Cash Can't Buy You Love: Lessons from Warren Buffett

I was looking at the news this morning, and I see this quote from Warren Buffett, and it says, if you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don't care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.

And I was just sitting here thinking about that.

And there is so much positive that comes from that.

If you think about Warren Buffett, here's a guy that everybody knows has a ton of money, made a ton of money, obviously a smart investor, a person who makes a lot of wise decisions.

And here he is giving advice as he's getting to his golden years.

He may be in his golden years.

I'm not even sure exactly how old he is.

But his advice is, nobody thinks well of you or what cares about what's in your bank account.

And that's an interesting dichotomy about the way we see the world.

Because if you think about it, most people say, well, this guy's well off, he's doing well.

He's.

He's got a great bank account.

He's got a big retirement account.

Look at him.

They're successful.

They've got three or four homes, they've got cars, they've got boats, they've got vacation places, they've got RVs.

All those things that culture would say, yeah, you're being successful because you've got that fat bank account, or you've got the accoutrements, a big word to use, but the accoutrements of a successful life.

But here's a guy, and I don't know about Warren's religious background.

I have no idea whether he's a Christian person.

I have no idea.

But even if he.

And if he isn't, that's even more pointed in this comment.

But he's saying, again, I want to repeat that because I think it's so important we embrace this today.

If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, wow.

Think about that.

I mentioned on my Daily show all the time that it's really all about relationships.

And here's a guy now, maybe some would say, well, you know, Ralph, it's easier for him to say that because he's got a lot of stuff.

He's got the money, you know, he's got big, big bank accounts.

He's got investments.

And I understand Warren Buffett drives a pretty meager car, as I understand, maybe a Subaru or something like that.

But here's a guy that's accomplished so much, has so much wealth, and what does he end it With.

I don't care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.

And I think we can all learn from that today.

What can we take away from that?

Obviously, he's reflecting on his age.

Got to a certain point in his life where the things that probably drove him when he was younger, maybe you're sitting there listening right now, and you're thinking, ralph, when I.

When I.

When I'm young, yeah, I'm young, I want to go.

I want to go get things.

I want to go get stuff.

And listen, I've been there.

I'm not anywhere near the level of Warren Buffett, but I've been to that point.

I've been to that point where money just doesn't really drive you anymore.

It doesn't fuel the tank, if you will.

So that's the first thing that jumps out at me.

Here's a guy that's reaching that age, and he probably realizes his own mortality.

I don't know, his health situation is.

I don't know any of those things.

But he's realizing that he's getting to that point where I used to say to my uncle, my uncle's passed away now.

I would joke with him.

He was up in his.

His upper 80s.

And I would say to him, I guess there's no more buying gallons of milk now.

You buy.

You buy by the court.

You don't want to waste.

Seems like a little heartless.

But think about it.

That.

Here's Warren Buffett.

He's realizing that his days are numbered.

Hey, we're all.

All of our days are numbered.

But you know, what I'm saying is his days are somewhat numbered.

And he's seeing that, and he recognizes this.

This truth about no one's going to care about how much is in your bank account now.

Maybe his kids.

I don't.

Even if he has kids.

Well, let's just assume that he does.

Maybe his heirs care about what's in his bank account.

Oh, we.

We sure hope that, you know, Daddy Warren or.

Or Grandpa Warren or Uncle Warren leaves us a few bucks.

But what he's saying is so very.

It's just valuable information.

And I happened to be flipping through my iPhone today just looking to see what was going on the news.

And I read that, and I said, wow, wait a minute.

Because as a Christian, I could say, yeah, this is a great thing to embrace.

There's a.

There's a religious aspect to this.

Your life is not measured by what you have.

Your life is not measured by what you accumulate.

Your life is not measured by all the toys.

Your life is not measured by the size of your bank account.

But think about what he's saying there.

Your life is a disaster.

And I think about culture right now.

I just recorded my sermon for this past week, and I think about how culture says, go get more stuff.

Go get more things.

Here's a guy that's gotten all those things, and he realizes it's all about how people think of you.

But see, that's so countercultural, because how many of us invest in what other people think of us?

Hey, we're told, oh, it doesn't matter what other people think.

You.

You do.

You.

I get so tired of hearing that all the time.

You do you.

You're your own.

You're the captain of your own ship.

Well, of course you are.

And as a Christian man, I believe you have free will to make those decisions.

But I think what Warren is saying here is so very true.

And here he is a leader of industry, Definitely a leader industry.

Like I said, I don't know a ton about him.

I know he's a name that's bounded around all the time about being a very successful.

I think he owns a company called Berkshire Hathaway, or did, I believe.

I think he did.

And here he is reflecting on.

When you get to his age in life, if nobody thinks well of you, I'm just going to challenge you right now as you're listening to this.

Have you thought about what Warren's saying?

What do people think of you?

What do your children think of you?

What does your wife, what does your grandchildren, maybe your aunts, your nephews, your nieces?

What do they think about you?

Just in your own family, what do they think about you?

Have you invested in building those relationships?

Or have you invested in making sure you have enough money?

Or you have that new car, you have that vacation home, or you have that fat retirement nest egg, what are you investing in?

And this is a guy.

This is what he does for a living.

He's a.

He's a major investor.

And what's he telling us?

If nobody thinks well of you?

Where.

How are you investing in relationships?

Not just your family, but think about the people around you.

When the end of days comes for you and you're.

And they're having your funeral set out.

I mean, my grandparents used to call it the set out.

I remember that was.

They were from the south and they used to do this thing called sitting up with the dead.

And that's a discussion for a whole nother thing.

But when they're having your set out and people are just milling around, maybe after the service or maybe before the service, and they start reminiscing about you.

What are they going to say about you?

Are they going to talk about, oh, that guy had a lot of money.

Oh, that guy had a lot of stuff.

He always had the nice cars, always had the nice vacation homes.

But my experience, the people that I've been to those funerals, great example.

This is my Uncle Don.

I remember he's a kind of a country bunking kind of guy.

And maybe that's not a nice thing to say, but just kind of a country bunking.

I remember being at his funeral and this is a guy that would give you the shirt off his back.

And I remember the conversation wasn't about what Don had.

Don was one of these guys that he restored old cars.

He was so proud of that.

But in the world's view, he didn't have a lot of wealth accumulated.

But let me just tell you right now, his funeral was a packed house.

And he wasn't a young guy when he died.

He was in his 70s, as I remember.

So it wasn't like he was a young guy, but his funeral was packed.

And as we're sitting there waiting for the service to start, I don't remember exactly what happened, but all I heard was talk about, oh, Don was that guy.

You could call him at any time and he would do anything for you.

Always like to just sit.

And he was a drinker.

He, I'd like to sit and have a beer with Don't.

No one was talking about what he had.

Nobody was talking about anything.

But they were talking about the relationships.

And that's exactly what Warren's saying here.

So my takeaway for today, and I want you to hear this because, listen, I'm embracing this right now as I speak to you at this very moment.

I'm embracing this myself.

What are you investing in?

That's not money based?

What are you investing in?

That is for a.

Listen, as a Christian, what are you investing in for God's kingdom?

What are you investing on that people will think well of you?

Hey, that's my challenge for today.

What are you investing in?

Do you want your life to be a disaster?

Listen, I can tell you right now, I don't want my life to be a disaster so I can model this behavior of a guy that's got it all.

I mean, Warren Buffett's got it all.

And what is he telling us as he enters those golden years if nobody thinks, well of you.

I don't care how big your bank account is.

I don't care how big it is.

Your life is a disaster.

I just want to pray about this, Father.

I just want to pray right now, Lord.

I just ask you to really help me embrace this feeling, Lord.

Help me to understand just what it means to have a relationship with you, Lord, and what it means to have a relationship with those around me instead of being so consumed with accumulating wealth.

Or I just ask that you would help me to accumulate those relationships and help me to accumulate those touches that people remember that just reverberate out forever, Lord.

Help me to change my focus from the stuff, Lord, and into the real stuff.

And that's the relationships and especially my relationship with you, Lord.

So I just lay this all at your feet today, Lord.

I ask that you would really guide me and help me to live out your will for my life.

And I ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.

Well, listen, I hope this impromptu talk has been profitable for you.

And I just want to encourage you right now.

I want to read this quote one more time because it is so important that we understand this.

And again, this is from Warren Buffett.

If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don't care how about how big your bank account is.

Your life is a disaster.

I challenge you today, don't let your life be a disaster.