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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

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

You don’t have time to do those things if you are poor and working 2-3 jobs. Properly budgeting and analyzing costs takes a lot of time, and unexpected expenses and cost of living increases destroy your budget a lot more than McDonald’s.

Cooking at home saves you time if you do it right. A slow cooker, frozen meat, frozen veg, stock powder. Cook a batch and put into containers for the week. It’s not hard to develop a healthy, cheap, quick approach to eating. Most people find ways to keep justifying their existing opinions, that’s the real problem of poverty. It’s rare that people adopt an experimental approach to their problems to learn unexpected solutions. So to my mind, poor is more about being rigid, rather than a lack resources.

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

#362
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That wasn't their main thing. The main one was to buy stocks or companies for less than they were worth, either because the market mispriced them or because company owners wanted to retire and sell to Berkshire. They also were big into insurance float which is getting insurance premium money that doesn't have to be paid out for a while which provides a kind of free leverage. Buffett did a lot of other things too.

I think over the last few decades, he could make deals just because the Buffett name held so much influence. If Buffett was investing, then others could assume that the company won't go bankrupt.

That's certainly part of it, but in the "buying mispriced assets" category, Buffer made some very smart, large bets. During the Great Financial Crisis, BH made a $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs that eventually made them billions in profit when everyone else was running for the hills.

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

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You can buy a bigger and bigger house car tv stereo whatever, but it will not make you happy. Well that seems like an assumption! Plenty of people are happier with nicer things. I don't think we need to tell people what should make them happy.

That happy feeling only lasts about six weeks. Happiness is unsustainable. However, contentment is an attainable goal.

I bought a bigger nicer TV (the biggest I ever bought) about 4 years ago and it still brings me joy to this day every time I use it

So no, not only 6 weeks

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

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The house he bought at 28 is 3500 square feet in a very very nice neighborhood and was worth $1.2 million a few years ago. It's humble by billionaire standards, not by average person standards. He never needed to size-up because of children, or size-down because of a bad economy, he was already set for both space and finances. Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need.

You say "it's humble by billionaire standards" - I think it's relatively humble by ~$300k a year standards. The thing I love about this house is that I think it represents just about the maximum real utility one can get from a home. He had 3 kids, and a 3500 sq ft house is, IMO, an extremely average size for any decently paid professional where I live with a family that size. It basically looks like something that ha…

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

#365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, however I don’t think the last two of your bullets are necessarily something to learn from on the surface.

Avoiding scaling your lifestyle with tour current wealth seems like an extremely important lesson people could learn here. Very few people know what "enough" means to them. Its probably worth noting that I mean "enough" in the context of consumption and physical goods. "Enough" wealth doesn't really matter, its only a number in a database or a piece of paper until you spend it.

To a certain extent this is true. You shouldn’t be going into debt just because your income level allows you to get more loans etc. But once you reach a certain income threshold it doesn’t really matter.

So what was the point of him living a frugal, simple lifestyle? I would argue that its just something he was used to and found joy in, and thats ok. Some people like that. Others might want to use their money to unlock new experiences that come with it. Thats ok too.

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

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You can buy a bigger and bigger house car tv stereo whatever, but it will not make you happy. Well that seems like an assumption! Plenty of people are happier with nicer things. I don't think we need to tell people what should make them happy.

> Plenty of people are happier with nicer things. Are they truly happier, in the sense of being more content? Or are they just deriving more temporary pleasure from the hedonic treadmill they're on? You can probably tell which one it is, by how long their happiness with their house / car / TV / fill-in-the-blank lasts, before they start thinking about trading up to an even nicer fill-in-the-blank. Buddhist monk Matth…

This is a deeply personal decision and I categorically reject any kind of moralization around frugality.

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

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The house he bought at 28 is 3500 square feet in a very very nice neighborhood and was worth $1.2 million a few years ago. It's humble by billionaire standards, not by average person standards. He never needed to size-up because of children, or size-down because of a bad economy, he was already set for both space and finances. Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need.

It's insanely humble by billionaire standards. Any FAANG SWE over 30 or so in the United States can get that. Contrast with multiple compounds, entire islands, etc.

> Any FAANG SWE

That is so few people.

So, so, few people.

Rough lookup says less than 150,000 people in the US, or 0.044% of the US population.

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

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always salute at the McDonalds drive-thru.

McDonalds has healthy food options. Getting a quarter pounder, a salad, and a cup of water is reasonably healthy. It's the soda and the shakes and the fries that'll getcha.

I used to enjoy the salads at McDonald’s, but it’s been a few years since I’ve seen them on the menu.

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

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, however I don’t think the last two of your bullets are necessarily something to learn from on the surface.

Avoiding scaling your lifestyle with tour current wealth seems like an extremely important lesson people could learn here. Very few people know what "enough" means to them. Its probably worth noting that I mean "enough" in the context of consumption and physical goods. "Enough" wealth doesn't really matter, its only a number in a database or a piece of paper until you spend it.

Not only that, but it’s important. Needless to say I am not comparing net-worths :) My rent spend started increasing around 4-5th year (steeply) of starting my first job and I saw it and kinda stopped/curbed it at somewhere like 7th year. It has remained there (give or take) because it had reached a really good level (below luxury or ultra premium so to speak) wrt my city’s general rental trends and spends (of course inflation factored in). It’s been 8 years since and I have been without a job for last two years (a bit by choice, if certain things can really be called choice) and pretty much my other spending trends also kinda plateaued around those years (experience spends kept going up slowly but I find them easier to manage). I can’t explain how much it has helped me when I have been living on savings for straight 2 years now. Not just the specific relative smaller amount but more so the predictability of it.

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

#370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, however I don’t think the last two of your bullets are necessarily something to learn from on the surface.

Disagree. The last one is important. You can buy a bigger and bigger house car tv stereo whatever, but it will not make you happy.

That’s because you haven’t tried buying better bicycles. I assure you that every new bike I buy makes me happier.
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