• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

SeedTime

SeedTime Money (Christian Personal Finance)

  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • The Book
  • The Course
    • True Financial Freedom
    • The Real Money Method
    • The 10x Investing Course
  • Newsletter
    • The Tools We Use
    • 25 Ways to Save Money
    • 10 Budgeting Spreadsheets
    • How We Travel For Free
    • 5 Bible Verses You Should Know
    • 35 Ways To Make Money
    • Beginner Investing
    • 7 Passive Income Ideas
    • Is Tithing for today?
    • 31 Legit Home Biz Ideas
  • Churches

My five favorite quotes from Warren Buffett

January 20, 2020 By Bob Lotich, CEPF®

26 shares
  • Facebook16
  • Email

warren buffet quotesI am a big fan of Warren Buffett and he is on a prayer list of guys who I want to see in heaven. And even though we don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, there are lots of areas that he operates using Biblical principles.

No one can escape the laws of gravity, and you can try to fight against it or you can use it to your advantage. I find that Biblical principles are no different.  You don’t have to be a Christian, or even aware of their source, to benefit from them.

The five Warren Buffett quotes below are not necessarily Biblical principles, but examples of wisdom none-the-less. So with all that out the way, these are my five favorites…

1. “Do business with people you like and who share your objectives.”

Isn’t there more to life than money? I have met people who I wouldn’t work with for a million dollars, haven’t you? People are people and you will never be completely insulated from people who bug you, but if you are hiring them or choosing to work with them, they might as well be people you enjoy being around.

When your business partners are sharing your objectives you won’t have to waste your time pulling against each other. If you are building a business to sell eco-friendly products with the sole intention of saving the rainforest and your partner is only concerned with increasing profits, you are going to be in trouble.  Right?

2. “Leave your children enough money so they can do anything, but not enough that they don’t have to do anything.”

Someone I know received 8 million dollars as an inheritance on his 21st birthday. A few people I was talking to couldn’t believe me when I said I wouldn’t want it. To me, the joy in life is overcoming the challenges and reaching the successes. I would have felt like I was robbed of the chance to fight and earn it.

I want to be able to look back on my life and see all the obstacles that I overcame in order to reach my destination. Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs help on the way. For some people, the 8 million dollars might be just the help they need to get their non-profit off the ground or get their business started.

But for me, if I would have had 8 million handed to me at age 21, it wouldn’t have helped, it would have been crippling. I would have been tempted to relax just a bit too much. I would have probably ended up a big lazy blob. 😉

The irony is that as much as some people desire retirement and the “easy life”, many of them find themselves bored out of their minds. We all need something to live for. I remember how miserable I became when I was out of work for a few months. I wanted to contribute to society, but couldn’t find the opportunity. I felt like a big, lazy blob and wanted more than anything to just have an opportunity to do some work. Amazingly, as soon as I started working again, I felt a whole lot better about myself.

3. “Decision-making abilities fade as cash flow increases.”

Suppose you only have $5 in your pocket until the end of the week, it is likely that you will make a good decision with it because it is all you have. On the other hand, if you have $100 for the week, your decisions regarding a $5 purchase are far less critical since you have another $95. Therefore, people tend not to treat those decisions with the same respect they would if it was their last $5.

Parkinson’s Law states that expenses rise to meet income. It is the reason that many people wonder why their last raise didn’t make paying the bills any easier. The way to defeat Parkinson’s Law is to treat each dollar as if it is the last – to make the best possible decision for each and every dollar.

Not as a miser, but as someone who is choosing to make wise decisions with their money.

4. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

Look at any number of the celebrities that had their reputation destroyed the last couple years. One day they can be very respected in their fields and the next they can have a whole different perception in the eyes of the public.

With technology, it is becoming more and more difficult to hide from mistakes. Society is much more transparent than it used to be. You can Google a phone number and get directions to the location, employers are checking up on Facebook and Instagram, and you can see what was on a website years ago. The days of being able to do something stupid and trying to cover it up are gone. So, Warren’s advice is more relevant now than ever.

5. “There are no called strikes in the ball game of investing.”

Yea, it would have been nice to have bought Google @ $75 during the IPO. But, you didn’t LOSE any money by not investing. Even if someone else made thousands while you sat on the sidelines, you still did not LOSE any money. There are plenty of stocks that you could have bought that you would have lost money.

While I agree with what Warren is saying, I have noticed that the problem for most people is that they are afraid to swing the bat. They stand up there watching opportunity after opportunity go by only later to say, “I wish I would have…” I did it for years.

So while investing in stocks generally isn’t the best move for most beginners, thankfully we now have all kinds of simpler options of how you can get started investing even without much money with tools like Acorns, Betterment, or Fundrise.

Do you have any other Warren Buffett quotes you love?

Related Posts

  • 30 Motivational quotes to make it an Awesome day!
  • 12 Inspiring Quotes that will help you through even the worst days
  • My New Favorite Money-Saving Strategy That You Aren't Using
  • 14 quotes to help you stay out of debt
26 shares
  • Facebook16
  • Email

About Bob Lotich, CEPF®

Bob Lotich, CEPF® is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance and has over 15+ years experience writing about Biblical personal finance and is the best-selling author of Simple Money, Rich Life and has been named a top 20 social influencer in personal finance. His writing has been featured on Forbes, The Huffington Post, Yahoo Finance, CBN, Crosswalk, Patheos and others. He has been a full-time writer since 2008 and loves uncovering financial wisdom in the Bible as well as discovering the best tools and strategies to help you put more money in your pocket.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Moneymonk says

    August 26, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Nice quotes and very meaningful explainations

    Rule #1 Don’t lose money
    Rule #2 don’t forget rule #1

    Meaning if you buy something at a low price regardless if the stock goes down, you’re still not losing money

  2. Jasmine says

    July 2, 2013 at 3:57 am

    I love this selection of quotes – they’re so inspiring – especially this one… “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

  3. Richard says

    July 31, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    Nice one

  4. Bernz JP says

    July 31, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    Like number two a lot! Most of the time we worry about our kids too much, (overprotective maybe) that we sometimes forget that they are also capable of creating their own lives, that they can also be successful with minimal guidance from their parents.

  5. Gmd Ron says

    July 31, 2018 at 11:56 pm

    Hi, Wonderful article, thanks for information provide, I’m waiting for your next post.

    Thank you so much.

  6. Scott W Johnson says

    August 2, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Great Words of Wisdom. Warren is such a genuine investor and business manager.

  7. GreenDollarBills says

    August 8, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    Not quite a quote but I love his punchcard analogy for investing – invest as if you only have 20 chances to invest in your whole life -> punching a whole in the 20 available spaces each time. If you think about it in this way you’ll be very careful about your investment choices.

Footer



SeedTime is a 2x Plutus award winning website.
seedtime money logo


seedtime is accredited with the BBB and has an A+ rating
seedtime instagram seedtime money youtube channel seedtime money twitter with Bob Lotich


Our book Simple Money, Rich Life was named 2022 book of the year!
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • The Book
  • Courses
  • Press
  • Churches


Privacy Policy | Terms | Reviews | Contact | 636-344-0438
625 Bakers Bridge Ave Suite 105-134 Franklin, TN 37067
©2007-2023 · SeedTime (Formerly ChristianPF)
26 shares
  • 16