Testing... 1 billion... 2 billion... 3 billion...

37 billion.
Yes, billion - with a capital "B".

That's how much Warren Buffett donated to charity - and it was only 2/3rds of his wealth.

Remember when I said that no good ever comes to anyone that doesn't give back?
I love this guy!

Not to mention that he's utterly adorable!

The first video in the 7 part series of his biography.
It's worth seeing.
I've watched each of them twice already.


He's not even interested in the money itself, it's just his overwhelming love of making money - and he's damn good at it.

Some of his quotes that just make me like him even more:

- A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
Amen

- I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.
Me either, Warren - I give myself the next 12 years.

- It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
True.

- 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.
That just made me laugh and I've noticed the same.

- Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
Because everything worthwhile takes time.

- There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
I'd like you to have a little chat with the people around me, Warren - and point this out.

- I don’t have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It’s like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don’t do that though. I don’t use very many of those claim checks. There’s nothing material I want very much. And I’m going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.
I agree with you, Warren! Except for having a maid, someone to cut the grass and shovel the driveway, that's necessary - otherwise I'm right there with you!

- If you're in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.
I love him...

- Take me as an example. I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner.
Exactly, luck of the draw. Dumb luck. Right up there with why you shouldn't feel superior about what race you are.

- I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
Okay, that's just funny.

- When they open that envelope, the first instruction is to take my pulse again.
laughs

- If you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don't own it for 10 minutes.
My philosophy on dating as well...

- The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect... You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.
laughs... that's perfect! Signed, someone that doesn't care what anyone else is doing.

- Working with people who cause your stomach to churn seems much like marrying for money - probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but absolute madness if you are already rich.
Hilarious.

- For some reason, people take their cues from price action rather than from values. What doesn't work is when you start doing things that you don't understand or because they worked last week for somebody else. The dumbest reason in the world to buy a stock is because it's going up.