[Young journalist Choi Jion] Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who is known as a legendary American investor, has admitted that he began to feel his age after entering his nineties while stepping down from management.

Warren Buffet, the 94-year-old chairman, announced his retirement at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders’ meeting three days ago. 

Although he has led Berkshire for 60 years, he will step down and hand over the CEO position to Greg Abel on January 1st next year. In a phone interview published by The Wall Street Journal on May 14 (U.S. local time), Warren Buffett said, “For some strange reason, I didn’t seem to age until I turned 90. But once you start aging, there’s really no going back."

“How would I even know the day I start getting old?” Buffet asked rhetorically. However, he acknowledged that as time passed, he began to experience things like gradually losing his balance, struggling to recall  people’s names, and finding that the words in the newspaper appear blurry. 

He also mentioned that his successor, Greg Abel, vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, now works at a faster pace than he does. Buffett said that there was a noticeable difference in energy levels between himself and Vice Chairman Abel, saying, “When I compare the amount of work he gets done in 10 hours to what I can accomplish in the same time, the gap has become more and more dramatic.”

He also said, “Abel was far more efficient in every aspect — getting things done, driving change when needed in management, and supporting those who needed help.”Warren Buffett said he will continue working over the next eight months until his retirement just as he always did, and even after retiring, he will keep going to the office of Omaha, Nebraska.

Additionally, he will still remain as chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway board.

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