1999年股东大会 · 财富的重要性永远比不上健康 — 文稿

F10:00

早上好，Buffett 先生，Munger 先生。

Good morning, Mr. Buffett, Mr. Munger.

我叫 Jane Bell，来自 Iowa 的 Des Moines。

My name is Jane Bell from Des Moines, Iowa.

回应刚才前面的一个问题时，你们提到了 rich，还有 very, very rich。

In response to an earlier question, you spoke of people being rich and very, very rich.

在我看来，rich 和 wealthy 是有区别的。

It seems to me there's a difference between being rich and being wealthy.

我想你们会认为自己两者都是。

I assume you consider yourself to be both.

那对你们来说，哪个更重要？

Which is the more important to you?

F20:32

嗯，我觉得也许——我们可能得请你先定义一下——我不想让自己听起来太像 President Clinton，不过我们可能得请你——我可能想先请你把 rich 和 wealthy 真正区分定义一下，这样我才能明白这里面的差别。然后我想我们就能更好地回答你这个问题。

Well, I think you may—we may ask you to define—I don't want to sound like President Clinton here too much, but we may ask you to—I might want—if you'd really define the rich and wealthy so that I get the distinction. Then I think we can give you a better answer on it.

F10:57

嗯，在我看来，rich 就是有非常非常多的钱。

Well, in my mind, being rich is having an awful lot of money.

very, very rich 就是钱更多。

Being very, very rich is having even more.

而 wealthy 不一定就等同于有很多钱。

And being wealthy doesn't necessarily equate to having a lot of money.

F21:15

那它等同于什么呢？

What does it equate to then?

我就是想知道。

I just want to know.

我觉得我大概明白你的意思，不过在我回答之前，我还是想请你先把这个说清楚。

I think I know what you mean, but I still want you to clear it up before I give you an answer.

F11:26

嗯，这当然只是我个人的看法。

Well, this, of course, is my opinion.

F21:28

我的意思是，比如说，一个人可以在健康这方面很 wealthy。而且我同意你的看法，毫无疑问，对你自己还有你的家人来说，肯定没有什么比健康更值得你看重。

I mean, you can be wealthy in health, for example, and I agree with you that certainly there'd be nothing you'd value more than good health for you, you know, yourself and your family.

不过你继续说。

But you go ahead.

F11:38

嗯，我相信你已经开始明白了。

Well, I believe you're starting to get it.

F21:43

耐心一点。

Have patience.

不，这一点是毫无疑问的。

No, there's no question about it.

钱这东西，过了一个中等水平之后，差别其实就很小了。

Being—the money makes very little difference after a moderate level.

我跟大学生聊天的时候也会这么说。

I tell this to college students that I talk to.

我的意思是，他们过的生活，基本上跟我过的生活差不多。

I mean, they are basically living about the same life I'm living.

你知道，我们吃的是一样的食物。

You know, we eat the same foods.

这一点我可以向你保证。

I mean, that I can guarantee you.

而且，你知道，我们穿着上也没有什么重要的差别。

And, you know, there's no important difference in our dress.

我们开的车也没有什么重要的差别。

There's no important difference at all in the car we drive.

连我们坐在那儿看 Super Bowl 的电视机，或者诸如此类的东西，也没什么差别。

There's no difference in the television set that we sit there and, you know, watch the Super Bowl on or anything of the sort.

真的没什么差别。你知道，他们夏天有空调，我也有空调。

There's really no difference in, you know, they've got air conditioning in summer and I got air conditioning.

他们冬天有暖气，我也有，几乎什么都有。所以在日常生活里，凡是重要的东西，我们其实都差不多。

They got heat in winter and almost everything, so any importance in daily life, we equate on.

我唯一做得比他们好的一件事，就是我出行条件比他们好得多，你知道，NetJets。

The one thing I do is I travel a lot better than they do, you know, NetJets.

嗯，所以说，出门旅行这件事，对我来说可比他们轻松多了。

Uh, so the travel is, travel I do a lot easier than they do.

他们生活里的其他所有事情也是这样，所以你知道，我随时都愿意跟他们换位置。

Everything else in their lives, and it just, you know, I'll switch places anytime.

这根本没什么区别。

It doesn't make any difference.

所以到最后，真正重要的就是健康，还有谁爱你。

So then you get down to the things of health and who loves you.

我的意思是，那就是——如果你已经有了一个最基本的——我是说，你总得有够用的钱，但这个房间里的每个人都有这个条件；可即便如此，按你刚才给的定义来看，有些人显然比另外一些人富有得多，而这并不是靠他们的净资产来衡量的。

I mean, that's— if you have a minimum level of— I mean, you want to have enough, but everybody in this room has that, and yet some of the people, by the definition that you've given, are obviously much more wealthy than others, and it's not measured by their net worth.

F13:11

对。

No.

F23:11

如果你是这么定义的话。

If you define it that way.

而且我，我也不反对这个定义。

And I, I don't disagree with that definition.

我不一定会用“财富”这个词来形容它，但我肯定会说，嗯，也许可以叫它幸福感之类的。

I wouldn't— I might not use the term wealth in describing it, but I'd certainly describe, you know, maybe call it well-being or something of the sort.

Charlie？

Charlie?

他在想。

He's thinking.

当然，人生里有很多东西都比财富重要得多。

Sure, there are a lot of things in life way more important than wealth.

话虽这么说，有些人确实会搞混。

All that said, some people do get confused.

我有个一起打高尔夫的朋友，他说，健康有什么用？

I play golf with a man, he says, what good is health?

你又没法拿它去买钱。

You can't buy money with it.

我有没有跟你们讲过，Charlie 有个双胞胎兄弟，老跟他一起打高尔夫？

Did I ever tell you about Charlie's twin brother that he golfs a lot with?

不过话说回来，我任何时候都会选健康。

I'll take health anytime, incidentally.

我也是。

So will I.

不，重要的是，哪怕是在工作里，我的意思是，在很大程度上——在我看来甚至是极大程度上——关键在于你是跟谁一起做。

No, the important thing even in your work, I mean, is to an extreme extent, it seems to me, is who you do it with.

我是说，在这方面，你知道，我觉得自己真是幸运得不得了。

I mean, it, you know, I consider myself incredibly lucky in that respect.

我想不出还有什么事情是我更想做的，也想不出还有哪一群人是我更愿意一起做这件事的。

I can't think of anything I'd rather do, and I can't think of any group of people I'd rather do it with.

如果你要我拿出我净资产里非常大的一部分，去换多活几年，或者换来在那些年里能做我自己想做的事，你知道，我会立刻就答应。

And if you ask me to trade away a very significant percentage of my net worth either for some extra years or being able to do during those years what I want to do, you know, I'd do it in a second.

七区？

Zone 7?