Why Do So Many People Admire Warren Buffett?
Anyone with billions of dollars is likely to be admired by a certain segment of society that measures the worth of a person by the amount of money they possess. At last count, Warren Buffett was estimated to be worth in excess of $40 billion dollars. That’s 40 billion reasons to admire the man. The moment Warren Buffett’s net worth vanishes, this group of admirers will quickly lose interest in him and re-focus their attention on whoever happens to be wealthy at the moment.
Another group of admirers place more of an emphasis on the spectacular returns Warren Buffett has generated through his stock market investments. The billions of dollars he has accumulated are merely a reflection of his success as an investor. In other words, the focus of the admiration isn’t so much on the amount of money Warren Buffett has made, but rather, in his miraculous ability to nearly always make winning investments. Warren Buffett’s reputation as a genius stock picker is so deeply cemented in the minds of most investors that a string of bad investments is unlikely to shake the mythic level of admiration in which he is regarded by this group of people. And really, the admiration is deserved, because Warren Buffett has distinguished himself as a “one of a kind” investor throughout his entire career.
Warren Buffett is renowned for being accessible, friendly, down to earth, charming, intelligent, and thrifty. In fact, his car bares a vanity license plate that has the word “thrifty” on it. Having tremendous wealth yet possessing the aforementioned traits is profoundly admirable. There is undoubtedly a group of admirers who choose to focus on the fact that Warren Buffett could easily be someone waiting in line next to you at a Dairy Queen, even though he owns Dairy Queen!
Finally, there is what might be described as a hybrid group of admirers - a group of people who defy simple categorization. For example, there are likely those who admire Warren Buffett because he is a billionaire, because he is an amazing stock picker, and because he is friendly, down to earth, and thrifty. It’s the whole package.
So… why do you admire Warren Buffett?
The Warren Buffett Center
News for people interested in Warren Buffett, stocks, investing, and personal finance.
