Warren Buffett’s wisdom that has stuck with me

One of my latest favorite things is to read financial and crypto magazines as I prefer professional curated content, even if sometimes it might be biased due to underlying interests. But nevertheless sometimes I find information that overlaps with my interests or people that I track to learn from and take better financial decisions. And one of such emblematic figures is Warren Buffet. And I am not the only one admiring his growth and building a true empire around Berkshire Hathaway.

Warren Buffet puts his mark and leaves wisdom for those looking to listen and learn from. Nowadays people focus more on talking than listening which ends up with going the wrong path and losing multiple opportunities along the way. So, I've decided or better said tried to read attentively some wisdom words from his part. Let's see some of his points from one of the latest Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting.

Opportunity = other people doing dumb things

What gives you opportunities is other people doing dumb things. In the 58 years we’ve been running Berkshire, there’s been a great increase in the number of people doing dumb things. My take on this is that following the sheep hoard or having a mentality as such, will not bring real benefits and profits in the long run. Keeping a clear mind and focusing on real indicators regardless of the hype, will offer better peace of mind and decisions long term. And always try to surrender with and listen on smart people with knowledge and real life experience of the space they're working on, rather than theorizing about it. Follow smart people and play against... dumb people.

Sustainable growth over greed

If you’re paying 12% or 14% on a credit card, you’re saying, “I’m going to earn more than 14% on money.” If you can do that, come to Berkshire Hathaway. My take is that we shouldn't be greedy anymore. For example in crypto we were hunting x10 or x100 returns, but what about just x2 or even lower? Growth is growth and we need to be realistic and adapt to where the market evolved. Also in stocks we shouldn't run after infinite growth and take decent profits when we need it or is the right time.

Planning, failing and ultimately growing

You should write your obituary and try and figure out how to live up to it. My take on this is that we need to be the man with a plan. We might be wrong, but we can learn from it. But everything starts with a plan even if it is one experimental. We shouldn't be afraid to fail, but rather embrace it and push above it.

It is great to have people like Warren Buffet sharing knowledge and wisdom built in a lifetime. We just need to be open to listen... truly listen. I know I want to, even if sometimes the emotions might make me take "dumber" decisions. But I try to learn from my past experiences and do better in the future. That's all we can do in the end. 😊