Warren Buffett's classic three words of advice for young people

In 1967's "The Graduate," Dustin Hoffman's 21-year-old character is famously given just one word of advice for his future: "Plastics."

This week, Warren Buffett had three words of advice for a 22-year-old entrepreneur just out of college: "Invest in yourself."

Michael Hood, co-founder of a Toronto startup Voiceflow, was bringing Buffett to Canada's Walk of Fame Awards show, a "once in a lifetime opportunity," Hood told CNBC Make It.

In a video Hood posted on LinkedIn, Buffett expands on those three words, saying, "The one easy way to become worth 50 percent more than you are now — at least — is to hone your communication skills — both written and verbal."

After all, "If you can't communicate, it's like winking at a girl in the dark — nothing happens."

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

• CNBC.com has an extensive explanation of Buffett's concept of "intrinsic value."
  
  

• A cryptocurrency firm is offering to make a $1 billion bet, similar's to Buffett's winning wager against hedge funds, that its crypto index will beat the S&P over 10 years.
  
  
• Shares of Kotak Mahindra initially gained 14% on an unconfirmed report by CNBC-TV18, CNBC's affiliate in India, that Berkshire is looking to buy a 10 percent stake in the Indian bank. It cut those gains to under 9% when the bank said it didn't know about any Berkshire interest. 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE

Buffett's advice to "invest in yourself" has been a regular theme at Berkshire shareholder meetings.

In 2008, he said, "The most important investment you can make is in yourself" and recounted an illustration he uses with high-school students.

He tells them if they could only have one car for their entire life, they would take good care of it. "And then I tell the students, you get one body and one mind, and it's going to have to last you a lifetime, and you better treat it the same way."  

At the 2011 Berkshire annual meeting, he said:

"There’s nothing like working to improve your own skills, and I would say communications skills are the first area I would work on to enhance your value throughout life, no matter what you do."

He credited a Dale Carnegie course for helping him overcome his early difficulties talking to people, saying it's the only diploma hanging up in his office. It "cost me a hundred bucks back in 1951, and ... it's incalculable how much value I got from the hundred dollars."

Buffett is definitely not shy now. He was going to that awards show with Hood to sing "My Way" with his friend Paul Anka. (At the 2014 meeting, he joked he was hoping for a "second career" by creating a new musical act with Anka, but lamented there wasn't much demand for his half of the duo.) 

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares closed at $307,674 Friday, down 6.7% over the previous four weeks, and up 4.6% from one year ago.

Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares closed at $204.88, down 0.8% over the previous four weeks, and up 4.5% from one year ago.

The benchmark S&P 500 index closed at 2633.08, down 3.3% over the previous four weeks, and down 0.2% from one year ago.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

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