Thursday 26 April 2012

If You Can't Be With the One You Love...

In April 24's Financial Post, Jason Heath asked readers to consider "What Warren Buffett's cancer diagnosis can teach investors" after Mr. Buffett released an open letter to share-holders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in which one of the wealthiest men in the world revealed that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. If you would like to read the entire article, the linked is below.

However, what caught my attention in the article was Mr. Buffett's relationship with his first wife.
Mr. Buffett married the late Susan Thompson in 1952. They began to live separately in 1977 when Ms. Thompson moved to San Francisco to pursue her singing career. None the less, they remained friends until Ms. Thompson died in 2004, with Mr. Buffett by her side.

In 2006, Mr. Buffett married Astrid Menks.  Ms. Menks was a long-time companion to Mr. Buffett, and it was actually the late Ms. Thompson who had introduced her then husband to Ms. Menks, a restaurant hostess and sommelier. With Ms. Thompson living away from Omaha, Nebraska, it seems that she did not want to see her beloved husband lonely.

I would even go so far as to say that Ms. Thompson fostered and support her husband's extramarital relationship with Ms. Menks; the "Threesome" was often see together at functions, and even sent out Christmas cards signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid".

Although Mr. Heath suggests that one of the many lessons to learn from Mr. Buffett is that money cannot prevent cancer or relationship breakdown, I believe that the first, late, Mrs. Buffett teaches that if you can't be with the one you love, you should let the one you love be with someone else...and you can join them -- if your schedule allows it.

What can we learn from Warren Buffett?

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