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Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

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Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#31

Post by noname123 »

saalweachter wrote: post #22
MichaelZuo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 25-30 year old man with all the accumulated wisdom and life experiences of a 95 year old highly successful man… would literally have opportunities worth many trillions of dollars? Because they would literally be multiple times better than the next most competent person on Earth of a similar age, and literally dozens of times better than even the median unicorn founder. So it seems like a given that the relatively p…

Would you rather be 95 years old with a trillion dollars or 25 years old with a thousand?

If picking as a finishing poker position, I'd definitely to end up as the 95 year old with a trillion dollars. When you're 95, life is about reflecting and living more with the past - and I like reflecting about that outcome with its share of certainly many greats and bads it takes to accumulate that kind of fortune. 25 years old with a thousand dollar on the other hand, statistically speaking, is starting and will finish with mediocre chip stack. Just the laws of averages sorry.

If picking as a starting poker position, I'd definitely want to be the 25 year old with a thousand because you'll be able to play more hands and have more experiences and hopefully have more fun even if you'll most likely end up very average or lose your entire chip-stack. I guess what I'm saying is there's no virtue in poverty and no guarantee wealth will bring you ultimate satisfaction either. Your choice is a false mutual exclusivity imho (in that everyone is 25 AND 95 [assuming that that they in everyone lives to 95], someone wanting to be 25 again doesn't imply that their previous journey to 95 is somehow intrinsically worth less - like an adrenaline junkie wanting to ride again the rollercoaster he just got off from).

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#32

Post by wodenokoto »

nocoiner wrote: post #9
bfkwlfkjf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the meme?

It’s literally just saying 6-7. No, I don’t get it either. My kids thought it was hilarious to watch me grapple with it, though.

Sounds like the point was both achieved and obvious.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#33

Post by coliveira »

saalweachter wrote: post #22
MichaelZuo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 25-30 year old man with all the accumulated wisdom and life experiences of a 95 year old highly successful man… would literally have opportunities worth many trillions of dollars? Because they would literally be multiple times better than the next most competent person on Earth of a similar age, and literally dozens of times better than even the median unicorn founder. So it seems like a given that the relatively p…

Would you rather be 95 years old with a trillion dollars or 25 years old with a thousand?

Depending on what you want to do in life, a trillion dollars will not help and it may even stop you from doing many things you would like to do otherwise.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#34

Post by summa_tech »

saalweachter wrote: post #22
MichaelZuo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 25-30 year old man with all the accumulated wisdom and life experiences of a 95 year old highly successful man… would literally have opportunities worth many trillions of dollars? Because they would literally be multiple times better than the next most competent person on Earth of a similar age, and literally dozens of times better than even the median unicorn founder. So it seems like a given that the relatively p…

Would you rather be 95 years old with a trillion dollars or 25 years old with a thousand?

The thing is, when you're 95 years old with a trillion dollars, you have lived 70 years making a trillion dollars (which can be quite fun! Warren B certainly seems to have enjoyed it) and along the way you've - no doubt - spent a decent amount of time as a billionaire. Do not discount the part of life behind you... it's just as real as the part ahead.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#35

Post by tomrod »

Tostino wrote: post #29
andsoitis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dynastic inheritors have achieved lifetime financial independence the moment they emerged from the womb, while others have arrived, facing a hell-hole during their early life or, worse, disabling physical or mental infirmities that rob them of what I have taken for granted. In many heavily-populated parts of the world, I would likely have had a miserable life and my sisters would have had one even worse. Yes, this…

What other creatures show this kind of hoarding pattern in nature? Storing more of a thing than can (reasonably) be used in hundreds, or thousands of lifetimes? I don't know of any (others) that do so, and then pass the hoard down through the generations.

Chipmunks and Squirrels.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#36

Post by chasil »

chasil wrote: post #21
bfkwlfkjf wrote: post #10

Here's a person with integrity. They're very rare these days, especially amongst the wealthy.

Alas, this is not his only foible. https://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/02/warren-buffett-defends-clayt...

Still, some nostalgia and romance is called for.

"Moon River" is appropriate. I've seen him a few times in Omaha at the stadium. I guess that forgiveness is best for most everything.

After all, that's what I want for myself.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uirBWk-qd9A

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#37

Post by gwbas1c »

nocoiner wrote: post #9
bfkwlfkjf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the meme?

It’s literally just saying 6-7. No, I don’t get it either. My kids thought it was hilarious to watch me grapple with it, though.

It just gets stuck in your head and is something to laugh at. The kids who are into it are too young to remember the other catch phrases we got into. My four year old repeats it all the time, which keeps it stuck in my head.

I'm just waiting for Sesame Street to declare 6 and 7 the numbers of the day.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#38

Post by ralph84 »

harry8 wrote: post #18
bfkwlfkjf wrote: post #10

Here's a person with integrity. They're very rare these days, especially amongst the wealthy.

He definitely wants us to think that about his integrity, his fans even more so and in fairness, he's pretty good. Not quite the sunday-school capitalism perfection that some would have us believe. Which can grate a bit if you've looked in detail at his career.

Yeah he’s not quite Jack Welch level of dissonance between reality and his fanboys, but he’s hardly some superhero for profiting from the great financialization of the US economy. He made sure his book got bailed out during the GFC. He cheered on Wells Fargo while they opened up a bunch of fraudulent accounts. And so on.

Re: Warren Buffett's final shareholder letter [pdf]

#40

Post by marcus_holmes »

neilv wrote: post #23

If only more billionaires would start sounding as aware as this 95 year-old one: > But Lady Luck is fickle and – no other term fits – wildly unfair. In many cases, our leaders and the rich have received far more than their share of luck – which, too often, the recipients prefer not to acknowledge. Dynastic inheritors have achieved lifetime financial independence the moment they emerged from the womb, while others hav…

I have found that it's incredibly hard to get successful entrepreneurs to acknowledge that a lot of their success is down to luck. I think it's got something to do with the Protestant Work Ethic - that if they were smart and worked hard then they "deserve" their wealth , but if they just got lucky they don't "deserve" it. So acknowledging that luck played an important part in their success gives them bad feelings, and they don't want to feel bad.

Conversely there's a lot of unsuccessful entrepreneurs who blame bad luck entirely for their failures. There's a lot of "I didn't deserve that. I worked hard, I made smart decisions. I should have succeeded".

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