李录50述怀

图中右一为李录

Reflections On Reaching Fifty

Li Lu April, 2016

维基百科：

李录（1966年4月6日－），繁体中文译为李禄，或李錄，部分中国媒体称为李路，中国河北唐山人，美籍华裔投资家兼对冲基金经理，对冲基金喜马拉雅资本(Himalaya Partners)的创办人，帮助波克夏·哈萨威公司(Berkshire Hathaway)在中国的投资。

1966年4月，风雨飘摇的文革前夜，我出生在河北唐山。知识分子的出身，使我父母、爷爷、奶奶很快失去了人身自由，所以我的童年在一个个寄养家庭——从农民、到矿工，甚至是长托的托儿所里流离。现在想来，从这样一个起点，一路上跌跌撞撞，数次与死神擦肩而过，我居然走到了今天，真是感叹生命无常之有常。

I was born in April of 1966, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Soon after, my parents and grandparents all lost personal freedom simply for being intellectuals. So I spent most of my childhood rotating between adopted families of peasants and coalminers. From that “promising” start, looking back, I’m amazed as to the long journey that I have taken to bring me here today in America.

生命之幻妙在于其未可知性。走过无数多的桥，看过无数多的云、翻越过各种险滩峻岭，激发过各种潜能。今天回望征途，一路上遇到了这么多善良的好人，发愿者、导师、合作伙伴，朋友……我生命的知遇们，你们就是我的路、桥、汽车和飞机。没有你们一路上无私的搭载、鼓励和友情，我是断然不可能走这么远直到今天。值五十岁之际，无论你们在天边还是在眼前，借得大江千斛水，研为翰墨颂亲恩。谢谢！谢谢！谢谢！

I could never image that life would turn out this way. It takes countless bridges, roads, means of transportation, and years of effort to travel this far. The countless people in my life -- kind-hearted strangers, well-wishers, mentors, partners, friends -- are my bridges, roads, transportations for getting here. Without your help, friendship, and constant encouragement, I simply couldn’t travel this far. So on my fiftieth birthday, my heart is filled with gratitude to all of you, all of my friends, here and elsewhere. From the bottom of my heart -- thank you thank you and thank you!!! 

如果说这一路坎途，我个人有什么贡献的话，那就是这条人生之路确实是我一步步走下来的。吴迪艾伦（Woody Ellen）的笑话说，“百分之八十的成功要归功于从不缺席。”（“Eighty percent success is to show up.”）这句话是对的。在人生的很多关隘上，我都可能停滞不前，或者随遇而安。但我心里的声音一直告诉我“这不是终点”。有一半的行程我“超惘惘而遂行”，而另一半则在试错。

If I have anything to do with that journey, it is simply that I took it. Woody Allen is right, 80% of success is to show up. At various stages in my life, I could have stopped, or took the long rest. For some reason, my heart told me otherwise. I just kept going. Half of the time, I wasn’t sure where I was heading. The other half I was probably taking the wrong turns. No matter. 

前行的道路如履薄冰，战战兢兢。怨恨恼怒烦，贪嗔痴慢疑，所有的这些人生而自带的缺陷，我皆未能免。事实上，源自童年的硬伤使得我必须付出更大的努力才能与之抗衡。每当我为负面情绪所困或误入歧途的时候，我很幸运地能迷途知返。苏格拉底（Socrates）是对的，“不自省的人生不足以度”。（Unexamined life is not worth living），至少活得不够好。“吾日三省吾身”，时不时的，我都会停下步伐审视一下这段时间我又犯了哪些错误。法无定法，势无恒势，时势之变常有，过去是正确的观点，到今天就错误了，因此，多年来，我形成一种习惯，每过5-10年，都要花一段时间克己反躬相去之岁月，有时需要作的变化之大犹如重塑。理性的修为帮助我形成了这样一种“时时勤拂拭”的习惯，更加幸运的是，吾有诤友数人，幸至身不离于令名。如果没有这些帮助，我可能早就迷失在人生各种各样的迷宫之中了。

But I was on high alert to correct mistakes along the way. I was careful not to be influenced by emotions that I know are poisonous and counter-productive to the journey I want to take; things like envy, resentment, hatred, jealousy, greed and self-pity. I certainly wasn’t born with immunity to this side of human nature. In fact, my early life experiences may require me to work even harder than others to guard against these human vulnerabilities. And when I did fall for their prey, or when I took a wrong turn, I was fortunate to be able to correct them quickly.  Socrates was right, unexamined life is not worth living, certainly not living well. Every once in a while, I would sit down alone to figure out where I might be wrong. Sometimes, what is wrong today is what was right in the past. As circumstances change, so should we.  In my experience, every five to ten years or so, I had to change so much of myself that at times it felt like almost a reinvention. I’ve been blessed with the faculties of rationality that help me to form the habit of self-examination. And when I fail in self-examination, I’m even more blessed to have some strong friends who can point out my blind spots. I would have been lost in life’s various mazes if I had not gotten that help.

尽管生命的小船穿越艰难险阻，我还坚持坐在驾驶位上，因为这趟人生的旅途毕竟是我自己的，旁人无法替代。现已行程过半，又到了承上启下检视未来的时刻。

So through the tumbling and zig-zags, I kept going while at all time insisting on sitting in the driver’s seat. It is my life and my journey after all. 

And now that I have made it through the first half, it is time to examine again for the second half.

子曰：“五十而知天命。”不知命，无以为君子也。与死神数度擦肩而过让我相信死生有命，知天命不可违。我唯一能做的是逝者如斯，不舍昼夜。生命的前半段我努力增益我所不能，而后半段我当尝试化繁为简，返朴归真，尊天命而为之。

According to Confucius, at fifty, one should know his purpose in life mandated by Heaven above. In other words, what your life was meant to be. Having been very close to fatality a few times in my life, forgive me if I say I actually believe in Confucius’s dictate. Having done relatively well in additions in life, I’m slowly learning the art of subtraction and focus.

在绝大多数职业上我可能都是失败者。比方说，我肯定是个蹩脚的芭蕾舞演员也绝无可能成为篮球明星。但我的天性和经历却让我可以成为一名合格的投资人。感谢我前行路上的启蒙老师巴菲特先生。25年前在我就读于哥伦比亚大学期间，是他的一场不期而遇的演讲让我误打误撞地进入投资领域。而更加不可思议的是，十三年前，我遇到人生的导师查理芒格先生，他不仅成为了我的投资伙伴，更是我终生的良师益友。我常叹自己何德何能才领受生命如此丰厚的馈赠，即使是莎翁再世也构画不出这样戏剧的篇章。

I will fail in a lot of professions. For example, I won’t be good at ballet or basketball for that matter. My temperament and experiences prepared me well for a career in investment. I was extremely lucky to be introduced into the field by the greatest investor who ever lived when I accidentally stepped into a lecture by Warren Buffett at Columbia nearly 25 years ago. And it was even more magical 13 years ago when Charlie Munger became my investment partner, mentor and life-long friend. To this day, I don’t know to what I would attribute this extreme fortune. It is something even the wildest imagination or the best fiction could not conjure.

时至今日，我已拥有了属于自己的二十几年的投资记录，从业那么久了，依旧发愤忘食乐以忘忧。偶尔我会好奇，我到底能沿着巴菲特和查理指引的道路上走多远，他们到目前为止拥有无与伦比的50多年持续增长的记录，我能追赶多久呢？用最干净的方法仅凭智慧投资赚应得之钱在中国行的通吗？我不追求资产规模或是投资管理费，我只想留下一份属于我的干净的投资记录。就好像高尔夫运动员手里的计分卡一样，记下每一轮的比分直到终身。我清晰地知道，价值投资在全球包括中国的实践是值得我倾尽毕生心力从事的事业。

Now that I have compiled a record of my own for over twenty years, still enjoy the game even better than when I started, I think I will simply continue. I’m curious to see how long I can follow the great record set by my teachers, Warren and Charlie, that is by now well over fifty years. Not for the size of asset under management, not for the fees, just keep a score card the way a golfer would after each round and after a life-long career. So value investing is likely a life-long pursuit for me.

过去五十年，我在中美各有半壁生涯。两段不同的履历让我时常审度中美两国，它们不同的文化和我自己的变化。相当长一段时间里，我有身份认知障碍——我到底是中国人还是美国人？两种文化的冲突宛如两股真气在我体内奔涌，一争高下。为得解脱我更加深入地研究体验两种文化的精髓。直至不惑之年，我才慢慢将两种真气合二为一和平共处，以至豁然开朗——我成了既是纯粹的中国人，又是百分百的美国人，并且1+1〉2 。通过两种文化的视界，我能够解读两种文明的各自风华，我可以于希声处闻大音，于无形处观有形。这样的特质让我在中美文化之间无界游走。我现在更相信1+1=11 。因此，我将视中美两国和两国人民之间的交流与沟通为己任，为彼此解读对方的故事，未来这项工作也将是我后半生的主要职责之一。

Having lived my life so far nearly evenly divided between the US and China, I’ve come to learn something unique about the two countries, cultures and myself. For years, I struggled to fit my own identity into both, often with poor results. It is as if the two cultures ran in different parts of my body -- constantly fighting each other for supremacy. But I have learned tremendously in the process. In my 40’s, the two cultures finally came to peace with one other inside me, and I have come to identify myself as both 100% Chinese and 100% American simultaneously. And better still 1+1 is greater than 2. Through the culture lenses of both, I now see a few things neither Chinese nor Americans can see easily. That gives me a unique perspective of looking at both countries, and therefore able to tell one’s story better to the other, and then some more. Indeed, I think 1+1=11 in this case. Therefore, I feel it is both a duty and a pleasure to do so for the country and people that I love most. So this will be another thing I will focus on the second half of my life.

感谢上天！我有三个千金。她们活泼可爱聪慧善良。我以她们为傲。因为爱之深切，我不想因太多遗产羁绊她们的人生自由。我会鼓励她们与我和妻子EVA一起，通过我们的家庭慈善基金，致力于创造更加美好的世界。凭借她们天生的跨文化优势，我希望她们与我一起，致力于增进中美两国之间，尤其是民间的相互理解。此外， 在中国及哥伦比亚大学接受的优质教育是成就我今天最重要的原因。我和我的同事们会继续推广价值投资的教育实践。我更希望能有机会努力推进让更多的年轻人像我一样有机会接受无疆界的高水准教育。这是未来我和家人同事共同努力的方向。

I have three lovely children. They are beautiful, talented and kind-hearted. I’m most proud of them. I love them so much that I will never want to burden them with a large amount of inherited wealth. Instead, I’d love to have my girls join Eva and me in giving responsibly to make the world a better place. In particularly, we want to focus on things I have some knowledge of and care deeply about-- to make US and China understand each other better and to make quality education more available to deserved young people.

五十岁于我是一个分水岭。从这一天起，我离终点可能比起点还要更近些。在年龄的见解上，我喜欢诺曼利尔（Norman Lear）的通达。诺曼今年94岁了，依旧在诸多领域逍遥。在美国，崇拜他的粉丝上至八、九十岁下到二、三十岁都有。有一次我问诺曼：“你感觉自己多大年龄？”他答：“我永远和与我对话者同龄。”这是我听到的关于年龄的最酷答案！从那以后我就特别关注与我交流的人。：）今天起，我就正式年过半百。我亟需且诚招年轻朋友与我比肩同行，你们会让我与时俱进青春永驻。

Lastly, reaching 50 probably makes me closer to the end than to the beginning. Regarding age, my favorite quote comes from Norman Lear. At 94 he is still active in so many different things, collecting fans who are in their 80’s, 60’s and all the way down to the 20’s. I once ask him how old does he think of himself. Without missing a beat, he said, “I’m always the same age as the people I talk to.” Now, that is a cool answer! Ever since, I’ve been paying close attention to who I am talking to  Now that I’ve officially crossed the half time line, I really need to make more young friends as my new teachers so that I can stay fresh. 

我亲爱的朋友们！祝我们一起天增岁月人增慧，春满乾坤喜盈门！

So my friends, may we all grow wiser with age and younger at heart always. 

注：本文原文为我在今年生日晚会上的英文演讲，由我的好友作家六六翻译成中文，在此感谢！

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