Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

microcapclub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 67 posts

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#51

Post by enibundo »

Shanea93 wrote: post #31
enibundo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misspelled that asshole's name. Find another teacher.

I'm not really sure you understand the situation. A pharmaceutical company makes a drug which they priced when they acquired it a long time ago, they're the only company which makes a drug for that specific condition. The drug is priced at $13.50 per pill, which is sold in bottles of 80 pills and is covered by insurance, with a co-pay of $20. Most bottles actually cost only $1, which is a federally mandated amount fo…

I think he's a shame to my country (Albania)...

When you hear him speaking publicly you can understand the guy is a douche just by personal judgement without even needing to be influenced by the media.

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#52

Post by sfifs »

scrrr wrote: post #14
svantana wrote: post #3

Wow, that's an average 26% per year increase (for the non-inflation-adjusted data) over a 70 year timespan. That's definitely not a random walk down wall street [1]. For reference, Dow Jones seems to have about 7% per year for the same time period. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Random_Walk_Down_Wall_Street

Well, how many trades did he do? Is that number high enough to statistically determine if he is really more skilled than the average investor?

Actually, if I remember right, he said he bought ONLY when stock was under priced as per his analysis. A few big transactions a year vs. "trader" type frequent transactions.

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#54

Post by yodsanklai »

hohenheim wrote: post #48
yodsanklai wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the link. Actually, I've been watching a finance class given by the infamous Martin Shkreli (I came across it in an other HN comment recently). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARrNYyJEnFI and I've been pondering this efficiency hypothesis. Basically, he explains how to pick stocks by fundamental analysis. Very entertaining to watch how this type of investors works. However, I can't help thinking that despi…

I started watching his videos as well. Interesting stuff. But one thing that stood out for me was what he said once along the lines: "I recommend many stocks, I rarely buy stocks myself".

He says at the very beginning that he doesn't recommend investing one's own money. It's better to do it professionally with other people's money because if you mess up one year, you keep your bonuses from previous years. It makes sense!

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#55

Post by bisRepetita »

modeless wrote: post #22

To me the biggest anomaly here is the four year period from 1956 to 1960, 26 to 30, when Buffet octupled his net worth from $1M to $8M. Plenty of silicon valley engineers will have a net worth of $1M, but I think few make it to $8M. What was Buffet doing during those magical 4 years?

Leverage is one big thing. Buffet is a money manager, so he takes outside money, and make money off of that. Most of Silicon Valley engineers won't do that. 1956 is when he started taking serious outside money.

Then there is early luck and talent.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/05/warren-buffett-partnership/

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#56

Post by chestervonwinch »

> Comparing yourself to others and especially to the best performer ever in your skill/expertise is unhealthy. Don’t compare yourself to others.

And yet here I am anyway, nearing almost 30, still in graduate school, wondering if I'll ever know what it's like to have a reasonable amount in savings, let alone a "net worth" :)

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#57

Post by kale »

oli5679 wrote: post #28

Buffet's approach of combining high leverage with low growth 'value' equities is a large part of his great performance. This is not to say there isn't a skill in noticing the benefits of this approach and convincing creditors and investors to let you take on all the debt, but a surprisingly small proportion of these gains are due to stock picking. http://xqdoc.imedao.com/150c22613c69373fe2602a80.pdf

Can anyone really know what the root of his great performance is? If anyone did, wouldn't they be as successful?

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#58

Post by oneloop »

I've only started caring about money a couple of years ago, so no point comparing 14-year old me with anyone in terms of money.

What gets me is how much more creative successful people were when they were young. Fishing and re-selling golf balls? Pinball business?? When I was 14 I was too busy with computer games.

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#59

Post by thebasuboy »

yodsanklai wrote: post #7
svantana wrote: post #3

Wow, that's an average 26% per year increase (for the non-inflation-adjusted data) over a 70 year timespan. That's definitely not a random walk down wall street [1]. For reference, Dow Jones seems to have about 7% per year for the same time period. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Random_Walk_Down_Wall_Street

Thanks for the link. Actually, I've been watching a finance class given by the infamous Martin Shkreli (I came across it in an other HN comment recently). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARrNYyJEnFI and I've been pondering this efficiency hypothesis. Basically, he explains how to pick stocks by fundamental analysis. Very entertaining to watch how this type of investors works. However, I can't help thinking that despi…

Taleb's "fooled by randomness" is often misquoted as attributing performance to luck rather than skill, but it actually explores the idea that returns are affected more by variability rather than the return itself in the short run. That is, one will not do oneself better by watching the market, but rather investing for the long run.

I've worked in the investments industry a long time now, and I've come to realize that the market is great at coming to a consensus, not necessarily the right one. It's the job of an investor (much like an entrepreneur) to have a different thesis from the rest of the market, have conviction that they are right, and then be right.

That being said, the market, especially the US equity markets, are predominantly efficient. Alpha can be found outside the mainstream, however.

Re: Warren Buffett's Net Worth by Age

#60

Post by ethanbond »

markild wrote: post #42
slazaro wrote: post #10

Just a warning: The X-axis in the graph is not regularly spaced: some labels on the bars are separated by 3 years, some by up to 13.

It looks like a logarithmic axis. A nice way to think of it is that a linear line on a logarithmic axis would look exponential on a linear axis.

But it's not a logarithmic axis, so...
Post reply on HN