Richest Philanthropists - Gates, Buffett

I thought of blogging about this after a while. But as this topic is highly talked in recent times, I think its more appropriate to write a few words about these humanitarians now. First of all, why do we want to help others both physically and monetarily? Why do these people donate billions of dollars to charity? Did you ever think about that? Possible reasons could be for immortality, or for self satisfaction. There could be more, atleast for Mr. Warren Buffett. He wants his children to be as motivated as he is.

Mr. Buffett, months before his generous gift to the Gates Foundation, reportedly said

"CHILDREN OF WEALTHY PARENTS CAN BE SAPPED OF MOTIVATION AND SPOILED IF THEY INHERIT ALL OF THEIR FAMILY RICHES."

It doesnt stop here. You might have heard about a lot of other people donating huge amounts to some noble cause or the other. Carnegie, Rockfeller, Mellon, Ford, Gates have all started their own foundations and put in lot of money and effort to help the human society. Buffet started his fondation decades ago. But due to his busy schedule he could not concentrate on this. One might think why didn't he retire from his business and indulge fulltime in his foundation like Gates proposed. Thats not going to be an effective way. He thinks that he will bring in more money if he manage his wealth himself rather than someone else, which is true. And after his wife's death, he feels that he will not get a proper support to continue his vision for the Buffet Foundation.

You might think Buffet is no different from the others I have mentioned. But he dint stop just with his foundation. Nor did he gave away his money to other foundations just for the sake of giving it. He has stipulated some conditions for each of the five foundations he donates his money. Especially for the Bill and Melinda Gates (BMG) Foundation, which he thinks is the most effective among the five, has mentioned that either one of them must be alive and active in the policy-setting and administration of BMG. By this he makes sure that his money doesnt get into the wrong hands. He also didn't want his foundation to end up like Ford Foundation. Buffett's Pledges to the foundations are drawn to make use of his money properly and effectively. Truly Buffet is a legend not only by his wealth, but also by his altrustic thoughts.

Gates is another legend in his own style. Though he has not gifted huge share of his wealth like Buffet, he has done something more. At the age of 50 and when he is in the peak of his business world, he has committed himself to spend more time on the welfare of the people (which Buffet couldn't do even when he is 75). This is not as easy as it seems. He makes sure that he has enough funds for the BMG by having the largest portion of the Microsoft's shares. This is really necessary because he didn't want to endup like other small organizations looking for funds rather than involving in other social activities.

The series of benevolent commitments from these richest people would trigger a sense of selflessness in other affluent people all over the world. But all this is not just to get fame (they already have that) nor that they have money. Its human nature to help others.

According to the article "Altruistic Helping In Human Infants And Young Chimpanzees" in www.sciencemag.org, altruistic behaviour is one of the rarest evolutions and some even propose that its unique to the human beings.

Step1: Start a small business

Welcome Back!!!

I am assuming that you've read my previous post and that you are a person in the working class and not a businessman already. I am sure many of you would be in an impression that if you want to start a business, one can get some bank loans. To get the loan you should have enough money or asset to prove them that you are trustworthy.

"IN ORDER TO GET A LOAN, YOU MUST FIRST PROVE YOU DON'T NEED IT" - Murphy's Law

So dont get lost if you didn't get a loan from a bank or any institution. Try to borrow money from your friends and relatives ( if your business really needs a considerable sum). Or better try to manage your business within your limits by borrowing from yourself. Once you start your business, never mix your personal and business funds. It is dangerous.

There are a lot people who have started their businesses swiping their credit cards. You must have heard about YouTube.com. Its the most popular video site. It had 20 million visitors in May '06, which is almost twice the number of visitors to its nearest competitor MSN video in the same period (MSN video had 11.1 million visitors). The founders of YouTube Mr. Chad Hurley and Mr. Steve Chen started their website from a small garage in 1999 by using Mr. Chen's credit card. His credit card was maxed out soon. But before that they got their website publicized (by word of mouth), got recognized in the industry and funds started flowing in. They are now planning to offer an IPO.

You might not be a computer savvy like Mr. Hurley or Mr. Chen. In that case you would want to try investing small amounts in shares of companies which would give you a big margin in a small time. You will have to research on which companies to invest in and how many shares to buy in each of them. Try to diversify as much as possible so that the loss in one would be compensated by the others. I would talk more about investing in stocks in a separate post.

If you are not willing to take these risks, there are a lot of other options. But you might want to spend a lot of time and the returns will be slow too. For example one can start making and selling hand-made knit-wears or crafts. Here your investments are meagre and have a very low risk. On the other hand if you have some sufficient amount but would not like to take risk, you can try for some franchisee.

I'll keep posting about the various ways of investing with different capitals and risk factors.

Live Rich Die Poor - Walter Annenberg

I've read a lot of blogs and always wanted to start one on my own. For months i've been thinking about it and dint find anything that i could write about. Now i thought once i start something i might get some idea and people like you would feed in more inputs to get my blog going.

To start with i would like to share one of the best quotes i've ever heard.


"LIVE RICH, DIE POOR; NEVER MAKE THE MISTAKE OF DOING IT THE OTHER WAY ROUND" - Walter Annenberg


Yes, everyone wants to live rich; wish to have all they want and do all they can. But not many would like to die poor. First lets see how to start living rich before going for the latter part of the quote, because, as far as i've seen, living rich is much more easier than to die poor.

If you think earning money is hard when compared to spending them, I am sure you will have to give it a thought. I can quote several examples who were born poor and at some point of their life became one of the richest people in the whole world. On the other hand there are few people who were rich and enjoying all the luxury, had died poor.

Becoming rich is easy, but its a long process. None can become the richest person overnight (unless there is sweepstake for $50bn and you have the luck to win it). It all starts with your attitude towards life. One needs to spend a lot to become rich. This seems to be absurd, but thats how it is. I dont say that you shouldnt save money for the future. Save money so that when you need it you can spend it for yourself. But never save for your children or for your future generations. If you can become self-made richest person, your child can too. He/She neednt inherit the wealth from you.

First of all to become rich, one needs to be self employed. If you are a salaried employee working under someone, you are not going to get what you want. You cant spend time for yourself. You will not be able to match your ideal schedule. You will always be under some pressure which is nothing to do for your growth. In short you are living someone else's life. On the other hand, if you start business, investments, stocks etc., you can manage your time, you dont have the risk of being fired or laid off, you need not worry about someone else's problems and most of all you can earn big money in much shorter duration.

You must be thinking that to start a business or to invest in stocks one needs a lot of money which you dont have right now. Its a misconception. One can start a business even with a few hundred dollars, sometimes even without a single penny. All you need to do is, research on what you are going to do, which are the areas where you can invest with the little money you have and what is the risk in investing in them. If you can figure out these and if the risk in them is quite manageable, go ahead and invest in them. Initially you might take a few days or months to achieve the break-even. But once you know how to manage a business and started earning a little profit then there is no stopping.

You are all set to be the richest person.