Financial Analysis: An Overview of Warren Buffett's Life and Career

This essay provides a financial analysis of Warren Buffett, focusing on his life, investment strategies, and career, as detailed in Alice Schroeder's biography, 'The Snowball'. The essay summarizes Buffett's early life, his investment philosophy, and his approach to business, highlighting his independence of mind, long-term investment strategies, and aversion to debt. It explores key aspects of his investment decisions, including his stance during the dot-com boom and the 2008 financial crisis. The analysis also touches upon his personal life and the factors that have contributed to his success, drawing insights from the biography to provide a comprehensive overview of Buffett's impact on the investment world. The essay concludes by emphasizing the book's value as an investment guide and a detailed look into one of the most influential investors of the century.

Running head: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
Financial Analysis
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Introduction:
Warren Edward Buffett, born on 30th august of 1930 is one of the well-known business
magnate, philanthropist and America investor who works as the CEO and chairman of Berkshire
Hathaway (Kelly). According to the latest data, he is third richest person round the world with
net worth of 82.0 billion USD (Arnold). His charismatic performance in the investment world
has attracted many books, however, all of them has been rejected. “The Snowball: Warren
Buffett and the Business of Life” by Alice Schroeder is the first ever biography made on the
living legend that provides detailed insight of the Buffett’s life as well as to his business and
provides light on his personal life too (Borins, Sandford and Beth). This essay is meant to deliver
a summarized overview and finding of the books in order to portray the life of the Buffett.
Through this essay, the prolife of the Warren Buffett will be provided with the summarized
overview of the book and describe how the legend has become where he is now.
Summary of Snowball:
Snowball is the authorized biography of the Warren Buffett, which is not only regarding
the snowballing of the Buffett’s wealth, rather it gives detailed insight regarding the business of
life of the Buffett. According to the book, both spheres of the Buffett is to act according to the
inner Scorecard that he feels to be accurate, rather than utilizing the Outer Scorecard and
determining himself according to the opinions of the others (Wenning). Unlike the recent Wall
Street tycoons, Buffett is different when it comes to trapping of the wealth. Even in the case of
the succumbed to purchasing private jet for his business trips, he depends upon the Indefensible.
The book showcase the sarcastic side of the Buffett showcasing his food preference. According
to the subject matter he prefers to eat cherry coke, fries and only burgers (Upton). Upon asking,
why he prefer this type of food, he utters that he eats only those foods that are preferred by the

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three year old and do not consume those, which are does not eaten by the three year old child,
showcasing him as simple as the child from the inner side. However, considering his business
plans, the book entails that, there is a paradigm difference between what he portrays about his
food preference and his works.
Buffett’s rule of investment is straightforward, which depends upon the simple ideas. He
distrust the debt, prefer to stick in the place for long term, prefer to build in buffer as the margin
of safety and most importantly he never invest in something that he does not understand. Upon
questioning, this would be the investment procedure of everyone, although, how he has
succeeded in his endeavors. Buffett replied ‘absolute independence of mind that eludes the other
investors’’ that has made him different from the other investors. According to the Buffett, he has
restrained himself from the dot com boom during the beginning of the 20th century because he
has predicted that it will not sustain for the long and mentioned that there will be credit crunch as
the dotcom boom is the weapons of the mass financial destruction (Moran).
According to the book, Buffett has earned his first big ticket income at the age of 14,
when he saved $1000 by his first tax return. By the end of 26th years he introduced his own
investment partnership for the friends and family and at the end of the last year the brand
Berkshire Hathaway was valued at 200 million USD, with the turnover of 60 billion USD
(Schroeder). According to a group of economists, who came into existence with their analysis
firm during the mid-eighties argued depending upon their Efficient Market Hypothesis that,
investor like Buffett should not exist because investor like him can consistently outperform the
market. As the Snowball portrays the argument of the analyst firm that the Buffett has become
successful by chance, however according to the word of the Buffett, it is perfection and his
decision making foresight that has helped him over the years (Arnold). The man who get his

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hand dirty with the stock market nuisance with the coca cola shares become the biggest earner
during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. As the book suggest, while the market was in a
dwindling situation due to the subprime mortgage crisis, Buffett prefer to invest in many Blue
Chip companies like Bank of America, Mars, Dow Chemical and Goldman Sachs that has been
aiding the investor to earn gigantic cash return during the present date (Meister, Mark and
Carrie). His earning from the investment during crisis days has earned him 10 billion dollar
making him the global tycoon in the investment world (Finkle). to the conclude the book entailed
that snowball of investment he has created with careful lookout has been enormous now and in
the coming days he will felling like a sprout because he wants to reach the top of the hill.
Conclusion:
Snowball by Alice Schroeder is one of the best ever investing and business book
available for the wide range of the customers who are interested in stock market. According to
the many reviewers of the book, it has been argued that the Snowball is such a book that has
detailed inside glimpse to the world of the Warren Buffett, which likely no one will ever get.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the book Snowball by the Alice Schroeder possess most
authoritative presentation of the one of the most famous and important American investors of the
century. Additionally analyzing the book, it can be entailed that it is the bible for the capitalists
that provide detailed insight to the investing principle that one should follow to reach the zenith
of the success. The book has provided light on the performance and the factors that has affected
the decisions of the Warren Buffett and subsequently mentioned how the man become successful
in his endeavors while keeping a well maintained balance with the family life. Thus, to conclude
it can be entailed that the book is one of the best available business book that has provided wide

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spread insight to the performance of the subject matter and has achieved the theme with proper
execution of the ideologies.

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Reference:
Arnold, Glen. The Deals of Warren Buffett. Jaico Publishing House, 2018.
Borins, Sandford, and Beth Herst. "“A Good Dose of Outrage”: Financial Trading Fables."
Negotiating Business Narratives. Palgrave Pivot, Cham, 2018. 37-55.
Finkle, Todd A. "warren e. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, inc." Journal of the International
Academy for Case Studies 16.5 (2010): 61.
Kelly, Edward J. "Transformation in leadership, part 1: A developmental study of Warren
Buffett." Transformation(2017).
Meister, Mark, and Carrie Anne Platt. "Warren Buffett’s Celebrity, Epideictic Ethos, and
Neoliberal Humanitarianism." Rhetoric in Neoliberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017. 39-
62.
Moran, Virginia. "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life." Iris. No. 59.
University of Virginia, 2010.
Schroeder, A. (2008). The snowball: Warren Buffett and the business of life. A&C Black.
Upton, John. "Warren Buffett Way, The [Book Review]." Equity28.2 (2014): 26.
Wenning, Todd. "Inside the Investments of Warren Buffett: Twenty Cases (a review)." (2016):
1-1.