BLOGNAME: LOUDER THAN WORDS

An informal, stream-of-consciousness reflection on business ideas, events and issues in modern business, modern life and with some specifics to the web-software industry by Paul Tomori, Internet Entrepreneur

I Bought A Railroad! By Paul Tomori Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 16:42:29 (EST) Well, I have been out of the blogosphere for a couple of weeks now. My apologies to regular readers... (all 10 of you!). Between being too busy to follow my own regimented schedule of having one hour of downtime at the end of each workday "to reflect"... and combatting what was likely the swine flu... and staving off the rigors of new-baby-induced sleep deprivation, I just haven't had the time... though I have had lots of motivation. For starters, did you hear? Last week, I bought a railroad. Yep... the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp is now part of my growing list of companies. According to my calculations, I own approximately 2 rails on the entire railroad, but hey, no train is going to get very far if I take those rails out of commission! Ok, seriously, yes, I did buy the railroad, but only a fractional shareholding by virtue of my baby B Berkshire Hathaway investment (for the uninitiated, that's Warren Buffett's company)... and for those who wonder who Warren Buffett is, hey... keep on partying in ignorant bliss... you'll probably outlive me anyway! It's quite a bet that Mr. Buffett made actually. A railroad! Nothing too high-tech there. Nothing very jaw-droppingly cutting edge. Just a railroad. Haven't they been around for about 150 years or more? It just seems like while so many people get ga-ga over the newest latest gadget from the hottest new company, some people just like to look for conservative value in good old-fashioned essential services that may not triple in value over night ever, BUT will continue to slowly accrue steady consistent value over time. There is something comforting about that and I am glad I bet shares in BH, because it keeps me up to speed with where the Oracle from Omaha is heading. And by being up to speed, that keeps me grounded or dare I say it keeps me from "going off the rails"?! There is a lot of craziness in my industry these days, so staying grounded is pretty much imperative to keep one from going off the rails and doing something impulsive or knee-jerk. Slow and steady wins the race. Let the others blaze beautiful trails in the stratosphere. I will enjoy a slower steadier climb and when the hotshots run out of gas or falter on their whiz-bang pursuits, I will be there to catch any valuable bits and pieces of the fall-out. By that time, those bits and pieces might seem stodgy and old like a railroad, but hey, that strategy seems to have worked well for Warren Buffett... why not me? Return To Blog Index