Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Things I learned from Warren Buffett

I just went back to my notes from a video of Warren Buffett speaking his mind. Here are a few of his tips on investing, business, and life. The bolded text is Warren’s followed by my comments.
1) Invest in companies selling products that consumers are not concerned with price. You will notice that some products are like that people will buy whatever the price is. Like Maggi and Whisper.. he he.. its just an example, dont take it otherwise.....
2) There are no called strikes in the ballgame of investing. You do not lose a single penny by passing on any given investment. Even if someone else hits a SIX with it, doesn’t mean that you are missing out. That said, you will have to swing the bat if you ever want to get anywhere. Just make sure it is a good pitch.
3) Do business with people you like and who share your objectives. If you are taking business decisions that keep money out of your mind. We have all worked with some people who we would have paid any amount NOT to work with. If we could quantify joy and happiness, it would be easy to see that working with people you like would far outweigh the joy received by getting more money with bad business partners.
4) It’s not about the biggest motor, but the most efficient motor. A Great Saying really, i like it... i have countless examples of many small companies who paid more money to their shareholders as compared to big companies in last year...A smaller company that is run efficiently is going to do better for their shareholders than a mammoth company with wasteful spending.
5) Don’t worry about what the stock market will do, focus on what the company will do. Good companies can and will go up even in the middle of falling market. Always be stock specific... again stressing on non conventional energy companies.. like XL Telecom.. take your own bet...
6) With Stocks it is hard to know WHEN something will happen, but it is easy to know WHAT will happen. Everyone seems to be concerned with the WHEN, but focusing on the WHAT seems to yield a nice fruit as Warren has proved. Great Saying... trust me
7) Find companies with endless demand for their products. Funeral homes will always be needed, because people are still dying. Also Hair treatment products.. he he he... joke but truth..
8) Leave your children enough money so they can do anything, but not enough that they don’t have to do anything. ... hmmmm extremely good.. dont make your kids to behave like a king, better to make him act like a finance minister.....
9) Decision making abilities fade as cash flow increases. If you only have Rs5 in your pocket until the end of the week, it is likely that you will make a good decision with it, because it is all you have. On the other hand, if you have Rs100 for the week, your decisions regarding a Rs5 purchase are far less critical since you have another Rs95. Therefore, people tend not to treat those decisions with the same respect they would if it was their last Rs5.

Have a good time ahead....... Comments are welcome on this article

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