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of cash flow. The next time you buy a pack of four Gillette razor
blades for £10, stop for a second and consider how much of that is
pure profit for Gillette’s shareholders.
Buffett’s got a sense of humour, too, something which is not
always shared with the stuffed shirts of Wall Street: ‘Rule No. 1:
Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.’
Buffett has spent the last decade at the top of the world’s
rich lists, but is personally frugal and has vowed to donate
99 per cent of his wealth to charity. His annual letters to
shareholders and TV appearances are masterpieces of self-
deprecating humour. But behind this folksy exterior is one of
global finance’s smartest operators: ‘Of the billionaires I have
known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they
were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a
billion dollars.’
It takes a special kind of billionaire – humble, stable, acutely self-
aware of how he is perceived – to get away with that sort of joke.
And you have to admire a man who has condemned the wasteful
way companies are run, and then buys a corporate jet with
Berkshire Hathaway’s money. Calling the plane The Indefensible
makes the joke even funnier.
So that’s Buffett, and we got through that without using his
nickname, The Sage of Omaha.
Weird fact – there are at least fifty books currently available
which have Buffett’s name in the title. The only living person
with more on the shelves is the Dalai Lama, whose investment
strategies are unrecorded.
s
Switzerland is the most beautiful country in which I’ve led courses.
We passed shimmering lakes and snow-capped mountains. Trust
Conrad to ruin the mood: ‘We are sure to be late. The police will
triple-check every passport because of these insurrections in the
Middle East.’