1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Berkshire, Buffett and bathroom remodeling

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1500 Days takes a slight diversion this week. Ask the Reader will return next week as we turn our focus to our last major home project.

Munger and Buffett

Before I tell you about that though, I must tell you just a bit about the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders’ meeting that we got back from just hours ago.

IMG_20150502_072444074
The event is like a rock concert

The Berkshire meeting is rightfully called the Woodstock of Capitalists. Folks come from all over the world to hear the wisdom of Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett.

I entered the drawing to ask a question, but wasn't selected. 2016?
I entered the drawing to ask a question, but wasn’t selected. 2016?

This was our 3rd year and it couldn’t have been better. We met up with the Penny Planters, Steve (and his wife) from Kapitalust, and Jason (and his wife) from Dividend Mantra. We all had dinner on Friday night and shot the breeze for quite a while.

On Saturday, we woke up at 5am to try to get a good seat. Despite arriving at the CenturyLink Center at 6am, hours before the event, we still ended up in the nosebleed section. Sigh…

The best part of the meeting is the question and answer session. A panel of journalists, investment managers and members of the audience ask Buffett and Munger questions for hours and hours. Some audience members asked really stupid questions and were shot down by Buffett. Others asked better ones that generated minutes of banter between Warren and Charlie.

Charlie Munger

That is Charlie on the left.
That is Charlie on the left. Click to enlarge.

Buffett gets all of the attention and is brilliant, but I’ve come to believe that Munger is just as important to the success of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett says so himself, starting on page 26 of this year’s letter.

Munger is one of my heroes. He is ethical, generous and brilliant. He is a man influenced only by his internal moral compass that always points in the right direction, never compromising his principals. I could write volumes about Charlie, but I’ll save that for another time.

My favorite quote of the meeting came from Munger at the very end of the Question and Answer session. Someone asked, “What is the most important thing in life?” (I may be butchering this a bit). Munger’s answer went something like this:

Be as rational as you can possibly be. Rationality is a moral duty. It is dishonorable to be stupider than you have to be.

Only from Munger.

Bathroom fun

Yuck!!!
Yuck!!!

We have one major home project left and it is rebuilding our home’s original bathroom. This ugly tribute to the worst of the 70s is nasty and ugly. Goodbye shower doors with mirrors. Goodbye ugly vanity. Goodbye icky tile.

Similar to the kitchen remodel we did a while ago, Mrs. 1500 and I are going to try to finish the project in 5 days. I have taken the week off of work to tackle this beast.

Here is what I have to do:

  1. Remove all fixtures including light, tub, toilet and vanity.
  2. Remove all plaster from the walls and ceiling, gutting it down to the studs.
  3. Remove all floor tile.
  4. Fix rotted floor. The bathroom doors were not installed correctly which resulted in a leak.
  5. Reframe wall to accommodate a bigger door. The current door is very narrow.
  6. Fix the plumbing: There is a clog somewhere in the sink’s pipes…
  7. Hang and finish drywall.
  8. Install new tub/shower enclosure.
  9. Tile and grout floor.
  10. Paint.
  11. Install toilet.
  12. Install new vanity and cabinet.
  13. Tile backsplash and install light fixture.

I’ll post an update at the end of every day through Friday so you can follow my progress. Wish me luck! Anyone know where the band-aids are? I’m sure going to need them.

A foul image to leave you with
I leave you with this foul picture

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Comments

    • Hey Jason, it was great meeting you and yours! Also nice to see that you got a tour of Buffet’s hood.

      Hope to see you at another Capitalist Party someday!

  2. Best of luck with the bathroom. Five days is super ambitious and something the bf and I would never do. Possibly ten. Can’t wait to see all the progress. And I would probably go to one of those to hear not only the great discussions but also the putdowns for all the stupid questions.
    Amanda S @ Passionately Simple Life recently posted…The Next Quarter..My Profile

    • Berkshire is just great! I will go as long as Buffett/Munger are still around and probably after that.

    • Munger is my hero, really. If I could meet one living person, it would be him.

    • Go in 2016! They are OLD. You may not have another chance. I have 2 extra credentials and you can have them…

    • Thanks PoPs! It was so much fun meeting you two again. Let’d do it again in 2016!

  7. Glad you enjoyed the annual meeting, seems you were in good company as well.

    Good luck on the gut and rebuilding of the bathroom, is going to be a lot of (rewarding?) work! Sometimes I’m glad we live in a relatively new property 😉
    Mr. FSF recently posted…April UpdateMy Profile

    • Rewarding? Not today. Maybe on day 4 or 5. Now, I just extremely tired and have puncture wounds…

  8. Those plans look very familiar (like the exact plan that my husband made for fixing our guest bathroom when our roommate goes out of town)! Will you provide your total cost at the end?

    And best of luck on the remodel.

    • Yeah, I’ll for sure include all costs.

      Thanks! I need all the luck I can get!

  10. I lived in KC for a long time, so I was not far from Omaha. Even though I was a shareholder at the time, I never took advantage by attending the annual meeting. Now that I live in California, I regret it!

    Good luck on the bathroom renovation. I am looking forward to it as I need to do the same thing (not 70’s style, just a basic builder grade bathroom with a shower leak). I want to upgrade the flooring and shower at the same time that I fix the leak (requires the current shower to come out).
    Vawt recently posted…Dangers of Credit Card RewardsMy Profile

    • How did you manage to sneak in so close to Charlie?

      Charlie is amazing, and has very astute observations on everything. Have you read “Poor Charlie’s Almanacc”, “Damn Right”?

      I especially like his ideas of trying to “kill” your best ideas, in order to become a better investor. This is worth its price in gold.

      The one downside of reading Charlie, is that one may end up telling people the truth about themselves. And unfortunately, many will not like you for it. That’s one area where it is wise to follow Buffett – never criticize anyone…
      Dividend Growth Investor recently posted…Five Companies Showering Investors With More CashMy Profile

      • “How did you manage to sneak in so close to Charlie?”

        The picture was from last year, so I’m cheating a bit. Here is what happened though: I was standing in the exhibition hall when out of nowhere, this golf cart pulls up right next to me. I look over and there is Munger in the passenger seat, not more than 10 feet away from me. I almost pooped myself. Munger is a spectacular human being. I couldn’t muster the courage to say anything, but it was still thrilling.

      • Oh, and I have read The Almanack. I’m reading “Damn Right” now actually.

    • Damn, you should have gone! It is really fun, even though it may not sound like it. Buffett and Munger are hilarious and they were in fine form. Munger even seemed to not be in a bad mood.

  11. Good times had all around it sounds like. Sounds like you would rather hang out with Charlie than Warren, wonder what that says about you? This is a softball question. My tough question is what was going to be your question if you got called up?
    Even Steven recently posted…What Would Warren Buffett Do? WWWBD?My Profile

    • My question:

      “Charlie, I read an interview that mentioned you had lunch with Elon Musk and you think he is a genius. I’d like to know who else in the modern world you consider to be a genius.”

  14. Good luck. You guys are much better at DIY than we are. Can I hire you to redo our third floor? :). And the annual Berkshire meeting sounds like a blast. Someday I will have to go. I do own a bit.
    Jason recently posted…May Monthly ChallengesMy Profile

    • Do you live in Hawaii? If so, then sure!!

      Do go to the meeting. Warren and Buffett are getting no younger…

  15. Despite living in Omaha for the last three years, I have never found the opportunity to go to this. Maybe one day….

  17. Fixing a moldy floor is a good reason to remodel. I would love to get mine remodeled here soon, there is mold growing on the floor around the tub. Possibly just getting the household to splash less would work too, but it’s probably best to change both and kill two birds with one stone.

  18. Hey

    I like this a lot .It is better to go for bathroom remodel whenever we found molds around. Mold is a serious problem that needs to wipe out from home as long as it get detected.

    I remember one such scenario of mold ,it massively deteriorate the bathroom area that remodelling was the only solution,the owner left with.

    Thanks for sharing this informative post !

    Regards
    Fredwingg

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