Warren Buffett: The Legendary Value Investor

 WARREN BUFFETT 

Warren Buffett is not only one of the world's most successful and fundamental investors, but also a philanthropist, a businessman and the chairman and CEO of the top-ranked company- Berkshire Hathaway, with a Net-worth of $108 billion as of February 2023. 

He is often referred to as a true value investor as he believes that “you should not buy fair companies at wonderful prices, instead, buy wonderful companies at fair prices”, this is something he claims to have learnt from his long-term partner and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway- Charlie Munger. This practice of buying such quality shares and holding them for the long term with patience is what has enabled him to become the 5th most wealthiest man on Earth. 

His skills of investing are not just something that someone can learn about from some books, as it involves the soft skills of having patience to hold your investments, having a willingness to be successful and having some experience in the field along with knowledge acquired from reading. As for Warren Buffett, he started to invest from the age of 11, and yet, he regrets that he did not start any sooner! 

Warren has also studied under the legendary Benjamin Graham during the course of his business course at Columbia University, that was furthermore responsible for deepening his understanding in the investment sector. 

Warren’s investment strategy is very clear and he has quoted multiple times regarding the importance of holding money for the long term, like- “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don't even think of owning it for 10 minutes”. This is because Warren believes in the power of compounding, and how it can maximize one’s wealth if they have the patience to give it time to grow. 

He has also given his view on people that do not invest at all. He states that “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die”. Who would want to do that!

Coming to his company- Berkshire Hathaway, that he bought as an ailing textile company in 1965, teaming up with Charlie Munger and has transformed it into a business that now owns businesses in insurance, rail transportation, energy generation and distribution, manufacturing and retailing. It is now also labeled as the world’s biggest company.

As we know, Warren invests in quality companies, but how would we know which company is of that quality? Well, Warren himself prefers going through the businesses’ annual reports for as back as he can get, along with some of his other theories like “You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will”. 

To collate, Warren Buffett is not only a fundamental investor for new investors like us anymore, his knowledge and contribution to the society is now an inspiration to youth all over the world for the coming generations! 

Further information about him is also included in his HBO documentary- “Becoming Warren Buffett”, available on Disney Hotstar, coming from his own point of view. 

~ Shagun Johri