Think Like Warren

Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay

In our last post, (click here to read: Parallels) I was extolling the virtue of a long term approach to health. Things compound over time. Good or bad. Time can be your friend if you regularly use its compounding effect. The converse is also true, doing wrong things, stopping and starting, changing what works well, can make time your worst enemy. We do have a choice and it’s not complicated!

So let’s talk about Warren Buffet.

Warren Buffet, among other things, is one of the most successful investors in history. His fortune is worth around $84.5 billion (a billion is 1000 million, so that’s 84,500 million). He is the seventh wealthiest person in the world. He turned 90 in August of this year.

It would be easy to say he is lucky. It would also be easy to say he is really smart. And it would be easy to say he is comfortable with risk. And all of these would be true.

But what Mr. Buffett knows better than anyone else is the value of time and of doing good things over and over until the compounding becomes unimaginable.

Consider this:

Mr. Buffett started investing in the market at 10 years old (1940). By the age of 30 (1960) he became a millionaire (that is 9.3 million in today’s dollars). Do you know any 30 year olds with that kind of cash? Me neither! Of the $84.5 billion dollars, $84.2 was accumulated after the age of 50. $81.5 billion came after the age of 65 (information found in The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, my current read). The compounding effect has gone on for 80 years. If he lives another 10 years, the results will be unfathomable.

Time has been his friend.

Is time your friend?

The answer is yes, if we start to move regularly in the direction of health, in the direction of life. The same principle that has worked for Mr. Buffet all these years can work for us too.

But here is the deal. Although Mr. Buffet has gained an annual return of 22%, which is very good, he still is out done by many other investors. But Mr. Buffet understands, better than anyone, the principle of compounding. You don’t have to hit home-runs, you have to hit 80 years of singles and doubles. Again and again.

So let me ask again, is time your friend?

If not, let’s get going, in every area of your life worth investing in (health, finances, emotions, relationships).

Start doing a daily walk if you are not already. If you are, keep going and keep compounding.

Stop eating fast food. If you already have, keep compounding.

Reach out to your friends. Keep in contact with them. Compound that relationship and let time work for you.

Say the Lord’s prayer every day.

Start a savings account. Put what you can into it. $1 dollar or $100 or whatever you can scrape together and put it into action for your future. (Acorns is a great place to start this. Look it up: Acorns)

There are a million (or billion places to start). But get started!

Time can be your friend.

Or time can be your enemy.

Make the smart choice.

Think like Warren.

Cheers,

ks