Warren Buffett

        

 Warren Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and only son of U.S. Representative Howard Buffett and his wife Leila (née Stahl). Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School in Omaha. After moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School, and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947

        Even as a child, Buffett displayed an interest in making and saving money. He went door to door selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola, or weekly magazines. While still in high school he was successful in making money by delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps, and detailing cars, among other means. In 1945, in his sophomore year of high school, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in different barber shops.

       Buffett's interest in the stock market and investing also dated to his childhood. At the age of 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister. By the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated more than $90,000 in savings measured in 2009 dollars.

       Warren Buffett was employed from 1951–54 at Buffett-Falk & Co., Omaha as an investment salesman, from 1954–1956 at Graham-Newman Corp., New York as a securities analyst, from 1956–1969 at Buffett Partnership, Ltd., Omaha as a general partner and from 1970 – Present at Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Omaha as its Chairman, CEO.

       In 1954, Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. His starting salary was $12,000 a year. In 1956, Benjamin Graham retired and closed his partnership. At this time Buffett's personal savings were over $174,000 and he started Buffett Partnership Ltd., an investment partnership in Omaha.

        By 1960, Buffett had seven partnerships operating: Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff and Underwood. In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire because of his partnerships, which in January 1962 had an excess of $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffet. He became a billionaire on paper when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29, 1990, when the market closed at $7,175 a share.

          In my opinion, he is successful because of numerous traits. Warren Buffett's fundamental needs, values, and orientation towards life are symbolized by the four astrological elements. He has own unique balance of these four basic energies: fire (warmth, inspiration, enthusiasm), earth (practicality, realism, material interests), air (social and intellectual qualities), and water (emotional needs and feelings). I believe its Charlie Munger who says that Buffett is a learning machine. He reads a tremendous amount and absorbs it. He has great analytical skills, understands people, and has great patience plus discipline which has been demonstrated by his avoidance of bubble markets.

         Moreover, Warren Buffett has a very strong need for security and he places safety first. He is unlikely to make sudden changes or to take new directions that involve risk and unpredictability. His strengths include depth of feeling, patience, and generosity. The qualities that Warren Buffett needs to cultivate include initiative, openness to change and new experience, and a stronger sense of self.