The Snowball - A look into Buffets life
The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life takes a peak into the life of Warren Buffet. This is impressive not only because the billionaire has always been rather reclusive but also because you would expect based on the size of this book.
Simple, Effective, & Risk Averse
Understand company
Buy stock cheap
Buy in Bulk
Monitor purchase
These four steps explains what Buffet does. He first finds stocks that are undervalued. To do this he learns as much about the industry and the people in it. If a business is solid and the staff intelligent than Buffet will try to buy as much stock as possible if not the company. He will than usually sit on the board of the company and make sure the management who rotate through are competent enough to return a profit. Buffet believes that there is no need to diversify what you own if you know that what you own will return a profit. There is no point in owning small parts of 20 different companies when you can just buy one that you are certain will succeed. Buffet’s investing is simple. If he did not understand the business model than he did not buy. He bought what he understood and did not bother with anything else. This is why he didn’t buy Microsoft & Intel. He '“missed” the technology stock boom because he did not understand it. He viewed it as riskier to invest in potential great companies you don’t understand compared to a cheap company you do.
Network. Network. Network.
The book does an excellent job of showing the connections that Buffet made. Billionaires talk to millionaires, executives and whoever they would like. This gives them access to deals and information the average person never gets. The main draw back is you are more in the public eye and acquisitions get larger and more complex.
Full of Fluff
The book was 960 pages but could have been half that size. If the book’s protagonist is Buffet than I want Buffet! That is not what I got. For example, Buffet buys a furniture store and the owner is a self made millionaire who arrived in the US from Russia with almost nothing. The book spends a fair amount of time telling you of her life, family, and business. The book does this for tons of people that Buffet meets. Knowing who Buffet associates with does give you an idea of what he is like but the book seemed like a fluff piece. You get a general picture of Buffet but considering the book is almost a 1000 pages you feel a little robbed. It’s not a nitty gritty look into his life but rather a leisurely stroll through some of the main events of his life. Overall, the book seems to do a good job of showing how Buffet likes to be portrayed. He likes to be in the limelight but never alone. This autobiography captures this in an excellent fashion as a good portion of the book is about those around him rather than himself.