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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

#401

Post by BiteCode_dev »

agnosticmantis wrote: post #388
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.

He shamelessly advertised companies in his portfolio, whether it was always having a can of coke or candies on the table or stopping at a McDonald's in a documentary. I refuse to believe that his lifestyle was what was on display. He lived in the same house for 60 years, sure, but his private jets kept getting upgraded. Good for him, but I find the frugality theater very off putting.

Besides, the chances that you get to that age, with his good health, on a diet of Coke and McDonald's when sitting all day are very low.

Much lower than the chance it's just marketing.

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

#402

Post by sokoloff »

sizzzzlerz wrote: post #199
gbacon wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which “opulent mansions”?

He lives in the same home in Omaha that he had in the 60's. BH does not own any corporate jets but they do own NetJets that sells/leases fractional shares of their jet fleet of which Buffet uses for his travel.

They did directly own/operate aircraft in the past as well, as disclosed in letters to investors.

https://sentinel-aviation.com/blog/warren-buffett-nicknamed-...

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

#403

Post by bryanrasmussen »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #355
ronbenton wrote: post #285

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…

Maslow's hierarchy of needs would assume that there is a point beyond which extra material comfort does not make you happy or content, but it also is quite clear that there is a point at up to which it does. Most books on happiness are written for people who are long past the point where increasing their monetary inputs will increase their happiness and contentment, but it is also clear those people exist and are perhaps even in the majority of humanity.

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

#404

Post by smokel »

esseph wrote: post #367
WaxProlix wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Still, slightly more than the 0.00026% who are billionaires.

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

#405

Post by tjwebbnorfolk »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #401
agnosticmantis wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He shamelessly advertised companies in his portfolio, whether it was always having a can of coke or candies on the table or stopping at a McDonald's in a documentary. I refuse to believe that his lifestyle was what was on display. He lived in the same house for 60 years, sure, but his private jets kept getting upgraded. Good for him, but I find the frugality theater very off putting.

Besides, the chances that you get to that age, with his good health, on a diet of Coke and McDonald's when sitting all day are very low. Much lower than the chance it's just marketing.

You should read one of his many biographies. Every one of them has him drinking like 6 cherry cokes a day, and eating ham sandwiches, mcdonalds, and steak nonstop.

You don't have to believe anything, but the many people who spent the most time with him have reported on this extensively.

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

#406

Post by sokoloff »

tehjoker wrote: post #116
bawolff wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He made his billions by figuring out who were worthy people to give money to. He's not exactly curing cancer but i could think of a lot more underhanded ways to make billions. I think he is above average ethically relative to his billionaire peers.

He owns a lot of companies and keeps his distance from their reputations. Companies make money and stay on top by doing awful things. Think about coca cola and plastic pollution. Buffett has to own that when he has a controlling stake.

Berkshire owns less than 10% of Coke. That’s means Berkshire’s voice is represented in the boardroom, but is more than a factor of five from the common definition of “controlling stake”.

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

#407

Post by EliRivers »

sethev wrote: post #205

We should never idolize a person (in my opinion). Here are some things Buffet has done that I admire (notice that phrasing): - He consistently communicated with shareholders of Berkshire in a straight-forward and transparent way in his letters and annual reports. If you read these documents, I believe that you will have a solid understanding of how he built Berkshire. - He maintained a disciplined approach to investi…

"He still lives in the same home he bought when he was 28 years old."

Good for him. Big savings right there. Buying/selling/moving house can cost a fortune.

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

#408

Post by jimnotgym »

osigurdson wrote: post #44
axiolite wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Work life is quite a lot different for a working-stiff than it is for a CEO. In large part, their company is an extension of themselves. Work whatever hours you want to. Private plane to take you wherever you want to go for free, if you can come up with a work-related excuse to go there (with no need to justify not coming back for weeks). Multiple folks acting more-or-less as your personal assistants. An office bigge…

I doubt he cares that much about the company paying for things. Once you hit 10B+, all of that stuff is just noise.

In my experience of CEO's they actually do care deeply about not paying for anything if the company can pay.

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

#409

Post by mschuster91 »

EliRivers wrote: post #407
sethev wrote: post #205

We should never idolize a person (in my opinion). Here are some things Buffet has done that I admire (notice that phrasing): - He consistently communicated with shareholders of Berkshire in a straight-forward and transparent way in his letters and annual reports. If you read these documents, I believe that you will have a solid understanding of how he built Berkshire. - He maintained a disciplined approach to investi…

"He still lives in the same home he bought when he was 28 years old." Good for him. Big savings right there. Buying/selling/moving house can cost a fortune.

... which makes the need for rent control and renter protection laws obvious. When people have the "choice" between paying their landlord 5k more just because the landlord can or spending 5-10k on finding a new home and moving, landlords have all the cards.

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

#410

Post by [deleted] »

conductr wrote: post #391
twodave wrote: post #243

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.

The last one is key to my entire value system as a person. I have had some financial wins in life and try not to let it impact my day to day. I avoid, sometimes with great effort, flashy things (I’ve been tempted to by exotic cars as an example but have found if I just rent one for a day or two that urge goes away, it’s just a toy to me). I usually say I’m not materialistic, but I am at times, and what I strive to be…

[deleted]
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