Today I bought my first share of Berkshire Hathaway.

Mind you, Berkshire has two classes of its common stock – Class A that runs something like $200,000 a share right now, and Class B that runs, well, less … so just to be clear, I bought Class B… 😛

Still, it was kind of a special purchase for me because over the years aside from the original investing inspiration I got from my Grandpa, I would say that Warren Buffett has been a close second because anytime I read or listen to pretty much anything that the guy has to say, I find myself both entertained and a little bit smarter when it comes to how I think of money and the future!

In fact, it was in reading his latest annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders that sparked my latest enthusiasm about investing, so it seemed only fitting that I pick up a share of his company as a subtle nod of thanks as well as to benefit in a small way from the kind of wisdom that it takes to make you The Third Richest Person on the Planet. 🙂

I think what I respect about the man the most is that despite being phenomenally successful in his years, Warren Buffett still seems like a pretty modest, down to earth guy. He always talks about investing in the long term, and he speaks about losses as bumps in the road just as much as upswings because when you’re playing the long game, the two really tend to balance each other out by the time you get to the end. And I appreciate that because so much of American culture is about chasing the dollar for immediate results, which ends up getting a lot of people in trouble whereas if they would just put their money aside and be patient, a reasonable amount of growth isn’t really that hard to attain if you take a step back and just let progress and time do their collective thing.

So here’s to share number one – the start of a new path in my investment portfolio – and with any luck, or more like some financial discipline and a bit of time, twenty or thirty years from now it’ll have grown into a nice, little nest egg to buy me a new boat or something equally ridiculous when I’m ready to retire and live a life of relaxation out on the open sea… 😉