2008: How does Buffett maintain good mental and physical health?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good morning. I’m (inaudible) from Walnut Creek, California. Well, we learned something from the comic movie, but could you please expand on how do you maintain your good mental and physical health? (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, you start with a balanced diet. (Laughter)

Some Wrigley’s, some Mars, some See’s, some Coke.

Basically it — if Charlie and I can’t have a decent mental attitude, who can? I mean, we get to do what we love doing every day. We do it with people that are not only cheerful about it and like us, but they do their jobs extraordinarily — they like their jobs too.

We’re forced to do virtually nothing we don’t want to. I have a trainer that comes three times a week. She — I think she’s probably here. And she may think I’m a little begrudging in that particular activity, but that’s only 45 minutes, three times a week.

The rest of the time I am doing almost — well, I’m doing whatever I love, you know, day by day by day by day. And I do it, you know, in air-conditioned offices and, you know, with all kinds of help and it — I mean, how could you be sour about life, you know, being blessed in so many ways?

And then the amazing thing is that Charlie is 84; I’m 77. And we’ve slowed down, I’m sure, in a lot of ways, but we pretend we haven’t, and it doesn’t seem to bother us. (Laughs) We get along fine.

Great partners, great managers, you know, great families. I — there’s just no reason to look at any minuses in life and to focus on that. It would be crazy.

So we really do count our blessings because they’ve been many and they continue to come forth, and we’ll enjoy it as long as we can. There’s not much more to it than that.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I wish we were poster boys for the benefits of running marathons and maintaining a very slim bodily state and so forth.

But as nearly as I can tell, neither of us pays much attention to any health habits or dietary rules — (laughter) — and it seems to have worked pretty well so far. I don’t think we can recommend it to everybody, but I, for one, don’t plan to change. (Laughter and applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: Really, from the moment we get up to when we go to bed at night, we get to do all kinds of things.

We get to — associating with wonderful people is about as good as it gets. And, you know, we live — we’re biased, obviously — but we think we live in the best country in the world and have all kinds of good things. I mean, just imagine — (Applause.)

WARREN BUFFETT: We could have stayed in my grandfather’s grocery store, and it would have been hell. (Laughter)

CHARLIE MUNGER: By the way, this relates to the subject of corporate compensation.

You’re in a job which you would pay to have, if that were the only way to get it, and you’re supposed to be an exemplar from other people — for other people. There’s a lot to be said for not paying yourself very well. (Applause.)

WARREN BUFFETT: He points that out to me regularly. (Laughs)

Well, if you think about it, you know, the idea that CEO compensation represents a market system and that you have to pay some guy a $10 million retention bonus or something to stay around in the job that, you know, he’s been fighting to keep and stacking the board and everything so they keep him around.

I mean, it’s — I don’t know of a CEO in America — I’m sure there are a few — but I don’t know of any that wouldn’t gladly do the job at half the price or a quarter of the price.

And I’ve seen some that have left jobs paying them eight figures and nobody’s offered them anything, you know, a year later or two years later. I wonder where that wonderful market system is that is supposed to have all these bidders for their services. It’s really sort of ridiculous, I think. (Applause.)