Invested in strong consumer brands: Coca-Cola, American Express, Washington Post, Gillette, Wells Fargo.
- Built Berkshire into a global giant with subsidiaries like GEICO, Dairy Queen, BNSF Railway, Duracell.
- Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock grew from $19 in 1964 → over $600,000 in 2025 (one of the most expensive stocks ever).
📉 Downturns & Mistakes
Even Buffett had tough times:
- 1970s Oil Crisis & Recession – faced portfolio declines.
- 1991 Salomon Brothers Scandal – Berkshire’s investment was at risk due to a bond-trading scandal. Buffett stepped in as interim chairman to save it.
- 2008 Global Financial Crisis – some Berkshire stocks lost 50%+ value. But Buffett invested in Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and others at cheap prices, which later made billions.
- Mistakes he admits:
- Not investing early in Google and Amazon despite clear success.
- Holding on to struggling businesses like textiles too long.
- Big bet on airlines before COVID-19 (later sold at a loss).
🌍 Giving Back
- Known for modest lifestyle – still lives in the same Omaha house he bought in 1958.
- In 2006, pledged to donate 99% of his wealth to philanthropy, mainly via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Along with Bill Gates, launched the Giving Pledge, encouraging billionaires to give away most of their wealth.
📊 Current Status (2025)
- Net Worth: ~$120 billion (top 10 richest in the world).
- Still chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at 95 years old.
- Nickname: “The Oracle of Omaha”, because of his unmatched long-term investing success.
🏆 Key Lessons from Buffett’s Journey
- Be patient – wealth builds over decades, not days.
- Invest in what you understand – he avoided tech for years until Apple.
- Value investing – buy great companies at fair prices.
- Stay disciplined in downturns – crises create opportunity.
- Live simply – wealth doesn’t need luxury.
Buffett’s Journey snapshot
