Friday, May 16, 2008

Warren Buffett Invitational

Last week, a friend of mine mentioned that my blog has become 'coma-inducing'. This was a clear signal to me that I'm finally reaching my target market: the finance industry! On that subject, today's post is about a recent trip I undertook to meet Warren Buffett.

A couple of months ago, Warren Buffett was kind enough to invite a group of us to Omaha to meet with him at Berkshire headquarters and subsequently dine at one of his favourite restaurants, Piccolo Pete's.

Those of us who have been following Buffett's comments for several years did not hear anything from him that we haven't heard before. He was the man we've come to know through reading his annual letter to shareholders and watching or listening to his commentaries. Nevertheless, it was an eye-opening experience. The most striking thing about him was his humility, evidenced primarily in the way he carried himself. He drove a couple of us to the restaurant, didn't bring an entourage with him, and didn't leave until all our questions were answered.

We had originally planned to chip in a few bucks to buy Buffett a token of our appreciation for taking the time to meet us. But then we decided that would just be silly. What can you get for a man who can have anything, but wants nothing?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

'has become'?? when did i ever say it was otherwise??

George said...

What were your questions to Buffett?

Anonymous said...

Hi George,

We had a long Q&A period so it's too long to get into here. However, I will say that there was very little I heard from Buffett that I have not heard from him before, having watched many of his interviews and read other transcripts.

Anonymous said...

That's so cool. How did you arrange to meet with Buffett? Ebay auction or through school or some other way?
I would love to meet this guy.

Saj Karsan said...

Hi Div,

When I was an MBA student he invited our class down. Quite something the way he volunteers his time like that.

Anonymous said...

You and your classmates make like this new book on "decision framing."

“The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Two Friends Transformed Behavioral Finance.” Paperback. ISBN 978-0-6152-4129-6
http://www.lulu.com/content/3215722

Description: "The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger" examines each of the basic steps they perform in "framing and making" an investment decision. This book is a focused look into this amazing invention within "Behavioral Finance." The genius of Buffett and Munger's parsimonious four filters process was to "capture all the important stakeholders" in a "multi-variable" equation or formula. Imagine...Products, Enduring Customers, Managers, and Margin-of-Safety... all in one mixed "qual + quant" formula. Other important ideas are embedded in each chapter. The book can be used as a supplemental textbook in a Valuation or Decision Sciences course.

Paul said...

Saj,

I would love to go to meet Mr. Buffett. do you go to omaha for the shareholder meeting? I went this year for the first time and it was amazing!


If so, we should meet up! :)

Saj Karsan said...

Hi Paul,

I've never been to the annual meeting, though they certainly sound like fun! This meeting took place through my MBA class.

Paul said...

Saj,

I would highly recommended it. I know Buffett is getting older and every year may be Munger's last...so I made the trip. If I ever met Buffett, I may very well faint...literally. :P I had a very good time, and met some great people. I'm hoping to go next year, too! :)

Chirag said...

Congrats buddy!
Came across your blog for the first time and this is the first article which I came across :)
Lucky person you are indeed I can say!

james moylan said...

I have a web site where I research stocks under five dollars. I have many years of experience with these type of stocks. I would like to comment about warren buffett. I do not believe warren buffet is the value investor that he was years ago. if he was he most certainly would have caught the spectacular come back of ford motor the shares of ford motor were trading at only 1 dollar a share two years ago today they trade at 16 dollars a share and the company is well on its way to becoming the number one world automobile company. another example is apple computer the shares were trading at just 5 dollars in 1998 today they trade at 340 dollars a share he totally missed this one also. their are dozens of other examples.

Эдуард Лавров said...

I invested in Gazprom, now sitting in the red.