Warren Buffett has an estimated net worth of over $116 billion, so it’s safe to assume he would know a thing or two about money – but the Berkshire Hathaway CEO says that your bank account is not a measure of your success.
Warren Buffett’s definition of success goes beyond wealth, fame and finance. In her biography of Buffett, ‘The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life,’ author Alice Schroeder wrote about the time the billionaire gave a presentation at the University of Georgia in 2001 and was asked about success.
When students asked him to define success, Buffett, 91, offered a profound insight. “Basically, when you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you,” he said.
“I know many people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them.
“That's the ultimate test of how you have lived your life.”
The Berkshire Hathaway CEO, a self-made billionaire, further spoke of correlation between love and money. “The problem with love is that it’s not for sale,” he told students. “The only way to get love is to be lovable. It’s very irritating if you have a lot of money. You’d like to think you could write a check: I’ll buy a million dollars’ worth of love. But it doesn’t work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.”
In conclusion, your bank balance does not define how successful you are – the love you give and receive does.
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