HAVE WARREN BUFFETT GUIDING YOUR NEW YEAR

American investor Warren Buffett is the fourth richest man in the world. His $80b fortune has been built over the last seventy or so years by investing in good companies either off the stock exchange or by buying them outright.

Through long experience he has developed a way of thinking about business and life that is simple, straight to the point and has earned huge success

You cannot do better than borrow some of his wisdom to take you through 2019.

On life …

1.       “The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging”

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”

This say the more or less the same thing differently.  In the New Year evaluate yourself there are those things or people who keep taking and taking and never giving back, getting rid of them will make you better off instantaneously.

2.      “There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?” 

Buffett turned 88 in August and has the benefit of experience and wisdom in saying this. To the rest of us trying to make something of our lives this advice can seem rather impractical in the face of mounting bills.

But if you think about it, if you do what you enjoy you will be able to surmount the obstacles to make it a successful and even profitable endeavour.

3.       “It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behaviour is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”

Hanging out with people who are your equals or worse, are lesser than you, will keep you in your comnfort zone which not where growth happens. To grow into greater success you need to burst out and feel the discomfort.

In the New Year audit your friends and general environment.

4.       “Chains of habit are to light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken”

Watch out the habits you adopt. Enough said.

5.       “Honesty is an expensive gift, don’t expect it from cheap people”

Life is so much smoother when you trust the people around you. Mistrust is expensive and can lead one to do things you would not ordinarily do and that would be detrimental to your future plans and wellbeing.

On business ….

1.       “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing”

So the way to minimise risk is to increase one’s knowledge. The moe knowledge you havet he risk you can take on and still be successful.

2.      “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” 

This should be at the foundation of human resource process. It would save a lot of time and stolen money.

3.      "No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."

 What an investor needs is the ability to correctly evaluate selected businesses. Note that word “selected”: you don’t have to be an expert on every company, or even many. You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.

4.      "You can't make a good deal with a bad person."

This should help with dispelling the fallacy or ego trip we so often make when we think that just because someone was dishonest or scheming with other people they will not be the same with you.

If he has conned someone before or reneged on a deal before chances are they will do it again so stay clear.

There is very little commentary you can add to Buffett’s words of wisdom, he is often straight and to the point. You pay attention because he has not only lived a long and full life, but also because he has been widely successful financially without drama and theatrics.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!