The world according to Buffett

The acclaimed investor's achievements are legendary, but it's worth reflecting on his personal side too

- Tim Cohen

When you write about Warren Buffett (94), it's easy to run out of superlatives pretty fast.

There are minor industries, it sometimes seems to me, whose main function is the Buffett superlative process. And, of course, after announcing his retirement as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway last weekend, they are out in full force.

I don't want to join them because it seems ridiculous and redundant and superfluous. Buffett himself would scold you for telling others what they know already. Tell them something they don't know, I imagine him saying. And I agree.

But I just can't help myself. Okay, just quickly. What he has achieved is really magnificent. In the 60 years during which he has run Berkshire Hathaway, the company's value rose 5.5 million percent. That's 20% a year, on average.

This means if you had invested $1 in Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, the investment would be worth about $5.5-million today. The S&P 500 gained 39,000% over that time and had an annual return of about 10%, including dividends.

If you think about how many people are trying to achieve that, and don't, the achievement just becomes even more impressive.

There are inventors who have actually outperformed Buffett. Perhaps the greatest were Jim Simons, Stanley Druckenmiller and George Soros, all of whom recorded roughly 30% returns over 30-year periods.