Liz Claman channels Warren Buffett
Liz Claman is an anchor for FOX Business Network, and has conducted exclusive interviews with executives such as Intel’s Paul Otellini, Google’s Eric Schmidt, and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Follow her on Twitter @LizClaman
On Monday, May 7th, FOX Business Network’s Liz Claman will interview legendary billionaire and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charles Munger and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in an exclusive sit-down (9:30 AM/ET) following the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting this weekend.
Claman is no stranger to Buffett, having interviewed him countless times throughout the course of her career.
Below, she shares some insight on what she’s learned from spending time with Buffett over the years.
How can women can become educated investors?
Educating women investors is really no different from educating any motivated investor. You have to read, study, and become knowledgeable. One of the best ways to do that is to study smart, successful investors, like Warren Buffett. Buffett thinks in terms of buying great companies that have a ‘moat’ of competitiveness around them. Are they the best or at least top 2 in what they do? Are they run by passionate managers? These are the questions he asks.
Does Warren Buffett invest in women specifically?
Warren Buffett doesn’t care who’s running a great company. It could be a man, woman or alien from Mars but if it’s run well and he sees major opportunity for growth, he’ll buy it. You could argue that simply by buying businesses run by women, such as Pampered Chef or Business Wire (run by Cathy Baron Tamraz), he’s encouraging many women entrepreneurs to dream. They should study those companies, see what the CEOs did right and did well, and then copy it with their own twist and personality. And Buffett always stresses that if you follow your passion, success will follow you.
Can you share a lesson you’ve learned from spending time with Warren Buffett?
Learn how to communicate. This helps us not only in saving, but in all aspects of our lives! It shocks a lot of people to know that Buffett was incredibly shy and lacked all confidence even through his twenties. He finally forced himself to take the Dale Carnegie course, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” because he realized the only way he’d be truly successful in life— even with his natural ability to allocate financial assets— was if he could communicate to potential investors. It took him quite some time to get up the courage to finally enroll in the course but it’s the only document he has framed and up on the wall in his inner office. Not his diplomas, not any awards, just the “Warren Buffett successfully completed Dale Carnegie’s course.” There’s something very poignant to me about that.
Category: News In Review, Women in the World, Women on the Inside
Berkshire Hathaway owns 408 million shares Wells Fargo representing a 7.7% stake. http://t.co/vArcmoTQ
The bank was handed $37 billion from the U.S. government, a transfer of wealth from the foreclosed upon have-nots to the haves doing the foreclosing.
CEO John Stumpf’s compensation actually rose after his company’s de facto bankruptcy to a cool $18 million last year.
The bailed-out bank has used its taxpayer money to invest in private prisons.
By 2008, one in 100 American adults were either in jail or in prison –and one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34, many simply for non-violent offenses, justice not so much blind as bigoted. Overall, more than 2.3 million people are currently behind bars, up 50 percent in the last 15 years, the land of the free now accounting for a full quarter of the world’s prisoners.
Wells Fargo has been busy expanding its stake in the GEO Group, the second largest private jailer in America. At the end of 2011, Wells Fargo was the company’s second-largest investor, holding 4.3 million shares valued at more than $72 million. By March 2012, its stake had grown to more than 4.4 million shares worth $86.7 million.