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This book is the only "official" biography authorized by Buffett himself. Revealing Buffett's real life for the first time, we described how a Buffett who has suffered setbacks and failures like ordinary people has achieved great success and wealth in investment and business. At the same time, this book comprehensively interprets Buffett's investment ideas and business ideas, so that the spiritual wealth of the last remaining business leader of our time can be passed on to future generations.

Snowball: Warren Buffett and His Fortune Life Ticket

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This book is the only "official" biography authorized by Buffett himself. Revealing Buffett's real life for the first time, we described how a Buffett who has suffered setbacks and failures like ordinary people has achieved great success and wealth in investment and business. At the same time, this book comprehensively interprets Buffett's investment ideas and business ideas, so that the spiritual wealth of the last remaining business leader of our time can be passed on to future generations.

Chinese name

Snowball: Warren Buffett and His Fortune Life Ticket

Related time

June 26, 2006

Related people

Buffett

Related events

Charity for the first time

brief introduction

Buffett announced on June 26, 2006 that he would gradually donate 85 percent of the value of Berkshire Hathaway stock to other foundations over the next few yearsa total of $ 37 billion. For the first time, a charitable cause of this size has been donated. Five-sixths will be donated to the world's largest foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In order to make the world a better place, the two wealth giants will historicly join forces. He demanded that the funds he donated must be used for the benefit of mankind through the foundations, not for the needs of the foundations to maintain their long-term survival. The whole family has been expecting their family foundation to become the world's largest foundation one day. Suddenly, the large donation decided by the father surprised the children. In order to comfort the children, Buffett decided to make the remaining funds worth about $ 6 billion to children's respective foundations, each one receiving $ 1 billion, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation receiving $ 3 billion. The children did not expect their respective foundations to reach such a scale, especially while their father was still alive. On the day of the donation, the Gates Foundation received $ 1.5 billion in donations for the first year, the children's respective foundations received $ 50 million, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation received $ 150 million. The amount of donations varies from year to year based on Berkshire stock prices. The reality is that the amount of donations will increase every year.

The then world's second richest man, while making a donation, did not consider leaving any fame for himself. He has been tirelessly "snowballing" throughout his life, which seems to be an enrichment of his life; however, he has not established any Warren Buffett Foundation, Buffett Hospital Annex Building, no university scholarship or a building named after him. When making a donation, he did not name any project with his own name, and did not supplement his personal intentions with the use of funds. Instead, he put the funds into the vault of another foundation, which weighed the competitive strength and A well-chosen foundation for productivity; no choice to create its own philanthropic kingdom-completely overturning traditional donation models. No giant donor has done such a feat before. "This is a historic moment in the history of global philanthropy," said Doug Bower of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Adviser. "He has set an example for others to make charitable donations, setting new standards."

Warren Buffett's move was both surprising and expected. A good thinker, a problem-solving expert, bravely challenged the waste and exaggeration in the field of charity. The Gates Foundation received funding, but it had to be spent one after the other--and faster. His decision was extraordinary, voluntary, and eloquent naturally attracting a lot of attention. On the other hand, however, this is the typical Buffett-style foolproof. He shocked the world with most of his funds as donations, and he still held them until he actually paid. Anyway, this time he chose to let go, and changed his life's adherence to money-starting with billions and billions of donations. The little boy whose coin-closed wardrobe is not even touched by his family, has transformed, and now he can freely give tens of billions of dollars to others to take care of.

In a statement announcing the donation, Buffett said:

"Just last month, fifty years ago, I sat with several family members and friends, and they handed over $ 15,000 in partnership to me. They concluded that I would accumulate more than themselves. Better on wealth.

"Fifty years later, I sit down and think about who can do a better job of dispersing wealth than myself. This is really very reasonable. People don't always have time to sit down and think about it, they always say who can handle mine. Money? And always willing to give money to an expert. However, they do nt seem to want to do anything in charity. They choose close friends or other people in their business to manage their wealth after they leave, And they themselves don't even know where the money is being spent.

"So, I am fortunate that charity work is much more complicated than business management. You are responsible for dealing with the big problems that the wisdom and wealth of the people in the past have racked their brains and are difficult to understand. Therefore, it is more important to find talent in charity than It's more important to find talent in investment, compared to investing less laboriously. "

Buffett later mentioned the lottery of the ovaries:

"I was very lucky. I was born in the United States in the 1930s and won the lottery the day I was born. I have excellent parents and a good education. In this particular society, I get a special gift. If I If you were born earlier, or if you were born in another country, you would not get such a gift. But in the market system, capital allocation is very important, unlike in other systems.

"I always think that money is a ticket stub and should be invested in society. I do not support dynasty wealth, especially when our funds can benefit six billion people who are poorer than us. And my wife supports such a view .

"Obviously Bill Gates has a clear goal. He is dedicated to the great work of improving the life of all human beings, regardless of gender, religion, race or geography. He has made an outstanding contribution to humanity. So I am deciding It's easier when the money goes. "

The Gates Foundation and Buffett share the same belief: "believe that every life has equal value," and are committed to "reducing inequality and improving human life" in global health and education. The Gates regarded themselves as "callers" and called on people to work together to solve the major problems in the entire society.

Although Buffett has changed and improved a lot since Susan's death, in some ways he remains the same. Ellen Greenberg, who manages the Buffett Foundation, finds that he will take over only a $ 6 billion foundation, instead of the $ 45 billion foundation he has been expecting, and is no longer a foundation under Buffett's management, and It is a foundation hosted by his new boss, his ex-wife Susan Little. Warren didn't have the courage to tell Greenberg his plan in person, and he didn't have the courage to tell him how to run a foundation that was much smaller than expected in the future. Little Susan must convince Allen that it was by no means a decision based on his performance. At first Allen was very angry, saying that he didn't believe this was true, but later he accepted the change and was willing to continue to take over the foundations still listed in the top ten charitable organizations in the world, and finally accepted the change frankly.

All relevant staff members have good reason to work seriously. Although Buffett plans to donate large sums of money, these funds are donated annually. The value of the stock that was not used for donations was estimated to have exceeded $ 6 billion at the time, and he still has a lot of capital available for donations in the future.

For a moment, Buffett's donation plan had a huge impact. Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan announced that he would donate half of his property. Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, promised to leave one third of his $ 19 billion in assets to his foundation. Mexican communications monopoly giant Carlos Slim has mocked Buffett and Gates for their charitable actions, but announced a few months later that he himself would also start charitable donations. The Gates set up a new department in their foundation to host people who are interested in donating to the foundation-for example, a seven-year-old girl will donate her 35 dollars to the Gates Foundation.

The well-funded Gates Foundation has a structural impact on the entire charity. Its "All Asset Donation Law" is very similar to Buffett's concept of concentration-and his investment style-to focus on several major issues carefully selected. It is completely different from many other large foundations and community funds. The managers of the foundation's headquarters are surrounded by many people who come to ask for help. They leisurely hold their fingers and say, "Nevertheless, the feathers turn around ..." A small amount of funds will be issued one by one. In late 2006, some charitable organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation, began to revise their policies and gradually began to accept the Gates approach.

After announcing that a large amount of funds had been invested in the Gates Foundation, Buffett's office suddenly received 3,000 emails from people in need, and a large number of new emails were sent every day. They have no insurance, are burdened with heavy medical burdens, have not been treated for work-related injuries, and their houses have been recovered. Their children have serious illnesses that require special treatment, which has rendered them unable to pay off their mortgages. Or after their boyfriend and they became pregnant, they lied to the money, tricked them into paying off their debts, and then fled and were not responsible for the children. They did not win the lottery of the ovaries. Warren forwarded the letters to her sister Doris. For ten years, her Ms. Sunshine Foundation benefited from the trust proceeds of her father, Howard Buffett, to help thousands of victims of domestic violence, people living in poverty, and families in crisis. When he forwarded those letters to his sister Doris, he also paid $ 5 million to fund her work.

She asked several women over the age of 50 to help screen the letters. They chose to help "very unfortunate people, not people who made the wrong choice", and chose those who required a small amount of money to help them through the unfortunate. They often advise people who are addicted to gambling, stuck with credit card debt, and unwilling to work, but as long as people have other ways to solve their difficulties, they don't choose financial assistance. Doris was never the type of person who gave money, "I don't want to just pay people," she said. She asked those who received the grant to write a letter of thanks. Her charitable act also taught people gratitude and self-esteem.

Buffett continues to make large donations. He donates $ 5 million each year to Ted Turner s Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) organization. In his view, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) organization is the most important organization dedicated to the global nuclear threat cause in the United States. Donate. Former senator Sam Nunn, who manages the NTI, has proposed a nuclear fuel depot that allows countries to transform nuclear enrichment projects, but does not develop projects to reduce the possibility of nuclear proliferation. Buffett believes that this view has great advantages, as long as the organization can raise a certain amount of money, he is willing to donate $ 50 million. He is willing to fund a large amount of any project against the use of nuclear weapons, and it seems to him that doing so can solve the real problem of nuclear threats.

Buffett also funded the Carter Center established by former President Jimmy Carter. Carter is not a beloved president, but when he stepped down and retired to the 98th floor, he continued to work hard to look forward, set an example for people, did outstanding work in global health, democracy and human rights, and won Nobel Peace prize. "You are welcome to join us in the prevention and treatment of medina worm disease in Ghana from February 6th to 8th, 2007," Carter enthusiastically wrote back after receiving the donation. Buffett treats Carter as a friend, but no one-including Hoy, Old Susan, or Bill-wants anyone to fly to distant Africa to see what the medina worm is.

As a result, Buffett's third trip to Africa failed. Many things haven't changed, but other things have changed over time.

Astrid is now Warren's official companion at events outside of Omaha. She's still her own-also straightforward, humble and simple-but her world is expanding at an alarming rate. She now often contacts Bill and Melinda Gates. In the fall of 2005, she and Warren flew to Tahiti for the 50th birthday party of Bill Gates, which was hosted on Paul Allen's luxurious "Octopus" yacht. The "Octopus" was the world's largest yacht at that time, and was the childhood dream of the sixth billionaire in the world's richest list. The yacht was equipped with a theater, an audio-visual recording room, two helicopters, a 63-foot supply boat and A small submarine that can accommodate eight people living on the sea floor for two weeks. During the party, she and Warren lived in the exclusive cabin of Paul Allen's mother, a large suite with a closet and a library in the living room. "Oh my gosh," Astrid said, "I can't believe it. This may be the first and last time I've experienced such a luxurious life in this life."

"It's better than home," Warren told her. He had been talking about the bridge game on the yacht on the plane home.

Two years after Susan's death, on Warren's 76th birthday, she and Astrid had a simple wedding at Little Susan's house. No guests were invited, only the family. Astrid was wearing a azure top and white pants, and Warren was wearing a suit. When he put a large platinum wedding ring on her ring finger, she burst into tears. Then, they went to the barracuda grill next to the Boshan jewelry store for dinner. The two then flew to San Francisco for a wedding party and enjoyed a traditional wedding cake at the home of Sharon Osberg and David Smith. The Gates also attended their wedding celebration.

Warren Buffett, who has an extraordinary taste and good life, lives a simple life. He always likes a simple and simple life-a wife, a car, a house that has not been renovated for many years, runs a company, and is with his family. More and more time.

On the 77th birthday of Warren, he thought that the years he had passed had already reached one third of the time when the United States was founded. After all, his age is not good, and reading all day has become more and more difficult as in the past, and his eyesight has declined a little, so he began to maintain efficient reading. After all, he chose a hearing aid. His voice is more hoarse than in the past, and his body is prone to fatigue, but his business judgment is still sharp.

He hopes that he will still be able to read daily newspapers in the next ten years. There are not many days in the future, but we may be lucky to live a few more years. Although he often said that towering trees are just a metaphor, he still did not break through the horizon. He still looks forward to meeting new friends, completing more investments, and continuing to make suggestions. The unknown world is infinite, and his knowledge is still far from enough.

"I can only snowball when I find the right snow, and that's what I do. What I mean is not just about making money, but also when we know the world and make friends. We have many choices in our lives and we must fight for one. Popular people are actually making their snowballs bigger and bigger on the snow. It is best to choose snow-capped places while moving forward, because we won't go back to the top of the mountain and start snowballing again. Life is like this.

His carefully rolled snowball is now very large, but his attitude towards snowballing remains the same. No matter how many birthdays he spends, he sighs every day when the calendar turns, and it will always be the same. He always thinks that he is the sun at eight or nine in the morning. He never looked back to the top of the mountain. The world is infinitely wide, and he has just set off.