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QuestionerI've come to the conclusion that great investors are made, not born. Do you and Mr. Munger agree with this conclusion?
WarrenI would say that there, I don't know to what extent, an ability to detach yourself from the crowd, for example. I don't know to what extent that's innate or to what extent that's learned, but that's a quality you need. I would agree totally with you that a great IQ is not needed. I mean, you do not have to be terrifically smart. to do well as an investor at all. You have to be realistic, you have to just define your circle of competence accurately, you have to know what you don't know and not get enticed by it. You can't be, you have to have an interest in money, I think, or you won't be good in investing, but I think if you're very greedy, it'll be a disaster because that will overcome rationality. But I think, I think that's... the same books I read and really molded how I thought about businesses and investing, I think that they're just as valid now. I mean, I haven't seen anything in the last 25 years, and I read my, I glanced through most of the books anyway. I've seen nothing to improve on Graham and Fisher in terms of the basic approach of going about investing, which is to, is to think about stocks as big. businesses and then think about what makes a good business. And really, that's all there is to investing and having a margin of safety, which Ben talks about and so on. It's not a complicated process, but it definitely requires discipline. It requires insulating yourself from popular opinion. You just simply cannot, you can't pay any attention to it. It just doesn't mean anything. So you can't, the idea of listening to lots of people tell you things and on, it's just a waste of things. time, you know, you'd be better off just sitting and thinking a little bit. If you have a passionate interest in knowing why things are happening, you always are trying to figure out the world in terms of why is this happening or why is this not happening. That cast of mind kept over long periods gradually improves your ability to cope with reality. And if you don't have that cast of mind, I think you're destined probably for failure, even if you've got a pretty high IQ.