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First, let’s get something out of the way. This may be an unpopular opinion… but Warren Buffett is not entirely “self made”. There’s no way. His father – Howard Buffett – served as a US congressman. Imagine all of the privilege that brings – status, money, and connections.

Also true is that it’s not what you’ve got; it’s how you use it. Uncle Warren could have simply spent his life on Laguna Beach, sipping on Cherry Cokes and watching the waves all day. He didn’t. He was hard working – and hasn’t stopped into his 90s.

That’s not the answer though. It’s not hard work that’s the number 1 trait of successful people – among both the self made and silver spoon types. If success was entirely predicated on hard work, then every janitor would be rich and successful. They’re not.

The number one trait is the ability, drive, focus, and obsession to capitalize on worthwhile opportunities – and usually that means doing one thing, really well, for a very long time. For Buffett, that was his ability early on to identify mispriced opportunities in stocks – puff on the cigar – toss – and then repeat. That was his money-making system until Charlie Munger came around. But that’s another story.

Speaking of stories, it was a painfully hard read at times, because the book was so long and dense, but “The Snowball” offered a glimpse into Buffett’s crazy obsession with stocks:

Buffett: “I went through the Moody’s Manuals page-by-page. Ten thousand pages in the Moody’s Industrial, Transportation, Banks and Finance Manuals — twice. I actually looked at every business — although I didn’t look very hard at some.”

Warren Buffett was my gateway drug into the stock market, and so as soon as I read that passage, I poured over every single Canadian stock trading on the stock exchange – TSX, and TSX Venture. What a learning experience! Thousands of businesses, in every industry. I quickly became obsessed too.

To this very day, I still think it’s a worthwhile endeavour, and so every year or so I’ll pour over all of our publicly traded Canadian companies. The stock market is not just an index; it’s so much more than that! And that’s why I’m giving you a complimentary copy of this TSX / TSXV Stock Directory (Excel). No strings attached, it’s free. Every single publicly listed company in Canada is in this spreadsheet.

Still don’t think it’s worth your time? Peter Lynch, when asked what his secret was, said:

“So I think it was just looking at different companies and I always thought if you looked at ten companies, you’d find one that’s interesting, if you’d look at 20, you’d find two, or if you look at hundred you’ll find ten. The person that turns over the most rocks wins the game. And that’s always been my philosophy.”

Now that’s obsessed!

I will warn you though; becoming self-made does come at a cost. You might not live as long! Having a silver spoon in your mouth and everything handed to you seems to considerably extend your life. The choice is yours… or is it?

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