World 2nd Richest man's attitude in Life... <O></O> There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion (85% of his fortune) to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life: 1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late! 2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers. 3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town <ST1><ST1>Omaha</ST1></ST1> , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence. 4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him. 5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company. 6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. 7) He has given his CEO's only two rules. Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1. 8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television. 9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet. 10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. 11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.<O></O>
Further on Warren Buffet - his right hand man is Ajith Jain, President of Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group!
He has to at least enjoy some part of his money.. else, like all wealthy people his wealth too would go in charity and how much of that is actually used for chairty purpose is still a question mark..........
Futher on Warren Buffet - there was an article in Time magazine a while ago - an interview with both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet - they both made an interesting arguement about not leaving their wealth to their kids. In their opinions, they said that children who had to work hard to earn their living and who were not handed everything were more ambitious and strived to achieve more. Both came from middle class families and are self made millionaires. Their point was that each and every one had to earn their own millions and not inherit it. I believe that most of Buffet's money has gone into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which does a lot for world health - especially in AIDS education, etc. I saw an episode of Oprah, where Buffet's granddaughter was interviewed - if I remember correctly, she said that they were provided a good education - but after that they were on their own. Nothing was handed to them because of their last name!
Mals, chill and rest in peace. Both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet used their skills (Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.) while establishing the charities and foundations to make sure to get the max bang for their donated bucks (in other words ensured that most money goes to the actual work than for hidden administrative costs)
Greatness is what greatness does...Such people don't happen too often. Even I saw that prgm with Buffet's granddaughter. She did say that she could do with a bit of financial assistance, although it was denied to her ! I don't blame her for feeling so . L, Kamla
