巴菲特致股东的信（2023年）⑦奥马哈有什么？

What is it with Omaha?

奥马哈有什么？

Come to Berkshire’s annual gathering on May 4, 2024. On stage you will see the three managers who now bear the prime responsibilities for steering your company. What, you may wonder, do the three have in common? They certainly don’t look alike. Let’s dig deeper.

欢迎来参加 2024 年 5 月 4 日的伯克希尔年度盛会。在舞台上，你们将看到三位如今肩负管理你们公司首要责任的经理人。你可能会想：他们有什么共同点？长相肯定不一样。让我们深挖一下。

Greg Abel, who runs all non-insurance operations for Berkshire – and in all respects is ready to be CEO of Berkshire tomorrow – was born and raised in Canada (he still plays hockey). In the 1990s, however, Greg lived for six years in Omaha just a few blocks away from me. During that period, I never met him.

格雷格·阿贝尔负责伯克希尔所有非保险业务的运营——从各方面来说都已准备好明天就担任伯克希尔的 CEO——他在加拿大出生长大（至今还打曲棍球）。不过在 1990 年代，格雷格在奥马哈住了六年，离我家只有几个街区。那段时间，我从未见过他。

A decade or so earlier, Ajit Jain, who was born, raised and educated in India, lived with his family in Omaha only a mile or so from my home (where I’ve lived since 1958). Both Ajit and his wife, Tinku, have many Omaha friends, though it’s been more than three decades since they moved to New York (in order to be where much of the action in reinsurance takes place).

大约十年前，阿吉特·贾恩——在印度出生、长大和接受教育——跟家人住在奥马哈，离我家（我从 1958 年起就住那里）大约一英里远。阿吉特和他的妻子廷库（Tinku）在奥马哈有很多朋友，尽管他们搬到纽约已经三十多年了（因为那里是再保险业务的中心）。

Missing from the stage this year will be Charlie. He and I were both born in Omaha about two miles from where you will sit at our May get-together. In his first ten years, Charlie lived about a half-mile from where Berkshire has long maintained its office. Both Charlie and I spent our early years in Omaha public schools and were indelibly shaped by our Omaha childhood. We didn’t meet, however, until much later. (A footnote that may surprise you: Charlie lived under 15 of America’s 45 presidents. People refer to President Biden as #46, but that numbering counts Grover Cleveland as both #22 and #24 because his terms were not consecutive. America is a very young country.)

今年缺席这个舞台的是查理。他和我都出生在奥马哈，离你们五月聚会的地方大约两英里。在他人生的头十年，查理住的地方离伯克希尔长期设立办公室的地点约半英里。我们早年都在奥马哈的公立学校读书，奥马哈的童年对我们的塑造是不可磨灭的。但我们直到很久以后才认识。（一个可能让你吃惊的脚注：查理经历了美国 45 位总统中的 15 位。有人称拜登总统为第 46 位，但这个编号把格罗弗·克利夫兰（Grover Cleveland）既算作第 22 位又算作第 24 位，因为他的两个任期不连续。美国真是一个非常年轻的国家。）

Moving to the corporate level, Berkshire itself relocated in 1970 from its 81 years of residence in New England to settle in Omaha, leaving its troubles behind and blossoming in its new home.

回到公司层面：伯克希尔于 1970 年从它待了 81 年的新英格兰老家搬到了奥马哈，把麻烦留在了身后，在新家蓬勃发展。

As a final punctuation point to the “Omaha Effect,” Bertie – yes that Bertie – spent her early formative years in a middle-class neighborhood in Omaha and, many decades later, emerged as one of the country’s great investors.

作为"奥马哈效应"的最后一个例证：伯蒂——没错，就是那个伯蒂——在奥马哈一个中产阶级社区度过了她的成长岁月，几十年后，她成为了这个国家最伟大的投资者之一。

You may be thinking that she put all of her money in Berkshire and then simply sat on it. But that’s not true. After starting a family in 1956, Bertie was active financially for 20 years: holding bonds, putting 1⁄3 of her funds in a publicly-held mutual fund and trading stocks with some frequency. Her potential remained unnoticed.

你可能以为她一开始就把所有钱投到伯克希尔然后就坐等收获了。但事实不是这样。1956 年成家后，伯蒂在理财方面活跃了 20 年：持有债券，把三分之一的资金投入一只公募基金，还比较频繁地做股票交易。她的潜力一直没有被发掘出来。

Then, in 1980, when 46, and independent of any urgings from her brother, Bertie decided to make her move. Retaining only the mutual fund and Berkshire, she made no new trades during the next 43 years. During that period, she became very rich, even after making large philanthropic gifts (think nine figures).

然后到了 1980 年，46 岁的她，完全不受哥哥的催促，自己做出了决定。她只留下了那只共同基金和伯克希尔，在接下来的 43 年里没有做过任何一笔新的交易。在此期间，她变得非常富有——即便是在进行了大额慈善捐赠（猜猜有九位数）之后。

Millions of American investors could have followed her reasoning which involved only the common sense she had somehow absorbed as a child in Omaha. And, taking no chances, Bertie returns to Omaha every May to be re-energized.

数以百万的美国投资者本可以效仿她的思路——那不过是她在奥马哈当小女孩时不知怎么就吸收到的常识而已。而且为了保险起见，伯蒂每年五月都会回到奥马哈充电。

So what is going on? Is it Omaha’s water? Is it Omaha’s air? Is it some strange planetary phenomenon akin to that which has produced Jamaica’s sprinters, Kenya’s marathon runners, or Russia’s chess experts? Must we wait until AI someday yields the answer to this puzzle?

那到底是怎么回事？是奥马哈的水？是奥马哈的空气？还是某种奇特的星球现象，就像牙买加盛产短跑运动员、肯尼亚盛产马拉松选手、俄罗斯盛产国际象棋大师一样？难道非要等到有一天 AI 来揭开这个谜底？

Keep an open mind. Come to Omaha in May, inhale the air, drink the water and say “hi” to Bertie and her good-looking daughters. Who knows? There is no downside, and, in any event, you will have a good time and meet a huge crowd of friendly people.

保持开放的心态吧。五月来奥马哈，呼吸这里的空气，喝喝这里的水，跟伯蒂和她几位漂亮的女儿打个招呼。谁知道呢？反正没什么坏处。而且不管怎样，你都会度过一段美好时光，遇到一大群友善的人。

To top things off, we will have available the new 4th edition of Poor Charlie’s Almanack. Pick up a copy. Charlie’s wisdom will improve your life as it has mine.

锦上添花的是，我们将推出新版第四版《穷查理宝典》（Poor Charlie's Almanack）。带一本回去。查理的智慧将改善你的人生，就像它改善了我的一样。

February 24, 2024 Warren E. Buffett Chairman of the Board

2024 年 2 月 24 日沃伦·E·巴菲特董事会主席