Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha by Jeff Matthews – A Highly Readable, Well Balanced Travelogue That Will Get You Thinking

As someone who has close to zero prior knowledge on the phenomenon of Warren Buffett, hedge fund manager and financial blogger Jeff Matthews has done a marvelous job in painting a holistic picture of a world according to Warren Buffett.  Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha is highly assessable.  Supported by close to 90 quotations from various sources, it touches onto a brief history of Berkshire Hathaway, the partnership of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and their collective views on numerous topics, Warren Buffett’s personal life and personality, and what’s next for Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett.

After attended the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in the year of 2007 through an invite from his friend, Jeff Matthews has started a travelogue within his blog.  Year 2008, he has bought the B shares just to gain a pass to the annual meeting.  Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha documents what happened during these two meetings.

For those who are new to the unique Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, each year, shareholders from around the world gather at Omaha to hear two old men – Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger – answering questions of all kinds asked by the crowd.  In year 2008, 31,000 were gathered to listen to what the oracle has to say.

Jeff Matthews has the gift of keeping even the driest and most complicated subject engaging and easy to understand.  Seamlessly, he explains the background – be it as a person’s or a company’s history or the meaning behind a particular financial instrument – mixes it with his observation and his research, and in some moments, interjects with his own thoughts.  I in particularly enjoy reading what Jeff Matthews’s views are.  I wish there were more.

Besides the questions that are directly relevant to Berkshire Hathaway’s business such as growth and profitability, sustainability issues such as dams and climate change were raised by the audience.  Some shareholders wished to hear Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s views on abortion and Jesus Christ.  One 17-year-old asked what he should do to become a great investor.  And my favorite question from a 10-year-old (too bad, the answer was less than inspirational): What would a 10-year-old do to make money?

Being able to create 62 billion dollar of wealth from $100 invested in 1956, I think there is only one Warren Buffett.  Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha is a terrific read in gaining a balanced, well researched insight to the human side of a financial genius.  And how exactly does Warren Buffett do it so well over the years?  It could well be as simple as the basic principles that Buffett has hold onto as clearly layout in this book.  And why can’t anyone else do it?  Some myths do remain.

External Link: Jeff Matthews’s Financial Blog