This article, by Warren Buffett, as told to Randall Lane, appears in the upcoming April issue of ForbesLife magazine, as part of its "When I Was 25" series.
这篇文章由 Warren Buffett 口述、Randall Lane 整理，刊登在即将出版的 ForbesLife 杂志四月号中，是其“When I Was 25”系列的一部分。
By Warren Buffett
作者：Warren Buffett
Benjamin Graham had been my idol ever since I read his book The Intelligent Investor. I had wanted to go to Columbia Business School because he was a professor there, and after I got out of Columbia, returned to Omaha, and started selling securities, I didn’t forget about him. Between 1951 and 1954, I made a pest of myself, sending him frequent securities ideas. Then I got a letter back: “Next time you’re in New York, come and see me.”
自从我读了 Benjamin Graham 的书 The Intelligent Investor 之后，他就一直是我的偶像。我当初想去 Columbia Business School，就是因为他在那里任教；而我从 Columbia 毕业后，回到 Omaha，开始销售证券，也没有忘记他。1951 年到 1954 年之间，我简直把自己变成了一个讨人嫌的人，不断给他寄去各种证券投资想法。后来我收到一封回信：“下次你来 New York 的时候，来见见我。”
So there I went, and he offered me a job at Graham-Newman Corp., which he ran with Jerry Newman. Everyone says that A.W. Jones started the hedge fund industry, but Graham-Newman’s sister partnership, Newman and Graham, was actually an earlier fund. I moved to White Plains, New York, with my wife, Susie, who was four months pregnant, and my daughter. Every morning, I got on a train to Grand Central and went to work.
于是我就去了，他给了我一份在 Graham-Newman Corp. 的工作，那家公司是他和 Jerry Newman 一起经营的。大家都说 A.W. Jones 开创了对冲基金行业，但 Graham-Newman 的姊妹合伙企业 Newman and Graham，实际上是更早的基金。我和妻子 Susie，以及我的女儿一起搬到了 New York 的 White Plains，当时 Susie 已经怀孕四个月。每天早上，我坐火车到 Grand Central，然后去上班。
It was a short-lived position: The next year, when I was 25, Mr. Graham—that’s what I called him then—gave me a heads-up that he was going to retire. Actually, he did more than that: He offered me the chance to replace him, with Jerry’s son Mickey as the new senior partner and me as the new junior partner. It was a very tiny fund—$6 million or $7 million—but it was a famous fund.
这份工作并没有持续很久：第二年，也就是我 25 岁的时候，Graham 先生——那时我就是这样称呼他的——提前告诉我他准备退休。实际上，他做得不止这些：他还给了我一个接替他的机会，由 Jerry 的儿子 Mickey 担任新的高级合伙人，而我担任新的初级合伙人。那是一个很小的基金——规模只有 600 万或 700 万美元——但它是一只很有名的基金。
This was a traumatic decision. Here was my chance to step into the shoes of my hero—I even named my first son Howard Graham Buffett. (Howard was for my father.) But I also wanted to come back to Omaha. I probably went to work for a month thinking every morning that I would tell Mr. Graham I was going to leave. But it was hard to do.
这是一个令人痛苦的决定。我有机会接替我的英雄——我甚至给我的第一个儿子取名为 Howard Graham Buffett。（Howard 是为了纪念我的父亲。）但我也想回到 Omaha。我大概有一个月的时间，每天早上去上班时都想着，我要告诉 Graham 先生我要离开了。但这件事很难开口。
The thing is, when I got out of college, I had $9,800, but by the end of 1955, I was up to $127,000. I thought, I’ll go back to Omaha, take some college classes, and read a lot—I was going to retire! I figured we could live on $12,000 a year, and off my $127,000 asset base, I could easily make that. I told my wife, “Compound interest guarantees I’m going to get rich.”
问题在于，我大学毕业的时候只有 9,800 美元，但到 1955 年年底，我已经有了 127,000 美元。我想，我要回到 Omaha，去上一些大学课程，大量阅读——我准备退休了！我估计我们一年靠 12,000 美元就能生活，而凭借我 127,000 美元的资产基础，我很容易赚到这笔钱。我告诉妻子：“复利保证我会变得富有。”
My wife and kids went back to Omaha just ahead of me. I got in the car, and on my way west checked out companies I was interested in investing in. It was due diligence. I stopped in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, to visit the Jeddo-Highland Coal Company. I visited the Kalamazoo Stove & Furnace Company in Michigan, which was being liquidated. I went to see what the building looked like, what they had for sale. I went to Delaware, Ohio, to check out Greif Bros. Cooperage. (Who knows anything about cooperage anymore?) Its chairman met with me. I didn’t have appointments; I would just drop in. I found that people always talked to me. All these people helped me.
我的妻子和孩子比我先回到了 Omaha。我上了车，一路向西，顺道考察那些我有兴趣投资的公司。这就是尽职调查。我在 Pennsylvania 的 Hazleton 停下来，拜访 Jeddo-Highland Coal Company。我拜访了 Michigan 的 Kalamazoo Stove & Furnace Company，当时这家公司正在清算。我去看它的厂房是什么样子，看它有什么东西要出售。我还去了 Ohio 的 Delaware，考察 Greif Bros. Cooperage。（现在还有谁懂制桶业呢？）公司的董事长接待了我。我没有预约；我就是直接登门。我发现人们总是愿意和我交谈。这些人都帮了我。
In Omaha, I rented a house at 5202 Underwood for $175 a month. I told my wife, “I’d be glad to buy a house, but that’s like a carpenter selling his toolkit.” I didn’t want to use up my capital.
回到 Omaha 后，我以每月 175 美元的价格租下了 Underwood 街 5202 号的一栋房子。我告诉妻子：“我当然愿意买房子，但那就像木匠卖掉自己的工具箱一样。”我不想耗掉我的资本。
I had no plans to start a partnership, or even have a job. I had no worries as long as I could operate on my own. I certainly did not want to sell securities to other people again. But by pure accident, seven people, including a few of my relatives, said to me, “You used to sell stocks, and we want you to tell us what to do with our money.” I replied, “I’m not going to do that again, but I’ll form a partnership like Ben and Jerry had, and if you want to join me, you can.” My father-in-law, my college roommate, his mother, my aunt Alice, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my lawyer all signed on. I also had my hundred dollars. That was the beginning—totally accidental.
我当时没有计划成立合伙企业，甚至也没有打算找工作。只要我能自己操作，我就没有什么可担心的。我当然不想再向别人销售证券了。但完全出于偶然，包括我几位亲戚在内的七个人对我说：“你以前卖过股票，我们想让你告诉我们该怎么处理我们的钱。”我回答说：“我不会再做那种事了，但我会成立一个像 Ben 和 Jerry 那样的合伙企业；如果你们想加入，可以加入。”我的岳父、大学室友、他母亲、我的 Alice 姑妈、我的姐姐、我的姐夫和我的律师都加入了。我自己也投了 100 美元。这就是开端——完全是偶然发生的。
When I formed that partnership, we had dinner, the seven of them plus me—I’m 99 percent sure it was at the Omaha Club. I bought a ledger for 49 cents, and they brought their checks. Before I took their money, I gave them a half sheet of paper that I had made carbons of—something I called the ground rules. I said, “There are two or four pages of partnership legal documents. Don’t worry about that. I’ll tell you what’s in it, and you won’t get any surprises.
我成立那个合伙企业时，我们一起吃了一顿晚饭，他们七个人加上我——我有 99% 的把握是在 Omaha Club。我花 49 美分买了一本账簿，他们则带来了支票。在收下他们的钱之前，我给了他们半页纸，那是我用复写纸复印出来的——我称之为基本规则。我说：“合伙企业的法律文件有两页或四页。别担心那个。我会告诉你们里面写了什么，你们不会遇到任何意外。
“But these ground rules are the philosophy. If you are in tune with me, then let’s go. If you aren’t, I understand. I’m not going to tell you what we own or anything like that. I want to get bouquets when I deserve bouquets, and I want to get soft fruit thrown at me when I deserve it. But I don’t want fruit thrown at me if I’m down 5 percent, and the market’s down 15 percent—I’m going to think I deserve a bouquet for that.” We made everything clear, and they gave me their checks.
“但这些基本规则才是哲学。如果你们和我的想法一致，那我们就开始。如果不是，我也理解。我不会告诉你们我们持有什么，或者类似的细节。当我应该得到鲜花的时候，我希望得到鲜花；当我应该被扔软水果的时候，我也愿意被扔软水果。但如果我亏了 5%，而市场跌了 15%，我不希望有人朝我扔水果——这种情况下，我会认为自己应该得到一束鲜花。”我们把一切都讲清楚了，然后他们把支票交给了我。
I did no solicitation, but more checks began coming from people I didn’t know. Back in New York, Graham-Newman was being liquidated. There was a college president up in Vermont, Homer Dodge, who had been invested with Graham, and he asked, “Ben, what should I do with my money?” Ben said, “Well, there’s this kid who used to work for me.…” So Dodge drove out to Omaha, to this rented house I lived in. I was 25, looked about 17, and acted like 12. He said, “What are you doing?” I said, “Here’s what I’m doing with my family, and I’ll do it with you.”
我没有主动招揽任何人，但更多支票开始从我不认识的人那里寄来。当时 New York 的 Graham-Newman 正在清算。在 Vermont 有一位大学校长 Homer Dodge，他过去把钱投在 Graham 那里，于是他问：“Ben，我的钱该怎么办？”Ben 说：“嗯，有这么一个孩子，以前给我工作过……”于是 Dodge 开车来到 Omaha，来到我住的这栋租来的房子。我当时 25 岁，看起来大概 17 岁，举止像 12 岁。他问：“你在做什么？”我说：“这是我用自己家人的钱在做的事，我也会用同样的方式为你做。”
Although I had no idea, age 25 was a turning point. I was changing my life, setting up something that would turn into a fairly good-size partnership called Berkshire Hathaway. I wasn’t scared. I was doing something I liked, and I’m still doing it.
虽然我当时并不知道，但 25 岁是一个转折点。我正在改变自己的人生，建立一个后来会变成相当大规模合伙企业的东西，叫作 Berkshire Hathaway。我并不害怕。我在做自己喜欢的事，而且我现在仍然在做。