For someone who is such an extraordinarily successful investor， Warren Buffet comes off as a pretty ordinary guy. Born and bred in Omaha， Nebraska， for more than 40 years Buffet has lived in the same gray stucco house on Farnam Street that he bought for 31，500 dollars. He wears rumpled， nondescript①suits， drives his own car， drinks Cherry Coke， and is more likely to be found in a Dairy Queen than a four-star restaurant.
But the 68-year-old Omaha native has led an extraordinary life. Looking back on his childhood， one can see the budding of a savvy② businessman. Warren Edward Buffet was born on August 30， 1930， the middle child of three. His father， Howard Buffet， came from a family of grocers but himself became a stockbroker and later a US congressman.
Even as a young child， Buffet was pretty serious about making money. He used to go door-to-door and sell soda pop. He and a friend used math to develop a system for picking winners in horseracing and started selling their “Stable-Boy Selections” tip sheets until they were shut down for not having a license. Later， he also worked at his grandfather’s grocery store. At the ripe age of 11， Buffet bought his first stock.
When his family moved to Washington， D. C.， Buffet became a paperboy for The Washington Post and its rival the Times Herald. Buffet ran his five paper routes like an assembly line and even added magazines to round out his product offerings. While still in school， he was making 175 dollars a month， a full-time wage for many young men.
When he was 14， Buffet spent 1，200 dollars on 40 acres of farmland in Nebraska and soon began collecting rent from a tenant farmer. He and a friend also made 50 dollars a week by placing pinball machines in barbershops. They called their venture Wilson Coin Operated Machine Co.
Buffet applied to Harvard Business School but was turned down in what had to be one of the worst admissions decisions in Harvard history. The outcome ended up profoundly③ affecting Buffet’ life， for he ended up attending Columbia Business School， where he studied under revered mentor Benjamin Graham， the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffet’s investment strategy.
From the beginning， Buffet made his fortune from investing. He started with all the money he had made from selling pop， delivering papers， and operating pinball machines. Between 1950 and 1956， he grew his 9，800 dollars kitty to 140，000 dollars. From there， he organized investment partnerships with his family and friends， and then gradually drew in other investors through word of mouth and very attractive terms.
Buffet’s goal was to top the Dow Jones Industrial Average by an average of 10% a year. Over the length of the Buffet partnership between 1957 and 1969， Buffet’s investments grew at a compound annual rate of 29.5%， crushing the Dow’s return of 7.4% over the same period.
Buffet’s investment strategy mirrors his lifestyle and overall philosophy. He doesn’t collect houses or cars or works of art， and he disdains④ companies that waste money on such extravagances⑤ as limousines， private dining rooms， and high-priced real estate. He is a creature of habit—the same house， the same office，the same city， the same soda—and dislikes change. In his investments， that means holding on to “core holdings” such as American Express， Coca Cola， and The Washington Post Co. and “Forever”.
He has established the Buffet Foundation， designed to accumulate money and give it away after his and his wife’s deaths—though the foundation has given millions to organizations involved with population control， family planning， abortion， and birth control.
One thing’s for sure about Buffet： He’s happy doing what he’s doing. “I get to do what I like to do every single day of the year.”he says. “I get to do it with people I like， and I don’t have to associate with anybody who causes my stomach to churn. I tap dance to work， and when I get there I think I’m supposed to lie on my back and paint the ceiling. It’s tremendous fun.”
① nondescriptadj. 难以归类的，难以形容的，单调的
② savvyn. 理解能力，悟性
③ profoundlyadv. 深深地，深切地，深刻地
④ disdainv. 蔑视，鄙弃
⑤ extravagancen. 奢侈，铺张，浪费
沃伦·巴菲特
对于一个如此卓越的成功投资家来说，沃伦·巴菲特是一个非常平凡、普通的人。巴菲特在美国内布拉斯加州的奥马哈出生长大，40多年来，一直居住在法钠姆大街那栋以31，500美元购置的灰色水泥墙的房子里。他穿皱巴巴的普通西装，自己开车，喝“樱桃可乐”，而且经常光顾“戴瑞王后”这样的餐厅，连四星级的豪华酒店都够不上。
然而，这位68岁、土生土长的奥马哈人却有着非凡的生活际遇。回顾他的童年时代，人们就能够清楚地了解这个机敏的生意人的成长过程。沃伦·爱德华·巴菲特于1930年8月30日出生，在家里３个孩子中排行老二。他父亲霍华德·巴菲特成长于一个杂货商的家庭中，但是后来却成了一名股票经纪人，之后又成为了一名美国国会议员。
在很小的时候，巴菲特就对赚钱非常用心。他曾经挨家挨户地推销苏打汽水。他和一个朋友利用数学知识开发了一个在赛马比赛中选拔冠军的识别系统，然后开始销售他们的“马童筛选器”的内部消息传单，直到后来因为无许可证而被迫关停。后来他还在祖父的杂货店中工作过。11岁的时候，几近成熟的巴菲特购买了自己的第一支股票。
当巴菲特举家都搬至华盛顿特区时，他成为了《华盛顿邮报》和该报的对手《时代先驱报》的一名送报员。巴菲特把自己送报的５条线路安排得就像生产线一样有条不紊，甚至后来他还添加了杂志来丰富自己提供的订阅品种。在校读书期间，他每月的收入就已达175美元，相当于许多年轻人全职工作的月收入。
14岁的时候，巴菲特花了1200美元在内布拉斯加州购置了一片40公顷的农场，然后开始从佃户那里收取租金。他和一个朋友还为理发店安装弹球游戏机，从而每周赚得50美元。他们将自己的“企业”叫做“威尔森钱币运作机器公司”。
巴菲特曾申请哈佛商学院，但是遭到了拒绝，而这是哈佛历史上最糟糕的录取决定之一。这个结果对巴菲特的一生都产生了深远的影响，最终，他因此进入哥伦比亚商学院，在那里师从本杰明·格雷厄姆，就是这位著名的证券分析之父，为巴菲特日后的投资策略奠定了基础。
自从一开始，巴菲特就靠投资来积累财富。他以靠卖苏打汽水、送报纸、安装弹球游戏机而攒下来的积蓄为基础开始起家。在1950到1956年期间，他的原始资本积累由9800美元升至14万美元。从那时起，他与家人和朋友结成了伙伴投资关系，而且后来逐渐凭借口头游说和一些吸引人的条件拉拢其他投资者。
巴菲特的目标是以年均10％的比率超出道琼斯工业指数。从1957到1969年间，在巴菲特式的“合伙投资”模式下，他的投资以每年29.5％的综合速度增长，大大挫败了道琼斯在同一时期7.4％的回报率。
巴菲特的投资策略反射出了他的生活方式与人生哲学。他没有囤积房屋、收集汽车和艺术品，而且他讨厌把钱花在那些奢侈的像高级轿车、私人餐厅和豪华地产上的那些公司。他是个善于遵循习惯的人——住同一栋房屋，在同一间办公室办公，在同一个城市生活，喝同一牌子的可乐，而且他讨厌变化。用在他的投资理念上，意思就是紧抓住投资“核心”不变，就像是美国捷运公司、可口可乐、华盛顿邮报公司，而且是“永远不变”。
他已经建立了巴菲特基金会，目的是积累资金，而且在自己和妻子死后发放，不过，巴菲特基金会至今已为许多组织捐资了数百万美元，诸如人口控制、计划生育、堕胎和避孕等项目组织。
对于巴菲特来说，有一件事是非常确定的：对于自己的工作他乐在其中。他说：“一年中的每一天，我都在做自己所喜欢做的事情，我与自己喜欢的人一起工作，不必与令自己倒胃口的任何人打交道。我欣欣然扑向工作，当到了那里之时，我就觉得自己好像是仰面躺下，还用手中的笔绘制天花板一样。那真是一件非常有趣的事情。”