The book that Warren Buffett memorised as a child.
"Very early, probably when I was seven or so, I took this book out of the Benson Library called 'One Thousand Ways to Make $1,000’. I pretty much memorised it”
- Warren Buffett
Here’s a synopsis of the book ⬇️
1/ "One Thousand Ways to Make $1,000" is a classic book on personal finance, first published in 1936 by author Francis Minaker.
The book is filled with inspiring stories of people who have successfully made money using a variety of creative strategies.
2/ One woman in the book started a business selling homemade pies to local restaurants and eventually turned it into a successful catering business.
Another man became rich by flipping real estate. He bought and fixed abandoned houses.
3/ Other stories in the book tell of people who have made money by starting their own consulting businesses, and even selling pet rocks (which was a popular fad in the 1970s). The author also shares the founding story of JCPenney as well discussing the stock market.
4/ Buffett was particularly interested in a chapter about pennyweight scales.
"I sat and calculated how much it would cost to buy the first weighing machine, and then how long it would take for the profit of that one to buy another one”
5/ "I would create these compound interest tables to figure out how to have a weighing machine for every person in the world. I pictured everybody in the country weighing themselves 10 times a day, and me just sitting there like the John D. Rockefeller of weighing machines”
6/ The book also covers the concept of investing in an enormous market that you understand well, mentioning cigarette humidors, tailored suits and greeting cards.
This is a principal that Buffett certainly adopted.
7/ Mostly though the book is business motivation, with valuable quotes like "If you have the urge to go into business or to lay the foundation for a future business by capitalizing your spare time, delay no longer. If you wait for conditions, they may leave you in the lurch.