Posts Tagged ‘business book review’
Too Big to Fail – The Inside Story of how Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System – and Themselves
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Warren Buffet – The Snowball and The Business Of Life
Why Read It?
•The first full biography of Warren Buffett, the most famous investor of all time, written with his full cooperation and collaboration.
•Gives a lucid account of his life and career, from his first financial forays to becoming a revered investment guru.
•Analyses his business deals and strategies, as well as mistakes, by looking at the development of his investing style, his many investment partnerships, and how he built up his fortune.
•Snowball is a thorough and inclusive biography of the world’s greatest investor, examining his family history, his youthful adventures, and how he developed his investment acumen.
•It shows how Buffett came from a line of small business owners, and how his parents toiled through the Great Depression, and how his somewhat unbalanced mother shaped his outlook on life.
•Reveals that his investment career took off with the purchase of textile firm Berkshire Hathaway, and explains how he grew it into the 12th largest corporation in the United States.
•It combines biographical detail with an examination of his business deals, focusing on the development of his expertise, strategy, and investment philosophy.
•Lays bare the real Buffett—his moral viewpoint, honesty, and integrity, as well as his many contradictions, such as his frugality, eccentric eating habits, and choice of clothing.
•Details how he built up his business expertise, and the success of his many investment partnerships.
•Gives a detailed account of his investments over the years, how he selected companies in which to invest, his definition of risk, and how he decided how much to actually invest in each company.
•Shows his successful preference for long-term investing in sound businesses that he can understand, as well as belief in stewardship and integrity towards these companies.
•Examines how he has evolved into the figurehead of value investing after his guru Benjamin Graham, rather than as someone who follows market bubbles, such as the tech boom of the late 1990s.
•Looks at his dependence on friends and a network of business associates, and how his collaboration with other investment managers proved essential to his success.
•Provides insight into Buffett’s focus on customer loyalty, the quality of management, choosing allies carefully, and avoiding unnecessary diversity.
•Shows how he was one of the first to point out the inherent danger in derivative products, and how they could affect the financial system.
Quotations
“Warren may have said he wanted to become a millionaire, but he never said that he would stop there.”
“Berkshire’s best opportunities always came at times of uncertainty, when others lacked the insight, resources, and fortitude to make the right judgments and commit.”
“Cash combined with courage in a crisis is priceless.
