Dear Mr. Buffett_ What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street - Janet M. Tavakoli [119]
When I sent Warren my old copy of The Intelligent Investor to sign, he returned it with an inscription: “To Janet - With personal & professional admiration.”1 He may write that inscription for everyone but I glowed the entire day anyway. In August 2007, during one of several minor market upsets, I wrote Warren: “I’ve been recommending The Intelligent Investor for those swimming for the lifeboats.”2
Warren could have invented the maxim “ponder, and then act.” His investment style allows him to remain unflappable despite Mr. Market’s manic depressive fluctuations. While the asset bubble expanded and exploded,Warren made time for old and new friends.
Warren wrote me at the end of May 2006: “I am swamped at present. You will see why in a little while....”3 Even though he was terribly busy, he made time for me. I called Warren in June 2006 to ask his thoughts on my nephew selling his business. It is a business too small for Warren (but very substantial), and my nephew is a young man. While Warren’s advice was the same as mine, Warren agreed my nephew would more readily accept advice from “the voice of authority.” 4 The prospect of getting a large upfront payment was very enticing to my nephew, but he loved running his business. Would he rather spend his money beating back tropical vegetation from a Caribbean estate, or would he rather invest his cash in a growing business that he finds rewarding to manage? Warren said he envied him having a business he loved (but only because my nephew was in his early 30s). I wrote Warren on June 20, 2006:
Tony was very surprised that you would spend even a picosecond considering his dilemma and was curious about my impressions about how you spend your money, meaning whether or not it was spent in a way that impresses people. I responded that most of your wealth growth occurred after age 65, and you spent your wealth reinvesting in good businesses. It struck me that you lived how and where you wanted and didn’t waste a moment’s thought on how others might assume you should live. Yet, you are still the kind of man who would spend time considering someone else’s problems, even when there was nothing immediately in it for you. I was deeply impressed. What could be more impressive?5
On June 22, 2006, Warren wrote back and mentioned Tony: “Tell him I wish him the best.”6 Not only did I tell Tony, I gave him a copy of Warren’s letter. Tony did not sell his business. My nephew probably would have come to this decision himself, but it helps to have a sounding board. My nephew was floored that he called to ask me about this and I was able to have a conversation with Warren and get back to him with Warren’s opinion in the same afternoon. Warren must have known the effect this would have. At the time of our conversation, I had no idea Warren was in the middle of finalizing his arrangements to leave the major part of his wealth to the Gates Foundation. On June 26, 2006,Warren made the announcement with Bill and Melinda Gates in New York.
I responded: “In my June 20 letter I asked: ‘What could be more impressive?’ Your answer is magnificent.”7
Value isn’t just about money, but value investing may give you more time for the other things you value in your life.
When I think back to my unanswered invitation, I cannot explain what took me so long to answer. It seemed to me Warren did not just invite me to lunch. He invited me to come around (even more) to his way of thinking. Benjamin Graham wrote about the pretensions of stock market pundits: “The farther one gets away from Wall Street, the more skepticism one will find.”8 Graham might have said the same things about the social pretensions of the Maserati drivers of Wall Street. Warren had written me that he thought Tony was “better off for having the experience of thinking through what he truly wants to do in his life.”9101112 At the time Warren had already given a lot of thought about his legacy, and it seemed