The reason I share that little factoid today is because former Motley Fool columnist Morgan Housel brings up a very salient point:
“Buffett’s fortune isn’t due to just being a good investor, but being a good investor since he was literally a child.”
It’s useful top-of-mind insight to have IF you also have a desire to INCREASE (or keep increasing) your own net-worth.
Without a large chunk of Time on your side, you’re kinda sheeit outta luck… unless…
Unless, that is, you’re either A) willing to set aside enough money to percolate safely over whatever amount of Time you statistically have left (this is the safest way) or B) willing to learn the art & science of being a prudent speculator; which is to say… to generate cash-flow in more esoteric ways, as you simultaneously grow it in more alternative ways.
That’s what we’re all about here.
Not everyone of us has the luxury of having got knee-deep in the world of “investing” as early as a Mr. Buffett. So, we have to do a few strategic things over those who had a significant “compound interest” advantage.
Morgan continues…
“So, let’s do a thought experiment.
“What if Buffett got serious about investing when he was age 22 — just out of college — instead of age 10? Imagine he spends his 20s learning about investments, and his net worth at age 30 was in the still-impressive 90th percentile. Using today’s net worth percentiles and adjusting them for 1960s-era inflation, that would mean he’d be worth about $24,000 at age 30.
“Now we can do some fun calculations.
If, at age 30, Buffett was worth $24,000 instead of the $1 million he actually accumulated, and went on to earn the same returns, how much would he be worth today?
“$1.9 billion.
“That’s 97.6% lower than his actual net worth of $81 billion.
“The punchline is that 97.6% of Buffett’s current success can be directly tied to the base he built in his teens and 20s. Like World War II-era stuff.”
Fascinating, indeed.
But, again, if we don’t have the kind of Time left to let compounding do its magic — and we know its kind of boring and doesn’t like us messing with it (i.e., we can’t save AND simultaneously spend whatever stash we’re trying to compound) — what’s a cracker like us supposed to do?
Well, via M4 Insider (M4i), we talk about a multitude of ways. This is your invitation to join our little alternative wealth-building community.
Either way… your Time (no matter how much of it you have left on average) means the world to me.
I value your attention, too.
I hope to see on you on the inside (M4i). If not, let me know what’s holding ya back.
Managing Editor, M4 Insider
Barry is also the Co-Founder & Publisher of M4 Research.
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
