The Earliest Known Clip of Warren Buffett Unearthed

I'm sure I'm not alone in looking forward to Saturday's annual letter. I hear we're also getting a letter from Charlie this year.

It feels so strange to see a young Warren B. Even after reading his biography, a part of me feels like he sprung into existence like he is today: as wrinkly as a tortoise and rich as crème brûlée in a solid gold dish.

I remember stumbling across that 1962 clip late last year (must have just been snipped from “Mr. Buffett the Teacher” and put up on You Tube), and I remember thinking how little his mannerisms have changed over the last 50 or so years. Cool. Rational. Blunt. It does seem that he jokes a bit more in his interviews nowadays, but when you have 50+ more years of experience and validation, it's easier to find humor in things young adults take seriously when you've been through those trials once before.

Completely agree! What I found interesting is that his speed of speaking, his "ummms..." and long pauses...in a 32 year old man - it is who he is, and wonderful. Anyone who thought these characteristics were the trappings of a senior citizen may want to revisit that assumption.

Separate topic: I decided to become a shareholder this morning, and will absolutely hold on when the inevitable happens. The investment is less than 0.66% of my stock portfolio - I'll sleep just fine at night thank you very much.

Buffet being pissed about that 1/8 cost him 200 Billion.
http://www.marketfolly.com/2010/10/warren-buffetts-worst-trade-biggest.html

By the way Joshua what color did you see the dress as?
http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/26/8118825/white-gold-dress-blue-black-what-color

Explanation:
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

This whole internet debate reminds me of this post:
https://www.joshuakennon.com/we-see-smell-hear-taste-feel-things-differently/

Aaron and I have been laughing at the optical illusion response because it's something we had to deal with all the time early in our sporting goods business. The exact same color can appear like a completely different color if you surround it with different shades and / or alter the lighting, even if your color vision is perfect, so you have to have a mechanism to correct for it. Back in those days, Aaron and I had a color dropper tool installed on our Macs because the problem was so common in our line of work, we ended up communicating in HEX codes.

One way we compensate for this on the manufacturing side is to use embroidery thread that doesn't actually match the acrylic yarn, but that look identical when sewn onto the final garment to most human eyes based on how it is going to look worn out there in the real world. We had huge problems with a particular shade of navy in the early years that would cause some customers to grow livid, insisting we had sent them black. We'd send them a black sample to compare it and they would be in denial, "I don't know how the color changed ..." We now make adjustments from time to time based on what is going to look right, rather than what is technically right. On large orders, we force the client to verify they are happy with it before production begins because you never know how it's going to look to them based on the first time they see it. It's somewhat of a pain because it requires knowing what was modified for future re-orders but we've done a decent job with it over the past ten years.

To answer your question: The first time I saw this, it was white and gold, clear as day. I knew what was happening, though, so I saved it to the desktop and hours later, came back in to look at it and it was blue and black. I haven't been able to see it as anything other than blue and black for the past 24 hours now. But the novelty was somewhat lost on me since it's routine given our first business. If it were actually a question, I'd have just dumped it into Photoshop and pulled out the actual hues.

You should have heard some of the non-emotional verbal sparring Aaron and I had had over some design choices for the first retail site a decade ago. We get irrationally passionate about it so all these people make me laugh because it's very much a, "Welcome to my life moment". Which, you could probably tell by the fact I still think that stupid blood orange comment on Project Runway was idiotic.

It's funny this happened, too, because when we were in Florida, I was thinking about the disadvantage Aaron and I had given we both have perfect color vision, which is fairly rare in white men. People with lower scores see higher contrasts, so they are able to spot things like snakes that are camouflaged in trees, which is probably the reason it evolved in the first place. When we were walking through that wooded path, we were talking about how we'd have to make up for the lack of vision by running. Early detection would not be our strong point.

I mean, even though it makes the world so much sadder, think of the evolutionary advantage a color blind person would have when confronted with this? They'd be much more likely to spot that something was "off" long before we would. The United States military employed color blind soldiers to save lives in Vietnam as they could see through the jungle much easier. It's all relative advantage. What is ideal for adaptation in one set of circumstances isn't in another.

Nice mention on the Seabury Stanton issue....did you get the letter early?

No. In fact, I was surprised he was so honest about his motivation or even brought it up at all! Prior to this, I don't think he's ever really talk about it.

I really like the early, honest Buffett. Like how he said in his 1965 letter that he was winning in his personal war on poverty by getting richer.

Interesting in the recent annual report Buffet indicates cigar butt trading is more lucrative for small capital traders.

First time posting, I'm still catching up on the old posts. But I saw the news of Thomas Stanley's death and immediately thought of you. Sad news for the personal finance world. http://www.ajc.com/news/news/millionaire-blockbuster-author-dies-in-crash/nkLxS/

It really is a big loss. I was hoping for an updated version of his work for the current decade. His family must be heartbroken 🙁

Looks like it's still happening:

"Their daughter, Sarah Fallaw, is an industrial psychologist, and recently left her job to work with her father on a new survey for an updated Millionaire book. It has been many years, after all, and a new Gilded Age is taking hold, with a whole new generation of attitudes toward wealth.

Fallaw said she would continue the work. “We certainly will,” she said. “The survey is being packaged up and sent out.”"

That's at least something. I hope it's a healing experience for her. Sometimes, working on a project like that can be a good diversion, especially if the final product is a sort of homage that original work her dad built.

Wow...that news ruined my day. At least Stanley left this life knowing that he has changed the lives of many people for the better. Including myself.

Uncanny.

Hi Joshua,

I'm new to your site, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

I've been wondering the following ever since Buffet's 50 yr. letter came out. If a current hedge fund did what he did (not sell the BRK stock b/c the CEO shaved off 12.5 cents on the buyback) wouldn't he be sued? After all, by Buffett's own admission textiles was a dying industry and he knew that at the time, which means that his purchasing of more stock was really a bad move. He was only able to save it by then purchasing the insurance company....which brings me to the second point of this argument. He says the insurance company that he purchased could have been done through the investment fund he managed instead of through BRK. By using BRK $$ for the purchase he effectively purchased only 30% of the insurance business since that was the stake the partnership had in BRK. (I believe he is quoted as saying that buying NICO through BRK cost him over $100 billion in opportunity costs.) Once again, if a hedge fund manager or private equity firm was to do that today, wouldn't they be sued??

This comment shouldn't be taken as an affront to Buffett (if that helps calm all the Buffett fans). I am just curious if such action today would be as rewarded as his was. Furthermore, if his partners had known what had happened would they have been happy?