Three Most Admired on Forbes 400

Forbes annual list of the 400 richest people in the world is out. Guess what. Bill Gates, the man, who was the richest man in the world for the past 13 years, is now number 3 on the list. The number 1 spot, is once again held by the guy who was number 2, for the past 13-years. That of course is the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett. As most of my readers know, he is one of the people I most admire.

In fact, three of the men that I most admire, are on the top 400 richest people list. All three are people I would love to meet, but realistically, probably never will. Still, one can dream, and dreams sometimes do come true. So without further ado, let's take a look at the profiles of those three people.

1. #1 Warren Buffett





America's most beloved investor is now the world's richest man. Soared past friend and bridge partner Bill Gates as shares of Berkshire Hathaway climbed 25% since the middle of last July. Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy. Filed first tax return at age 13, claiming $35 deduction for bicycle. Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965. Today holding company invested in insurance (Geico, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim's), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), food (Dairy Queen, See's Candies). Also has non-controlling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo. Insurance operations flourished in 2007. "That party is over. It's a certainty that insurance-industry profit margins, including ours, will fall significantly in 2008." The Oracle of Omaha issued a challenge to members of The Forbes 400 in October; said he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group of richest Americans would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. Had long promised to give away his fortune posthumously. Irrevocably earmarked the majority of his Berkshire shares to charity in 2006, mostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gift was valued at $31 billion on day of announcement; donation will far exceed that sum so long as Berkshire shares continue to rise.
Forbes Magazine





2. #307 Ronald Burkle





Son of a grocery store manager spent childhood stacking bread, chasing shopping carts. Joined union local as a box boy at age 13. Tried college, returned home to stock shelves at dad's Stater Bros. store. Rose to store manager, eventually vice president of Stater Bros.' parent, Petrolane. Tried to purchase company via leveraged buyout; failed, was fired. Severance: $8,450. Founded investment company Yucaipa 1986; made fortune buying and selling supermarket chains Fred Meyer, Jurgensen's, Ralph's. Often buys distressed operations in poor neighborhoods to pay low prices, avoid bidding wars. Worker friendly: uses union sources to find hidden value in possible takeovers. Internal rate of return from 1985 to 2003: 43% a year. Failed to buy Tribune newspaper company with fellow Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad; advised Dow Jones' union during company's negotiations with Rupert Murdoch over sale of Wall Street Journal, other assets to News Corp. Close friend of Bill Clinton; former president became Yucaipa adviser in 2001, reportedly cashed out recently for perhaps $20 million.
- Forbes Magazine



For my Topeka, KS readers, Burkle was the guy that bought Falley's and Food 4 Less from Lou Falley. Burkle was responsible for introducing Food4Less into California.


3. #368 Donald Trump





Son of Brooklyn developer borrowed heavily, built big, lived large, became a billionaire during 1980s. Eviscerated in 1990 real estate crash; stayed flamboyant, embraced reality TV. Now other builders pay him millions to license "Trump" brand. Despite looming housing woes, the Donald's retail, office and hotel business is up. Recently signed Gucci in record lease in New York's Trump Tower; Trump Chicago hotel opened January. Annually disputes FORBES' net worth estimate: "I'm worth $7 billion."
- Forbes Magazine

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Thoughts and Links

It's been a couple of days since I posted, so I thought I should write something. It has been slow, in that nothing much has been going on this week. Busy week at work again, although it has quited down some there. People are starting to dispel the rumors now and hopefully things will get back to normal again. Although, it is pretty much public knowledge that the stores may be sold, if they can find the "right" buyer.

As I have been reading some of the other personal finance blogs, I see "Get Rich Slowly," is intrigued by something called "Bacon Salt."

In addition, he mentions Warren Buffett. As many of my regular readers know, I am a huge fan of the Oracle of Omaha. It is my dream, that one day I will actually get to meet him. I am sure though, that he has better things to do then to met and encourage a middle aged man, whose dreams and aspirations have gone no where. Despite all my efforts to make them happen. Still though JD makes some good observations from some recent comments from the world's 2nd richest man.

When investing, most people should buy a cheap index fund and dollar-cost average into it.

“I won the ovarian lottery the day I was born and so did all of you. We’re all successful, intelligent, educated. To focus on what you don’t have is a terrible mistake. With the gifts all of us have, if you are unhappy, it’s your own fault.” (Note that Buffett was addressing a group of business school students.)

Why have relatively few people been able to emulate his success? “The reason gets down to temperament. People want to make money fast, but it doesn’t happen that way.”


After see the comments on Buffett, I thought I would see what another billionaire that I look up to was doing. A billionaire, that like Buffett, I would like to meet someday. A man, who was able to buy his first chain of grocery stores with Buffett investing half the money. I am of course talking about Ron Burkle. The man who unsuccessfully tried to buy the LA times and Chicago Tribune. Well, he has now bought a media company. However, it is in China.

It may not be the Los Angeles Times, but, for Ron Burkle, it'll have to do. On Tuesday Burkle's Yucaipa vehicle increased its investment in Xinhua Finance Media, this time pumping cash directly into the Chinese news service.

Billionaire Ron Burkle, a favorite of the New York Post's gossip column Page Six, increased his stake in Xinhua Finance Media (nasdaq: XFML - news - people ) to a total of 12% of the company's outstanding common shares. He paid $30 million for convertible preferred shares; this was in addition to the $27.5 million Yucaipa slapped down for common shares from existing stockholders in September. The conversion price is set at $6.00 per American depository receipt, or $3.00 per common share as each ADS listed on the Nasdaq represents two common shares. The company will also be entitled to one board seat on the Chinese Media company's board.

Xinhua Finance Mediatakes its name from an alliance made eight years ago with the Xinhua News Agency, China's state-run press. It produces financial-focused content for nationwide television as well as a variety of print media outlets. It also has radio stations in Beijing and Shanghai. Xinhua Finance Media also has majority stakes in company that produce outdoor advertising, television and movies.

While I don't know if I would invest in a foreign media company, especially one in a communist country. I do find it interesting that he did. I for one would invest in media companies, banks and retail establishments if I had the money. But those are three areas that I know a little something about and are places I have worked in some capacity since my 1987 graduation from high school, where I was even on the school newspaper.


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Warren Buffett's Sisiter Gives A Helping Hand

I recently heard Warren Buffett was giving away money to those in need. What I found, when I search the news sites online was that it wasn't him, but his sister. The video (from CBS) below, is an interesting watch, as is the the clip of text from Philanthropy News Digest.

I especially liked MS. Buffett's comment in the article.

Yet, like her brother, Buffett is extremely frugal, even in her generosity. "We're supposed to empower, but not enable," she said. "It's a fine line, and I think it makes [recipients] more responsible in the end."

After pledging more than $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year, Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett received boxes full of letters from individuals asking for money, the Wall Street Journal reports. He, in turn, forwarded them to his sister, Doris, whom he knew he could trust to give them a sympathetic hearing.

Doris Buffett estimates that the Sunshine Lady Foundation she established in Wilmington, North Carolina, has received more than three thousand letters from her brother's office and has awarded at least $1.4 million to more than three hundred people — an average of about $4,800 each. Volunteers assembled from an informal network of friends screen the letters, and part-time assistants verify the writers' claims, requesting tax returns, medical records, and other third-party verification, including notes from attorneys, pastors, or employers. Possible recipients, who never receive enough to solve all their financial needs, must also verify that they receive all the government assistance for which they are eligible.

The Wall Street Journal also wrote an article entitled The Other Buffett, which was an interesting read.

Who I Want To Emulate - Part 1

One of the people I most want to emulate is the Oracle of Omaha. Other wise known as the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett. Can I be the next Warren Buffett? Probably not, I would be starting way to late in life. However, I desire to invest my available funds and make myself rich. Maybe (and hopefully) multimillionaire if not a billionaire. The things I would be able to do with that kind of cash in the name of good will.

I realize though, before I can even begin to invest, I will need to finish getting myself debt free. 100% debt free, like Warren Buffett was when he started investing. Like Dave Ramsey says though, I cannot invest a dime until I get my debts paid off. Although against Ramsey's advice, I still have money going into my 401-k. However, I am not investing into any of my stock interests. Still though, I look at what Buffett does, and consider his investments. It is those things that I plan to invest in; to begin with, when I get back into a position to be an investor.

So it was with great interest that I read, Buffett's Berkshire buys more of BNSF, in my local paper. Burlington Northern Santa Fe is a local company in Topeka and is one of the largest transportation companies in the country.

OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has bought 7.8 million more shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe stock, giving it control of 17.2 percent of the nation's second-largest railroad.

Berkshire had owned about 15 percent of Burlington Northern before this latest purchase, which was revealed in a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission

Berkshire made its latest railroad stock purchase on Wednesday by exercising the options it already held to buy 7.8 million shares of Burlington Northern stock. Berkshire now owns 60.8 million shares of BNSF.
- Topeka Capital Journal

Being a local company, I am familiar with this company, headquartered in Burlington, IA. The question though is do I know enough about the operation of such a company to become an owner? Buffett always says to never invest a company that you couldn't take the reins of. That is why he is reluctant to invest in tech stocks. It also is the reason the few shares of stocks that remain in my portfolio (being to few to sell, to get any funds from) are all in retail and food companies. Such companies as Kroger (a competitor to my company), Pier 1 and Coca-Cola. Since I have worked retail most all my life, these are companies I know something about and feel, if I had to, could step in as chairman of.

I still have an estimated 2 years before I am completely debt free, so I will have time to consider such an investment. Not to mention how heavily I will begin increasing my current investments.

Welcome! Look Around and Stay A While

It seems that I must have hit the lottery sort to speak. Yesterday, I looked at my stats and was amazed to see such a huge influx of visitors. Looking more closely at the states, it seems most of the new visitors are coming in, by way of Google searches. The search term, in one day has become the number one search term for this site. What was that term? Various versions of "84 square foot house" or home. All in all at midnight central time, I had received 310 hits on that article/page alone. Over all I had 384 unique visitors for the day. Considering I normally have 50-100 and occasionally 200 a day, to swell to almost 400 is fabulous. If this keeps up, I could be the number one personal finance blog rather then just one of the top 100.

So I would like to welcome all the new readers. If this is your first time here or if you have never commented before, I would like to welcome each of you. Everyone is encouraged to comment on any of the articles. All I ask is that if you don't have a blogger account, click on other and give yourself a name, so that your comments will be taken a little more seriously then a no name anonymous reply would be. The name you type in can be your real name, a nick name or an online pseudonym and is just to identify your comments.

This blog is (as stated above) a personal finance blog. I discuss my personal financial troubles openly here and my readers rebuke or support (with their comments) me. In addition I have talked about various frugal and thrifty tips. Discussed financial gurus like Dave Ramsey and John Cummuta. I have even discussed billionaires and business leaders such as Ron Burkle and Warren Buffett. It's all here, it's all my opinion, with your agreements, disagreements and thoughts thrown in. It to is my open book of the huge stupid mistakes I have made financially and all my struggles as I dig myself out of debt.

So with that, I would again like to say welcome and thank each and everyone of you for stopping by. Feel free to make a comment here to say hi and post how you found my blog.

Two Richest Men in World Sells

So today, I was reading the Kansas City Business section that was emailed to my home computer.
The first caught my eye:

What’s it say about the status of two Kansas City public companies when the two richest men in the world are selling their shares?

I am not much of a fan of Kansas City, especially the traffic. They have no subway/light-rail system, which is disappointing for a city their size. That fact is the main reason I have always shrugged off the idea of moving to that city. However, that is another story, for another time. Back to the story about these two Kansas City companies and the men who sold their shares in these companies.

Wall Street mostly reacted with a yawn today after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett reported they have sold all or part of their stakes in Great Plains Energy Corp. and H&R Block Inc., respectively.

In midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Block shares were down 4 cents at $22.78 while Great Plains Energy was up 11 cents at $32.19.

In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., disclosed that in the first quarter his foundation has sold its stake in Great Plains Energy, the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light Co. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold 775,084 Great Plains shares.

Similarly, Buffett revealed that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold about two-thirds of its Block shares, continuing a trend of selling part of his stake in the Kansas City tax-preparation giant.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Berkshire Hathaway sold 60 percent of its holdings in Block.

Berkshire’s position in Block was reduced to 1.25 million shares from 4.11 million in the fourth quarter.

Buffett first reported his ownership in Block six years ago with an 8.43 percent stake. It was more stock than co-founder Henry Bloch owned at the time.

So what did the oracle of Omaha do with all that cash? Why he invested in Johnson & Johnson of course.

While it was selling Block shares, Berkshire nearly doubled its stake in Johnson & Johnson to 48.7 million shares after buying 24.1 million shares during the quarter.

You Still Have a Chance to Watch the Buffett Special

If you missed the interview with Warren Buffett that I discussed a few days ago. You still have an opprtunity to watch it this weekend.

WARREN BUFFETT: THE BILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR not only airs on November 20th at 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM, but it will be rebroadcast on Friday, November 24th at 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM ET and on Sunday, November 26th at 10:00 PM and 1:00 AM ET.

http://www.nolimitsladies.com/2006/11/warren_buffett_the_billionaire.html