Teachers’ Day 2024: These 3 key lessons Warren Buffett learnt from his mentor Benjamin Graham

There are a number of learnings which we happen to imbibe from our mentors and they stay with us for many years to come. Even legends like Warren Buffett owe a major chunk of their success to their mentors and gurus. Buffett often says that his mentor and professor at Columbia University – Benjamin Graham -- taught him countless and timeless lessons of investing.

In a short remembrance to Mr Graham that was published in the Financial Analyst Journal after his death in 1976, the Oracle of Omaha recounted three lessons which he learnt from his teacher.

Those who are not aware, Benjamin Graham wrote the famous bestseller ‘The Intelligent Investor’ and he also taught at Columbia University where Buffett studied for a master’s degree.

Three key lessons Warren Buffett learnt from Graham

I. Remain foolish: In a letter to shareholders in 2018, Buffett said that the markets will remain volatile, and what one needs is willingness to look unimaginative for a long period of time or perhaps to look foolish.

It was Graham’s teaching which convinced Buffett to say that one does not need too much of excellence to make wealth in stock markets. It is, in fact, the ability of investors to ignore buyers’ euphoria and sellers’ pessimism.

Buffett even once asserted that he never listens to economists. There is not a single economist who became super wealthy by investing in securities, he had once remarked.

II. Be generous: Warren has spoken at length in praise of Ben Graham who was not only a good teacher, investor and mentor but also a generous person at the same time.

At the time of conceiving The Giving Pledge along with Bill Gates, Buffett apparently took a leaf out of Graham’s book and has even donated a large part of his wealth to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Walter Lippmann spoke of men who plant trees that other men will sit under. Ben Graham was such a man,” Buffett has written about Graham.

III. Be creative: Graham was one of the rare breeds who achieved great success without the narrowness of mental activity that concentrates all efforts on a single end. His success was in fact a byproduct of intellect whose breadth was quite wide.

In fact, Buffett has imbibed this learning in his life too by becoming a voracious reader and pursuing knowledge and wisdom instead of money and profits.

He recalled one of the famous quotes of Graham wherein he reportedly tells Buffett to not worry about money too much.

“When I worked with him, Ben told me: ‘Don’t worry too much about making money. It will change how your wife lives but not how you live. You and I will still wear the same clothes and eat at the same cafeteria, so relax.’," he said.