Warren Buffett is probably the most influential and famous investor. He is ranked third in the list of the Forbes World's Billionaires of 2016. The irreplaceable chairman of one of the largest companies in the world Berkshire Hathaway began to trade stocks at the age of 11. At that period of time he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred by paying $38 per share, then he sold them and earned $5. After a few days, the stocks of Cities Services increased 5 times. Since then, Buffett decided that he would never hurry. “The best time to sell a stock is never” – this became the main principle of his work.
The famous trader considers the purchase of Benjamin Graham’s book “Intelligent investor” to be the best investment of his life. After reading the book, he came to the idea that for achieving success one does not need to be a genius, since all she needs is to understand trading psychology: hold back emotions and develop a clear system for making decisions. Graham was Buffett’s teacher at the University in the District of Columbia, and later he offered Buffett a job in his company. After working two years, in 1957 Buffett opened his own investment company “Buffett Associates”, the shares of which rose by 250% over five years.
Since 1962, Buffett started to buy shares of a textile mill Berkshire Hathaway, which was in deep crisis at that period of time. By 1965, he became the majority shareholder and the head of the company. Under the leadership of Buffett, all the income of Berkshire Hathaway was directed to the purchase of securities and extension of company’s activity. Buffett paid dividends for his shares only once in 1967 and that was a dividend of 10 cents. All the income of Berkshire Hathaway was invested in new investments. Buffett was greatly interested in insurance business. Currently, Berkshire Hathaway manages assets in various sectors of the economy: insurance, publishing business, wholesale and retail trade, electric and gas utilities, rail transport, etc. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list, Berkshire is the world’s fourth largest public company of 2016 and the first among American companies.
Warren Buffett’s Millionaires Club
Several hundred Americans, who believed in the future of Berkshire Hathaway and in the 1970s invested in the stocks of the company, are now millionaires.
Frank Fitzpatrick, a lawyer from Nevada, bought 200 shares of Berkshire Hathaway in 1976 paying $ 40 per share. By 1995, the stock prices rose to $25.000 and by selling his shares he was able to buy a house, leave a legacy to his children, and the rest of the funds transfer to charity.
Jim Halperin, an owner of a rare-coin auction company from Dallas, bought his first Berkshire shares in the middle of the 1990s for $30.000 per share. Now they are worth nearly $200.000 per share, and its package is worth $20 million.
Buffett has always stood out for his modesty and unpretentiousness. The billionaire lives in a house, which he bought in 1958 for just $31,500, drives a car and has breakfast in McDonald’s. Buffett is also famous for his large-scale philanthropy. In 2010, he transferred half of his fortune (nearly $37 billion) to five charitable foundations.
