Buffett fans visit Neb. to learn tips firsthand

Wharton junior Douglas Sherrets went to a Wharton Council function last January and was asked to introduce his club. After listening to other prestigious clubs list their accomplishments, Sherrets got up and simply said, "I am founder of the Warren Buffett Club." Sherrets said he was practically laughed out of the room.

However, the Warren Buffett Club began to add accolades to its resume last weekend, after members took a trip to visit its namesake -- a former Wharton student and the second-richest man in the world.

It all started with a group of MBA students who were already going to meet the man they considered to be the master. Sherrets was a little worried that these MBAs would not want a band of undergraduates tagging along, so he decided to take it straight to the top.

"I figured asking the MBAs wouldn't be as persuasive as getting a letter from the man himself," Sherrets said. He wrote to Buffett, and shortly after received an enthusiastic yes.

The 30 undergraduates of the Warren Buffett Club joined almost 50 MBA students and headed off to Omaha, Neb., last week. On Thursday evening, the group split up and had dinner with two successful businessmen -- Ameritrade Chairman Joe Ricketts and Wally Weitz, a successful value fund investor in Omaha.

And then it was Buffett time. On Friday morning, the group enjoyed almost four hours with Buffett, asking him questions and enjoying lunch with him at Gorat's Steak House, his favorite restaurant.

"Looking back on the trip, we saw how humble the second- richest man in the world truly is," Wharton junior Alex Chacon said. Buffett "claims he won the 'ovarian lottery' by being born in the U.S., which allowed him to succeed as an investor."

Chacon also enjoyed many of Buffett's quotes. One of the most memorable for him was when Buffett was speaking of his Fruit of the Loom investments.

"We cover the asses of the masses," Chacon remembered Buffett saying.

Sherrets also was enamored by Buffett's warmness and straightforward nature.

"He was incredibly down to earth," he said, adding, "He's extremely frugal. He drives his own car and has lived in the same house since the '60s."

The question-and-answer section consisted of the students submitting questions beforehand, of which Buffett answered almost 30.

"He has some good thoughts on ethics, politics, social responsibility and life in general," Wharton senior Charles Kornblith said.

Sherrets said that Buffett's habit of spending time with students dates back to when Buffett was a student himself.

"When he was a grad student, he had Ben Graham, known by many as the father of modern value investing, at Columbia as a professor. [Graham] used to be very generous with his time and ideas to the students -- even giving them stock tips," Sherrets said. "So Buffett wants to pass along [his experience] in the same way to the next generation."

And from the reactions of the students who missed school to attend, it seems as though Buffett is off to a very good start.

"The experience was priceless -- there is no missed homework assignment in the world that can amount to what people got out of this," Sherrets said. "Based on the feedback from everyone, I don't know a single person that does not want to go back next year."

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