Why is patience an important principle of investing? Warren Buffett explains his investment philosophy

“There are times when you'll have to act fast. In fact, we made a great deal of money because we're willing to act faster than anybody around,” said Warren Buffett.

There are times when one has to act fast to make money but one needs to be patient at times when looking for the right opportunities, said Warren Buffett while speaking at the annual shareholders meet of Berkshire Hathaway at Omaha.

“There are times when you'll have to act fast. In fact, we made a great deal of money because we're willing to act faster than anybody around,” said Buffett.

“It's a combination of patience and willingness to do something… if it comes to you… you don't want to be patient about acting on deals that make sense. And, you don't want to be very patient with people they're talking to you about things that will never happen,” he said.

Buffett further said the team at Berkshire Hathaway, including Ajit Jain and Greg Abel, are all very patient while evaluating opportunities but highlighted that patience should not be underestimated.

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“I think that goes for Ajit also and all our managers, we're very patient when we're looking at opportunities... But while we're being patient, never underestimate the amount of reading and work that's being done to be prepared to act quickly, because we do know, be it equities, but I would include a variety of private companies, that when the opportunity presents itself, we're ready to act. And that's a large part of being patient is using it to be prepared,” said Buffett.

The veteran investor further said that one of the pleasures of the investing business is the trust that people have and the firm has enjoyed the trust for the last 60-70 years.

Interestingly, Buffett also said that he never looked for professional investors or institutions to join the company, as he just wanted people who knew what needs to be done and not to be told what has to be done.

“… never sought out professional investors to join our partnerships. Among all my partners, I never had a single institution. I never wanted an institution. I wanted people, and I didn't want people that were sitting around, having people present to them every three months and tell them what they want to be here and all that sort of thing so and that's what we got, and that's why we've got this group here today. It's all worked out,” said Buffett.