Blog - Tips from Warren Buffett

Blog - Tips from Warren Buffett


Warren Buffett is currently one of the wealthiest persons in the world, and at one time held the title as the most wealthy person in the world. Amazingly, his great fortune did not start from a large inheritance or from selling a .com company, but from sound investments from the time his was a very young man. Because most of us (even DJs) have at one time or another thought about getting into the stock market, or have heard that in order to be wealthy we need to "get our money to work for us," we wanted to share a few things we have learned from Mr. Buffett’s annual letter to his company's (Berkshire Hathaway) stockholders.

One of the key beliefs that Mr. Buffett has used to achieve his great personal and business wealth is by only investing in companies that he can understand, has trustworthy management, has favorable long-term economics, and has a sensible price tag. The mogul does not buy into investing in fads or "the next big thing" if he does not understand how it works. Because of this he misses out on some large gains, like the .com surge in the early 2000s, but he also avoids the great busts that often follow a huge surge (refer to the same .com companies a few years later). To understand how he can justify not getting into investments that are sure to have at least short term gains, Buffet believes that "there are no called strikes in investing," that is to say, you never lose money on investments you don't pursue, even if someone else hits a home run on the investment. The only catch is eventually you have to swing.

The most basic thing that any investor needs to know to be able to be successful is to buy low and sell high. Buffett is extremely good at this principle, and while we do not have time to go into how he values a company, he is very disciplined in buying undervalued companies and selling them if they become overvalued. Many people miss this part of investing because they get caught up in gains and think they will continue to rise forever. Often though, company stocks will rise above the actual value of the company, only to drop later to adjust to be closer to the real value of the company. By selling when he thinks the company is overvalued, Buffett has been able to maximize his investments.

While this blog is just scratching the surface of Warren Buffett’s tips, hopefully it has given you something that you can use to be a better investor. To learn more about Buffett, you can check out his annual letters to his shareholders, which is always filled with insight and wisdom. We at DJ Connection are trying to incorporate the principles we have learned from Buffett to be more savvy investors and be better positioned for long term wealth.