Warren Buffett biography -
The best investor in the world

Warren Edward Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 30, 1930. His father was stockbroker and congressman Howard Buffett. As a kid he delivered newspapers for extra money and at the age of 11 he made his first stock investment - he bought 3 shares of Cities Service Preferred at $38. After watching the stock go down to $27 and back up to $40 he sold it and took his profit. Subsequently the stock rose to over $200 and thus started his passion for investments in the stock market.

He got his education at the University of Nebraska and since Harvard rejected him, he did his Masters at Columbia University under legendary Benjamin Graham. He went on to work for Graham at Graham-Newman and it was here that he learned some of his value investing techniques.

In 1957 he went back to his native Omaha and decided to start his own investment partnership. Several investors trusted him with their money, so together with his own $100 he started investing with the aim of beating the Dow Jones average by 10% per year. At the end of the partnership in 1969 he had done much better and average 30% return per annum where the Dow Jones Average was 7% to 11%.

One of his worst investments was a textile mill by the name of Berkshire Hathaway. Textiles was being phased out on account of the low base that it had in the east and even Warren Buffett's business skill couldn't turn the loss making company around. But like a true entrepreneur, he turned a problem into an opportunity and sold the textiles assets and turned the company shell into an investment vehicle. With some of his investors from his original partnership, he turned this into a wealth creation machine through meticulous stock investments (he had free cash flow from the insurance companies in the shell).

Much can still be said on Berkshire Hathaway - like the story of the Othmers who were 'normal' people who bequeathed over $340 million to various institutions on their death with the only clue to their wealth that they were originally from Omaha, Nebraska; or the fact that the share started out at $42 per share and are now valued at more than $60 000 per share - but I am talking about the man.

He was married to Susan Buffett until her death in 2004, though they have been separated since 1977 and he has been living with Astrid Menks. The three are said to be friends and even sign presents to their three children from Warren, Susie and Astrid.

I respect him for the way he has succeeded in not spoiling his children. In fact, he is viewed as quite a miser in relation to his kids. It is a difficult line to walk in growing a sense of self reliance in his children vs. knowing you can- and have the ability to spoil them but choosing to let them become self-sufficient instead of relying on his wealth. He went so far as to say that he wants to distribute 99% of his wealth and thus only leave 1% for his heirs. Still, $360 million can seriously spoil someone.

It is an undisputed fact that Warren Buffett is viewed as the world's best stock investor and will remain that for a while to come. If you want to get more insights into the views of the world's best investor, buy a stock of his company and you might get some invaluable pearls of wisdom from the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.