Billionaire Warren Buffett was born August 30, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska. His nickname is the "Oracle of Omaha" because he is such a wise investor. Buffett owns a company called Berkshire Hathaway which is made up of lots of companies such as Fruit of the Loom and Geico.

Warren started making money as a young child. He would go door to door and sell gum, Coca-Cola and magazines. When he was in high school he delivered newspapers and sold golf balls. One of Warren's most successful ventures was buying a pinball machine and putting it in a barbershop.

Warren still lives in Omaha in the same house he bought in 1958. His favorite restaurant there is Piccolo's where he always orders a root beer float.

Hello fellow SMC members! Below are my minutes from one of our recent meetings.

Date: 6/23/2010

Meeting Topic: Debt of a Salesman

The Challenge: Elena's brother is opening a new high tech electronic store and needs to borrow money to be able to sell computers and cell phones.

Business Analysis: After an examination of the data, we found many of the new mobile communication devices have some amazing capabilities but by borrowing money to be able to sell them Elena's brother would have to pay interest. So what is the problem you may ask? If Elena's brother borrows money to buy the computers and cell phones he will have to pay back what he borrowed plus the interest he's charged. So, even though he could sell computers and cell phones, he doesn't know how quickly he could sell them and could end up owing more money than he's making.

Solution: Only borrow as much money as you know you can pay back. The best way to pay off a debt is to never have one!

A business can get into a lot of trouble if it borrows too much money. This is especially true if money is borrowed to help a business grow, new sales don't happen and the business can't pay back the loan. Slowly building inventory with affordable items that will sell quickly will help a business to remain debt free. Borrowing too much money can get people into trouble too. If you borrow money to buy things that you want, and don't earn enough money to pay back the loan you can get into a financial mess.

That concludes my latest minutes.
Radley

Hello fellow SMC members! Below are my minutes from one of our recent meetings.


Date: 6/10/2010

Meeting Topic: House of Cards

The Challenge: Elena's friend wants to invest in the Power Bot toy to sell at the flea market.

Business Analysis: After an examination of the data, we found there is certainly an established market for Power Bots but they are a fad. So what was the problem you may ask? A fad is something that is very popular for a short period of time so it's not worth the investment. For example, Silly Bandz are just like Power Bots and Nose Whistles. They are really popular right now but soon enough they will be out of style.

Solution: Learn from your mistakes. Or better yet, learn from the mistakes of others!

Fads come and go quickly so it's important to invest in a business that is dependable otherwise you could lose your money. Examples of dependable businesses are Target, Old Navy and Nike.

That concludes my latest minutes.
Radley

Have you ever earned money through allowance, gifts or your own business such as a lemonade stand? Great! Now I would naturally put that money in a high-interest savings account, but I am sure you are thinking about the cool Wii game or iTunes you can get. Before you spend the cash you have, think about investing it instead.

Investing is putting money into something, and hoping to get more money out in the future. When you invest in a business, the business uses your money for things like developing new products, hiring good employees, and growing the business. Your investment helps the business become successful and make more money in the future. Which is good for you, too!

You want to invest in a business you understand such as Nintendo, Disney, Nike, or in my case Scholastic Corporation . If you don't understand the product the business sells then you probably won't be able to decide if this business is going to be successful five, ten, twenty years from now.


Investing should be a long-term strategy. It can take 10, 20 or even 30 years to see a profit from your investment! As Mr. Buffett tells us: "If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes."