There’s only one Warren Buffett, so ignore any ridiculous claims that you too can achieve huge returns
I was watching some clown on TV the other night banging on about earning 15% on your investments. Normally I would fast-forward through the advertisements but given it was about money I thought I’d watch. The salesperson was making a pretty good pitch about simply following in the footsteps of legendary US investor Warren Buffett. Now, I have no problem with this. Thanks to the Money TV show, I spent three days in Omaha some years ago tagging along with and filming the legend.
He is known for his common sense. One of his earliest investments was Coca-Cola. He figured the population would grow and they would drink lots of the stuff. He was right. This has been his strategy ever since. He did not invest in the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, saying “it makes no sense to me”, but stuck to “old-fashioned” companies that made money.
So following a commonsense view works for me. But why will this give me 15% a year? According to the cheery chap on the TV ad, I would learn to invest like Buffett and I would also average over 15% a year. Sounds good.
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