UPDATED MARCH 2012
“Warren Buffett ... is our most successful investor and this book explains why. A great way to start on your path to prosperity.”
– Larry Kudlow, host of The Kudlow Report and Morning Call on CNBC.
“The most insightful analysis of Buffett and Berkshire I’ve ever read.”
– Vitaliy N. Katsenelson, author of the “Little Book on Sideways Markets.”
“An excellent, easy-to-read book that provides insight into how Warren Buffett works his magic. I am buying copies for my kids who are in their 20’s. Might as well start young at understanding how to manage and make money.”
—Kim Wisckol, retired executive, Hewlett-Packard Company.
“Clear-eyed, honest and invaluable. Jeff Matthews is a great writer.”
—Bethany McLean, author of “The Smartest Guys In The Room.”
HOW DID WARREN BUFFETT DO IT?
How did Warren Buffett become the world's richest man? The greatest investor of our times? America's most successful business executive? Jeff Matthews, a 30-year Wall Street veteran and incisive Buffett watcher, travels to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting each year to unlock the “secrets” behind Buffett’s success as an investor and CEO. Matthews's findings: Buffett’s "secrets" are in plain sight, and 42 of them are in this book, including secrets uncovered at the 2011 annual meeting and from Buffett's activities in early 2012. Secrets include:
SECRET # 9: READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN
This is the first advice Warren Buffett gives to aspiring investors, and he isn’t kidding. “By the age of 10,” he says, “I’d read every book in the Omaha Public Library with the word ‘finance’ in the title, some twice.” Buffett’s reading habits did not stop there: he still reads thousands of financial statements and annual reports each year, and acquaintances who’ve shared rides on NetJets with Buffett report that he’ll chitchat briefly and then start reading from a stack of material. But Buffett doesn’t steer investors toward any particular investment style. Instead, he advises reading everything possible to find the style that suits you. Says the world’s best investor: “If it turns you on, it probably will work for you.”
SECRET #13: BE OPEN-MINDED. YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE YOU WILL FIND OPPORTUNITY.
Buffett originally spurned an opportunity to buy a small California-based boxed chocolate maker in the early 1970s. “I don’t think we want to be in the candy business,” he told the caller. At the time, Berkshire was mainly an insurance company. After looking hard at the numbers, however, and with the encouragement of his California-based business partner, Charlie Munger, Buffett changed his mind and they bought See’s Candies for a mere $25 million. It was one of the greatest acquisitions any company would ever make, and it happened because Warren Buffett was open-minded.
SECRET #15: LOOK FOR LOLLAPALOOZA IDEAS.
Buffett and Munger believe another key to investment success is to assiduously search for a few “lollapalooza” ideas … and when you do find them, make a major commitment. “You really want one that you don’t have to sell,” says Charlie Munger. “Then you can sit on your a__ for 30 years.”
SECRET #30: WORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING—NOBODY ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU.
“I don’t want to have the chances of having something go wrong to be slim, I wanna have it be none,” says Warren Buffett. “There’s no way I can assign that to a risk committee.” It is no coincidence that Berkshire Hathaway was one of the few financial companies in the world that required no bailout during the crisis. Says Buffett, “I worry about everything at Berkshire.”
JEFF MATTHEWS OFFERS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE
Jeff Matthews is not like most Buffett watchers, and this book is not like most Buffett books: it is an easy to read, even-handed evaluation of Warren Buffett’s business and investing acumen by an astute, analytical value-based investment manager. It is also the first and only "updatable" Buffett book.
FREE UPDATES IN 2012
Updates are free to purchasers of this book.
“Warren Buffett ... is our most successful investor and this book explains why. A great way to start on your path to prosperity.”
– Larry Kudlow, host of The Kudlow Report and Morning Call on CNBC.
“The most insightful analysis of Buffett and Berkshire I’ve ever read.”
– Vitaliy N. Katsenelson, author of the “Little Book on Sideways Markets.”
“An excellent, easy-to-read book that provides insight into how Warren Buffett works his magic. I am buying copies for my kids who are in their 20’s. Might as well start young at understanding how to manage and make money.”
—Kim Wisckol, retired executive, Hewlett-Packard Company.
“Clear-eyed, honest and invaluable. Jeff Matthews is a great writer.”
—Bethany McLean, author of “The Smartest Guys In The Room.”
HOW DID WARREN BUFFETT DO IT?
How did Warren Buffett become the world's richest man? The greatest investor of our times? America's most successful business executive? Jeff Matthews, a 30-year Wall Street veteran and incisive Buffett watcher, travels to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting each year to unlock the “secrets” behind Buffett’s success as an investor and CEO. Matthews's findings: Buffett’s "secrets" are in plain sight, and 42 of them are in this book, including secrets uncovered at the 2011 annual meeting and from Buffett's activities in early 2012. Secrets include:
SECRET # 9: READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN
This is the first advice Warren Buffett gives to aspiring investors, and he isn’t kidding. “By the age of 10,” he says, “I’d read every book in the Omaha Public Library with the word ‘finance’ in the title, some twice.” Buffett’s reading habits did not stop there: he still reads thousands of financial statements and annual reports each year, and acquaintances who’ve shared rides on NetJets with Buffett report that he’ll chitchat briefly and then start reading from a stack of material. But Buffett doesn’t steer investors toward any particular investment style. Instead, he advises reading everything possible to find the style that suits you. Says the world’s best investor: “If it turns you on, it probably will work for you.”
SECRET #13: BE OPEN-MINDED. YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE YOU WILL FIND OPPORTUNITY.
Buffett originally spurned an opportunity to buy a small California-based boxed chocolate maker in the early 1970s. “I don’t think we want to be in the candy business,” he told the caller. At the time, Berkshire was mainly an insurance company. After looking hard at the numbers, however, and with the encouragement of his California-based business partner, Charlie Munger, Buffett changed his mind and they bought See’s Candies for a mere $25 million. It was one of the greatest acquisitions any company would ever make, and it happened because Warren Buffett was open-minded.
SECRET #15: LOOK FOR LOLLAPALOOZA IDEAS.
Buffett and Munger believe another key to investment success is to assiduously search for a few “lollapalooza” ideas … and when you do find them, make a major commitment. “You really want one that you don’t have to sell,” says Charlie Munger. “Then you can sit on your a__ for 30 years.”
SECRET #30: WORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING—NOBODY ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU.
“I don’t want to have the chances of having something go wrong to be slim, I wanna have it be none,” says Warren Buffett. “There’s no way I can assign that to a risk committee.” It is no coincidence that Berkshire Hathaway was one of the few financial companies in the world that required no bailout during the crisis. Says Buffett, “I worry about everything at Berkshire.”
JEFF MATTHEWS OFFERS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE
Jeff Matthews is not like most Buffett watchers, and this book is not like most Buffett books: it is an easy to read, even-handed evaluation of Warren Buffett’s business and investing acumen by an astute, analytical value-based investment manager. It is also the first and only "updatable" Buffett book.
FREE UPDATES IN 2012
Updates are free to purchasers of this book.
