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Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

latimes.com

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Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#161

Post by hristov »

kwanbix wrote: post #3

I will never undertand this people that live all their life working, when they clearly have the chance to retire much sooner. I will retire right away if I had 10 millions. Maybe 50 millions if I was younger than 40.

When you are the boss work is a lot less unpleasant than when you are an employee. When you are at the highest level in the organization and also the major shareholder, you can shape your work environment and and workday in a way that you like it.

He worked for 60 years because he liked doing it, and as he became more successful, the job just getting more pleasant for him.

I cannot speak for him but from reading his annual reports and various writings and listening to the occasional interview, it seems that he enjoyed working much more than anything he would do while being retired.

You can call this great american work ethic, and that is part of it, but the other part of it is that when you are the boss you can kind of remove most unpleasant parts of your job and leave only the parts that are the most fun and interesting for you.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#162

Post by PaulHoule »

conradev wrote: post #151
BrenBarn wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With $150 billion dollars he could have done a lot more than "argue for" changing taxation. If he had spent that money actively fighting for a better system, maybe that'd be worth something. To sit back on your billions and say "aw shucks, this really shouldn't be possible" is not much of an effort. Edit: Some people seem to be misunderstanding me. I'm saying if he thought taxation was unequal or thought wealth inequ…

He tasked that to his kids: He turned 95 years old on August 30. He was 75 when he began giving away his fortune, announcing plans in June 2006 to give away the bulk of his wealth to five foundations, primarily the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He changed his will in 2024, designating 99.5% of his remaining fortune after his death to a charitable trust overseen by his three children and also announcing in June 2…

See

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/buffett-kin...

if you want to know what his kids are up to.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#163

Post by weird-eye-issue »

flkz wrote: post #96
riazrizvi wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet another example to me of how he literally engineered his life for success, using principles like choosing which variables to hold fixed. What discipline.

If he was poor, people would call him lazy for eating mcdonalds everyday...

Poor people should properly budget and cook at home to avoid staying poor

If you can afford to eat McDonald's nobody cares (well it's not healthy either but that's a different matter that doesn't really have to do with being poor or not)

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#164

Post by Aarostotle »

bc569a80a344f9c wrote: post #110
Aarostotle wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A man who built what he loves and produced so much surplus value for the rest of us to enjoy (read: profit) is _exactly_ a hero. I’m sure I could find ways critique him, but not in the context of celebrating his career.

> A man who built what he loves and produced so much surplus value for the rest of us to enjoy (read: profit) is _exactly_ a hero. Life imitates art, I suppose. https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a16995

My friend, Earth has never been a better place for humans to live than it is today. I hope more entrepreneurs come along to make it even better.

The idea that humans have destroyed the planet is quite silly.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#165

Post by awesome_dude »

Probably the best thing about Buffett was his admission of his shortcomings - he wasn't a manager, or adminstrator, of companies - he thought he could do it, blew it, and learnt from the experience.

He was a damned fine investor, a very good eye for a bargain (that would later turn into a goldmine).

I get that people have opinions on that, but I'm not too fussed about the player, when it's the game that they should be focussed on.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#166

Post by lotsoweiners »

dyauspitr wrote: post #119
koolba wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a red blooded capitalist who loves this country as much as the next patriot, I can assure you admiration for fast food and coke is 100% real.

Admiration for how American it is maybe but it’s goddamn preservative and sugar ridden slop.

Yes but many of us love it all the same.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#168

Post by tim333 »

verteu wrote: post #139
missedthecue wrote: post #102

Berkshire stock could fall 99% and he would still have outperformed the S&P. Insane.

Interesting that his performance was essentially identical to the S&P over the past 30 years (Sortino 0.72 vs 0.69): https://testfol.io/?s=jJ4P0GrZxLi I wonder how much is due to the market becoming more efficient, vs Berkshire's size / market impact?

Probably a bit of both. Berkshire's size means he was limited to the largest companies which are pretty well analysed.

During that period he did some different things which some of his personal money like buying stock in Dae Han Flour Mills, a Korean flour miller that was like 2 times earnings in 2003 but was probably too small a position to make sense for Berkshire. (https://www.netnethunter.com/warren-buffett-cheap-stock-pick...)

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#169

Post by epolanski »

kwanbix wrote: post #3

I will never undertand this people that live all their life working, when they clearly have the chance to retire much sooner. I will retire right away if I had 10 millions. Maybe 50 millions if I was younger than 40.

According to him he was doing what he liked.

Re: Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades

#170

Post by JumpCrisscross »

csb6 wrote: post #167
walthamstow wrote: post #10

Driving 7 minutes to work and stopping at a drive-thru to pick up McDonalds breakfast every day. The man is a true American hero.

Being genuine here - what is heroic about those two things?

> what is heroic about those two things?

America threw off a king and founded a republic. Equality is a founding value and one we still respect. A rich man keeping his habits despite his wealth, and doing so next to the rest of us, is a role model for other up and comers.

(The Romans had a similar thing about pastoral farmers. Every culture has its myth, and we like it when those in power try to live up to it.)

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