SUCCESS STORY
The Buffett Legacy
By Jacob Vang | Chemistry Major
Cruising down the street on his bike, Warren Buffett passes the first house. Gripping onto the handlebar with his right hand, he swings his left hand over his head and flings a bundle of newspaper onto the lawn. Warren Buffett is an ambitious teen working his way to earn his own money. He always had new ideas and paid attention to the finest detail when it came to investments. Did the newspaper boy know that he would end up becoming one of America’s richest men? Was this his plan all along, or did he become successful through a series of lucky breaks?
Multi-billionaire Warren Edward Buffett donates a record-breaking amount of 85 percent of his entire fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in June, 2006. It’s no surprise that one of the wealthiest man can is able to donate his entire fortune, but how did he gain his fortune? Buffett was running his own business as a paperboy and writing his own horseracing tip sheet at the age of thirteen. He even filed his first tax return by claiming his bike as a thirty-five dollar tax deduction. (Bio) Buffett made his own money while other thirteen year olds were still asking their parents for money. With smarts like this, there’s no wonder how someone became so wealthy, but was that really the only contributing factor? Malcolm Gladwell, the writer of the book Outliers, would say no; it’s not the only contributing factor. In fact, it’s only one of many factors of success.
Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music conducted an experiment in the early 1990s. They focused on the school’s violinists’ talents and divided them up into three groups, ranking the first group as world-class soloist, the second to be merely good and the third to be the ones who were unlikely to every play professionally. Their results were that they couldn’t find any musician who had the “natural” ability to be able to just pick up and play an instrument. Thus, the people who worked hard to be on top didn’t just work hard, they worked much, much harder than any of the other musicians. (Gladwell, Outliers. 39) The idea of this is that you can’t just work hard, you have to be able to take time to work hard and gain experience: The 10,000 hour rule.
The Chinese are one of the fastest growing nations, both in population and industry. Gladwell would this is because of their use of language and their efforts of working hard. Have you ever thought about why they’re so good at math? No, this isn’t racism, it’s actually quite true. “Chinese number words are remarkably brief…. For instance, 4 is ‘si’ and 7 is ‘qi’. Their English equivalents — ‘four,’ ‘seven’ — are longer: pronouncing them takes about one-third of a second.” (Gladwell, Outliers. 228) With this, the Chinese are already thinking and calculating faster. It would take about two-thirds of a second less, than the English language, to think about a number. With this, they are already getting their 10,000 hours faster than Americans. This is an important skill, especially when it comes to growing rice, because it takes an enormous amount of hard labor, measuring and perfection to get the rice to grow just right. Counting how many rows needed, they can take little amounts of time to calculate exactly what they need.
Along the hills of China, there are many layers upon layers and rows of rice paddies. Rice paddies are built and not just simply opened-up like wheat fields. The rice plants grow in the water. If the water is too high or too low, the rice plants will not grow right and therefore, there won’t be any food. The water level needs to be perfect for the rice to be able to grow. The Chinese are willing to power through this tough labor to ensure that they’ll have food for their families and for their children. Having this tough style of farming, their calculations have to be spot on perfect. Rice can’t just be ripped from their roots either. They have to be hand-picked in order to keep the rice paddies and the plants just how they are. So without tractors or any other kind of machinery to help harvest the rice, the Chinese power through to get the job done, because they know that if they don’t finish, there won’t be any food for the coming season. Buffett worked his way through research of stocks to find the best investment. He received his first couple hours spending it at his father’s office, studying every stock he could.
The Beatles are one of the most well-known bands. They are arguably one of the best bands ever formed. How did they become so good at what they do? John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr landed in America in February of 1964, which sparked the invasion of British music in America. They played in clubs all over England, even after arriving in America. They played a total of 172 hours within two years, 1960 to 1962, traveling to Hamburg five times. By the time they reached their peak of success in 1964, they have already performed live approximately twelve hundred times. (Gladwell, Outliers. 49–50) Philip Norman, writer of the Beatles biography Shout, commented that “they were no good onstage when they went there, and they were very good when they came back… when they came back, they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.” (Gladwell, Outliers. 50) They wouldn’t have achieved this if it weren’t for their countless hours of practice. Practice really pays off. For Buffett, his practice was the patience he took while waiting searching through his stocks and investments.
Buffett wrote down every price to every stock he can see. The black chalkboard in his father’s office was the only thing keeping him occupied. Contemplating on which stock to buy, he reads news articles about stocks and goes over every price drop and rise on that day for that particular stock. He finally decided on one and bought it: three shares of Cities Service preferred at thirty-eight dollars per share. Buffett holds on to his commitments as he watches the price of it fall to only twenty-seven dollars per share. He continued to watch it slowly rise and fall as the day went by. Regretting that he sold his shares so soon at forty dollars per share, Cities Service shot up to nearly two-hundred dollars per share. This was one of many lessons Buffett learned: be patient. (Bio) Carol Loomis, an editor for Fortune and a close friend of Buffett, read an annual report from Buffett and that she remembers that “…he was making a point about needing to have patience investing. And he said ‘you can’t make a baby in a month if you get nine women pregnant.’” (Bio, video) Buffett even shows his wisdom through humor. This is one of Buffett’s lucky breaks. Buffett had his first taste of investment; his first initial “high,” and he was hooked.
After getting laid-off, Buffett’s father served as a U.S. congressman in Washington D.C. (“Warren Edward Buffett”) There, Buffett and a friend bought a pinball machine and placed it in a barbershop, and they kept fifty percent of the earnings. With the profit from the pinball machine, they were then able to buy more machines and place them in different locations. Before moving back to Omaha, Buffett and his friend sold the business to a war veteran. (Bio) Buffett’s childhood was the childhood any kid could dream of. Moving to Washington D.C. was one of Buffett’s lucky breaks. Buffett would have never met his friend and come up with such an amazing idea to make money. They did not have to do any type of labor work for their income they received. Instead of selling lemonade like the rest of the kids, Buffett ran his own business. Instead of asking for a new bike, he claimed his for a tax deduction. Instead of wasting money away on playing pinball machines all day, he bought one so that other kids could waste away theirs. If it weren’t for his father moving the family to Washington D.C., there wouldn’t have been this initial spark that led to Buffett’s on-going roar of spirited success.
Clint Smith was in the depths of the dark as he was shooting water at his friend in the hotel parking lot. Hiding and running by every car. All of a sudden, he felt something grabbing onto his forearm with an unfamiliar grip, dragging him into the hotel room. His father says to him “Son I’m sorry. But you can’t act the same as your white friends. You can’t pretend to shoot guns. You can’t run around in the dark. You can’t hide behind anything other than your own teeth.” (Smith) As a child, Smith couldn’t be like his white friends. He didn’t understand why his parents told him to do the chores that he did. He didn’t live the worry-free life his white friends did. Smith felt as if his childhood had to be stripped away, just so he could come home at night. (Smith) Buffett’s childhood life is the exact opposite of Smith’s childhood. No worries about the next day, no worries about police coming after him, and most importantly, no worries about surviving in the future. Especially with what’s going on in the world today, African Americans live life in a tougher world than the average Caucasian. There’s racism everywhere. Living a life where you feel like you’re a walking target can limit you and your full potential. For Smith, he was lucky enough to break free from being a target and became a poet and poetry teacher, also giving speeches about the real struggle and truth about living a black life in America.
The region of the lowlands of Scotland, the northern counties of England and Ulster in Northern Ireland were known as the borderlands. Remote and lawless territories that had been fought over for hundreds of years were home to herdsmen, scraping out a living on rocky and infertile land. The people of this region were steeped in violence and only respond to harshness and turmoil of their own environment, forming tight family bonds with loyalty to blood placed above all. These were the kind of people who migrated to the foothills of the Appalachians. The Howards and the Tuners were the two families who had one of the most well-known feuds. Constant taunts, brutal killings and endless revenge; no one knew how to stop it. (Gladwell, Outliers. 165–166) Why did they behave like this? Their ancestors from the borderlands lived their lives the same way. These tough farmers who took care of the very little they had will protect what they have regardless of the consequences. It was kill or be killed. They farm the very littlest they have to keep themselves alive and they didn’t let anyone stop them. This is their family’s way of living, their system of survival, it is their family’s legacy.
We now clearly understand that family legacy plays an important part in every child’s life. Whether we look at Smith’s life, the Howards’ or the Turners’ lives, or even Buffett’s, any individual’s family legacy is the foundation to how they will sprout into the world. It’s the beginning to anyone’s first couple hours of 10,000; and with 10,000 hours, it can lead you to your lucky breaks and opportunities. Buffett achieved his 10,000 hours because of his father. Early experience and early hours mean early opportunities. It’s where he got his first taste of excitement, adrenaline, and his first taste of money. If his father never worked as a stockbroker and never took Buffett to the office with him, his life would have turned out different. Buffett would have never thought of ways to make money. His unique ideas would have never formed. He wouldn’t be he friendly and patient Warren Buffett we know today. Without his family’s legacy that led to his lucky breaks, Buffett would have never accomplished his 10,000 hours. For Smith, this wasn’t the case. He had to limit his 10,000 hours, he had to limit his potential for success. He felt as if his childhood had to be limited just because he was black. Even though Smith still became successful in his own way and he’s doing what he loves, he still could have been more than what he desired.
With enough hours, any person can instantly master a skill and be able to realize right from wrong. Buffett is one of the greatest investors because he mastered the skill to make smart investments and know exactly what to invest in and what not to, thanks to his 10,000 hours. Buffett can now “thin-slice” his investment decisions. The Gladwellian idea of thin-slicing is the process of which one takes into account small information in pieces, or slices. (Blink) Buffett is one of the greatest investors because he knows how to thin slice, right?
The Buffett Partnership firm, founded in 1956, bought stock in the undervalued Berkshire Hathaway at eight dollars per share. As the Buffett Partnership was liquidated, Buffett retained the stock in Berkshire Hathaway. He bought a numerous amount of insurance companies, which allowed resources to buy even more companies and fold them into Berkshire. Its value sky rocketed to as high as $80,000 per share in 1998. But, share prices fell to nearly $40,000 in the early 2000 and recovered to $60,000 by December. Buffett was criticized by the press for sticking to his value investments after, Berkshire’s share price fell. (“Warren Edward Buffett”) Even one of the greatest investors can make a mistake, simply by not looking into enough detail. Is that really the case? Berkshire’s investments totaled to $141 billion by 2007. (“Warren Edward Buffett”) Thin-slicing isn’t always the most effective. Even with his 10,000 hours, Buffett’s patience was the helping hand to his thin-slices.
Still cruising along, he passes the second house and flings another bundle onto the yard. By this time, Buffett was living the childhood life any kid could imagine. He owned his own paper with his own horseracing tip sheet. He wasn’t just selling lemonade, he was making real money. Buffett was a thirteen year old with the smarts and ambition of a twenty year old. Hard work isn’t the only thing that pays off. You can’t just work hard and not gain any knowledge as you go along. Buffett learned that you have to be patient while investing. He learned it the hard way when he could have made more money than he thought. Of course, Buffett had his father who was a stockbroker. That’s where Buffett had his first exposure to investments. With patience, and close studies to how each stock should be invested. His hours of patience led him to smart investments and more money. Moving to Washington D.C., Buffett met his friend and came up with a brilliant idea making a fortune from the business and selling that business for a profit they thought they would never see in their life. Buffett is the founder and still the current CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a company that manages other smaller companies. (Bio) Buffett’s current net worth is about seventy-two billion dollars, ranking in the top ten wealthiest men. (Wiki) Buffett’s family, his hours and his opportunities truly show that it’s not just about working hard to achieve dreams and become successful; you need knowledge, lucky breaks, and you need your family to help you with it all.
Works Cited
Ericsson, K. Anders, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely. “The Making Of An Expert. (Cover Story).” Harvard Business Review 85.7/8 (2007): 114–121. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. Mar. 2015.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005. Print
— -. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Print
Smith, Clint. “How to raise a black son in America”. TED. April, 2015. Lecture.
“Warren Buffett.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. May 2015.
“Warren Buffett” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. May. 2015.
“Warren Edward Buffett”. Hutchison’s Biography Database. 2011. P.1, 2p. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. Feb. 2015.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jacob Vang, a Bethel University Chemistry Major from Blaine, Minnesota, seeks to become a pharmacist and owner of his own pharmacy. Vang likes relaxing at the lake with his fishing pole in his hand, Fuddruckers’ one-pound custom hamburger, even though he can never finish it, and cruising through the city in his pearl white 2001 Honda Prelude.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Use specifics over general information and description. Your readers will have a better understanding of your ideas, if you let them.
Success isn’t just about working hard. It takes experience (10,000 hours) and opportunities that come your way from experiences.
Writing original sentences grab more attention. Nobody wants to hear the same old sentence that’s been over used. Readers want something new and original.
Family matters. Your family is the foundation to success. No matter where you go to find your pieces to complete your success, your family is there for your support.
Knowing what to leave out in your writing is the key to a great paper. Having all of that extra, useless words just makes it boring.
The smartest isn’t always the most successful. Sometimes you have to sacrifice many parts of your lives to become the smartest: your social life, love life, and even family. Without these parts of your life, how are you going to know how to connect with the people around you?
Great stories start with questions. Leave the reader with questions and let them think. Engaging them this way draws them deeper into your writings.
The disadvantages in your life aren’t always what’s going to bring you down. It’s the criticism and reflection in your life of what you are doing wrong. You need to be able to let that in and use it to better yourself.
Give the reader gold coins. Gold coins are the moments that allows the reader to follow with what’s going to happen next.
Use your surroundings to your advantage. Your unconscious mind is always looking for clues and details that help you remember things you may have forgotten. As soon as your unconscious mind realizes what it’s missing, it triggers the memory to come back, hitting you like wave of bullets.
Appealing to the senses are much more interesting than just dull grey “he did this” and “she did that” descriptions. Allowing the reader to feel what you feel lets the reader to sink into your moment.
Using authentic dialogue in your writings let your reader feel the reality of the stories you tell. The reader can easily read a dialogue and say “no body says that!” And instantly, you’ve lost their interest.
Naming the dog lets the readers feel the moment. It’s just like naming an actual dog. Once you name it, you have a connection to it. When writing anything, if you name that specific object or person or event, the reader will have a better connection.
Make your reader wait. Using suspense in your writing is a good technique to make your audience read. Make them want to find out what’s going to happen next.
My brother, Sou, graduated from Bethel University with a Computer Science Major. Even in his high school years, he always dreamed of owning his own land. He loved hunting and fishing, and he’s one of the reasons why I do. In the fall of 2014, he found a piece of land, just a little north of the city of Mora, Minnesota. As we went to go look at it and take a drive around it, he liked it but he wasn’t satisfied. There was no house on the land. It’s an hour away, how are we going to enjoy our own land if we can’t even be there for more than a day without camping out with the mosquitoes? Walking off the land with a bit of disappointment, Sou thought he’d drive around to see how the surroundings of the land were. Right next to the land we just looked at was a small yellow house with about 80 acres woods. Instantly he said to all of us in the car “Man, if only this house was for sale. I’ll definitely buy it.” About six months later, it was. He quickly contacted an agent to schedule an appointment. We all took a trip to Mora again. Sou loved it. All that’s left was to make an offer. Sou did his research of the values of the properties in the surrounding area and made the most reasonable offer. On May 15, 2015, it was closing day. The little yellow house and the 80 acres is now under the hands of Sou. With patience and valuable time, you can achieve your dreams as you strive for it. Never forget your dreams and never give up.
