Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is often considered the world's greatest investor. Using his own investment strategies and principles, he has managed to become one of the world's richest with an estimated personal networth of at least US$10 billion. His investment career began in 1957 when he started his first investment partnership with a group of investors in his hometown, Omaha, Nebraska in the United States. He bought stocks of various companies with the goal to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average by an average of 10 per cent a year. When the partnership dissolved in 1969, Buffett's investments had soared at a compound rate of 29.5 per cent, compared to just 7.4 per cent for the Dow.

When the dissolution of the partnership, Buffett concentrated on investing through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, which he took control of in 1965. In the next 20 years, the company underwent a series of business restructuring and it re-deployed its capital. Berkshire also entered into an array of other business, including insurance. At the same time, guided by his own set of investment principles, strategies and business acumen, Buffett went around the country investing in companies that had solid fundamentals, including The Coca-Cola Company and The Gillette Company. He continued to add more money-spinning companies to his portfolio over the years.

You may well ask, "What contributed to his success? What made him buy a particular company?" The essence of his success is that he only invested in business that had good earnings and excellent management.