During the 2014 Berkshire Hathaway Meeting, Buffett and Munger discussed why investing is not for everyone. Here’s an excerpt from the meeting:
WARREN BUFFETT: And you just have to be open to it. And you will find your spot. You may not find it the first day, or the week, or month, but you’ll find what fascinates you.
I was very lucky because I found what fascinated me when I was seven or eight years of age.
But — you know, some people find chess or music, you know, fascinates them when they’re four or five.
If you’re lucky you find it early, and sometimes it takes you longer, but you’ll find it.
CHARLIE MUNGER: If it’s a very competitive business, and it plainly requires the qualities that you lack, it should probably be avoided.
I could — when I was at Caltech I took thermodynamics, and Homer Joe Stewart, who was a genius, taught the course. And it was fairly apparent to me that no amount of time or effort would turn me into a Homer Joe Stewart. He was utterly, impossibly more talented than I could be.
Gave up. I immediately decided I wasn’t going try and be a professor of thermodynamics at Caltech.
And I’ve done that with field after field, and pretty soon there was only one or two left. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, I had a similar experience in athletics. (Laughter)
You can watch the entire discussion here:
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