Lessons From Warren Buffet on Art of Planning

Warren Buffet is one of the wealthiest people in the world today, with an estimated net worth exceeding $150 billion.

Warren Buffet never claims to be self-made; he asserts that his life was shaped by his family, his teachers, and the era into which he was born.

Buffet was molded by his parents, his fascination with numbers, the economics of the Depression, and the ideas he was exposed to in school.Buffet’s parents were established grocers in Omaha, Nebraska. They were never wealthy or members of the elite. His father was a stockbroker before the crash of 1929. His mother, Leila, worked at her dad’s newspaper.

Leila is described as having been abusive towards her children, and the fear instilled in him made him averse to conflict and afraid of disappointing others.

Buffet’s money-making journey started at the age of six when he went door-to-door selling chewing gum before moving up to magazines and Coca-Cola and eventually delivering newspapers in his teens.

At university, Warren developed a way to calculate a company’s actual worth and suggested that if its stock price is lower than it should be, the price would eventually rise to its true value, despite any short-term market fluctuations. The trick was finding those undervalued stocks.

Buffet worked briefly for his father before returning to Omaha, where he founded an investment partnership in which he would manage his money and that of his friends and family. His business model was to let money compound; his partners put up the seed money, and Buffet’s share would come from his nominal management fee. He would then reinvest the money using techniques he had modeled.

Buffet had a longing for independence. However, this did not stop him from spending his adulthood accumulating friends (and money).

His lack of emotional connections in childhood probably made him seek those connections in his adult life. He went out of his way to network and meet other people.

Just as much as his wealth has grown, so has Buffet’s reputation. And what we learn about wealth and reputation is that they are built through a slow grind, perseverance, and integrity.

Finally, we can say Buffet mastered the Art of Planning.

At the MBK networking event on April 20th at the remarkable Moraga winery in Bel Air, California, the theme is Mastering the Art of Planning. We have a special guest who will help us understand and appreciate planning as a catalyst for progress and personal development. And of course there will be plenty of wine!

See you there….