Good Book : Warren Buffett Speaks

This is a review of Warren Buffet Speaks : Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor by Janet Lowe. I read the hard cover from 1997 but there was a 2nd edition published in 2007.

The book is a collection of quotes from Warren Buffett. The quotes are collected by the author and presented in chapters on various categories such as About Life, About Friends, About Work, About running a Business and About Investing. There are 170 pages with quotes from Buffett. The quotes are sometimes introduced with context information.

If you like Warren Buffett then this should be a fun and interesting book to read. The quotes are often entertaining and insightful.

A few quotes I liked myself:
"Never lie under any circumstances" pg. 26
"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago" pg. 29
"Current finance classes can help you do average" pg. 94
"of course the investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth" pg 105

Warren Buffet Speaks : Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor does not have instructions or tips on making a lot of money. The book does not go into how to practice value investing or otherwise offer investing information other than what you can glean from investing related quotes, which really isn't too much.

The book is a quick and entertaining read and as I said before if you like Warren Buffett then you'll probably find it interesting. Look for a copy of Warren Buffet Speaks : Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor at your local library.

Who makes up the top 5% of wage earners??

The BLS Occupational Employment Statistics has data on earnings per occupation. They break the data down to show what the median income is and what the bottom 25% makes, what the top 25% makes and what the top 10% makes.

If you go to the page and then use their 'multi screen data search' databases tool you can find all this data for any occupation they track. I did a search for all occupations and all data and then looked for annual earnings values that exceeded the $145k maximum that they track.


All together among the occupations listed below 1,091,915 people make over $145k income.

I present lists of jobs where the top earners make over $145k below. For the lists, the occupation is listed first, then the BLS number is in () and the total people in that occupation is then given last.

Occupations where the top 10% of earners make over $145k are below.
This group has 7,988,700 people total so 798,870 of them make over $145k

Management Occupations(110000) 6,003,930
Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes(131011) 11,680
Personal Financial Advisors(132052) 132,460
Computer and Information Scientists, Research(151011) 28,720
Actuaries(152011) 18,030
Petroleum Engineers(172171) 16,060
Astronomers(192011) 1,520
Physicists(192012) 13,980
Legal Occupations(230000) 998,590
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary(251042) 52,560
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary(251071) 114,070
Law Teachers, Postsecondary(251112) 12,610
Producers and Directors(272012) 72,390
Athletes and Sports Competitors(272021) 12,670
Broadcast News Analysts(273021) 6,550
Chiropractors(291011) 27,190
Dentists, General(291021) 85,260
Dentists, All Other Specialists(291029) 4,490
Optometrists(291041) 24,900
Pediatricians, General(291065) 28,890
Podiatrists(291081) 9,320
Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners, All Other(291199) 44,350
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents(413031) 268,480

Occupations where 50% of the people make over $145k are below.
There are 424,120 people total in this group so 212,060 of them make over $145k.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons(291022) 5040
Prosthodontists(291024) 380
Family and General Practitioners(291062) 113250
Internists, General(291063) 46260
Psychiatrists(291066) 21790
Physicians and Surgeons, All Other(291069) 237400

Finally a few occupations where 75% of the people make over $145k:
There are 107,980 total people in this group so 80,985 of them make over $145k.

Orthodontists(291023) 5350
Anesthesiologists(291061) 31030
Obstetricians and Gynecologists(291064) 21340
Surgeons(291067) 50260

Within the general Management field listed in the first group there are several subcategories. One of those is CEO's. There are 299,160 CEO's in the nation and their median income is over $145k.

If you look at the total group here there are over 1 million people making over $145k and they fall into a few main categories as shown in the following pie chart:There are of course other people working in other jobs who also make over $145k. There are various salesmen, high paid engineers and professors in various fields making high salaries.

Can you get a cell phone for $5 a month?

On a recent Oprah show they had a frugal family by the name of Heinz. The same family was previously featured in a Parade article. One thing they talked about on the show is having a $5 a month cell phone plan. The Parade article says: ""The couple pays $5 a month on each of two cellphones, but only so they can reach each other in an emergency." On the show she also said that the plan had rollover minutes.

But where do you find such a $5 a month cell phone plan with rollover minutes?

I haven't been able to find the exact same kind of plan with both rollover minutes and a bill of $5 a month or less. I looked through both the 10 page discussion in the comments from the Parade magazine article and over 120 posts on the Oprah page and nobody there new of such a plan. One person thought it might be an old Virgin Mobile plan that is no longer offered. Maybe she has a plan only offered in some regions.

I can't find the exact same plan but there are plans that are close.

Previously I discussed Pre Paid Cell Phone Service and I listed some fairly cheap pay as you go or prepaid cell phone plans.


T-mobile has a $10 card that lasts 3 months for 30 minutes. Thats $3.33 a month. But minutes do not rollover

AT&T Go Phone has rollover but the rates are higher. You can get $25 for 3 months or $100 for a year, either way works out to $8.33 a month with rollover.

So if you use a cell phone very little and really only need it for true emergencies then the T-mobile plan would probably work best since its as cheap as $3.33 a month. But if you use your phone a bit and want to keep your minutes then the AT&T plan is pretty good option and only $8.33 a month. Either of these choices are pretty cheap compared to a typical $40-80 cell phone bill, but they also only work if you use your cell phone very little.

Best of Blog posts for the week of October 10th

Creating a CD Ladder for Your Emergency Fund or Other Savings to Earn a Better, Safe Return from Trent at The Simple Dollar discusses the how and why of making a CD ladder.