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So how did Buffett make his billions?
Born into a middle-class family in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett started working at a young age.
Throughpatience, frugality and dedication, he eventually became one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Warrens father was a stockbroker who later became a Republican congressman.
A fiscal conservative, Howard Buffett was a strong supporter of the gold standard.
In fact, he ran for Congress on that platform.
He was elected to Congress in 1943.
When Warren was 12, the family left Nebraska and moved to Washington,D.C.
Buffettbecame rebellious after the move.
I fell in with bad people and did things I shouldnt have, he later said.
I was just rebelling.
His grades slipped, he ran away from home and he even stole sporting goods from a Sears store.
Buffett finally straightened himself out when his father threatened to make him give up his paper route.
By the age of 9, he was routinely following the markets ups and downs in the newspaper.
That focus served him well in his career as an investor, of course.
Buffett bought stock for the first time at the age of 11.
The young Buffett scraped together his cash and used it to buy three shares of Cities Service.
I boughtmy first stockin 1942, in the summer of 42, he told PBS.
I was 11 years old.
…. And I have never known what the markets going to do the next day.
And thats not my game.
Buffett learned a lot from that first stock purchase, it seems.
He bought the stock for $38 a share and then got spooked when its value plummeted.
He had earned money with a paper route, delivering both the Washington Post and the Washington Times-Herald.
The Oracle of Omaha told PBS that his route included six senators and one Supreme Court justice.
The 14-year-old Buffett earned $592.50 in 1944, which meant he was required to file afederal tax return.
He paid $7 in taxes.
One of his earliest business schemes involved the wildly popular game of pinball.
The pinball machine was a hit, and Buffett soon began buying more machines.
It was the best business I was ever in, he added wryly.
I peaked very early inmy business career.
Thats $130,973.46 when adjusted forinflation.
At his fathers suggestion, Buffett enrolled in the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business.
But Buffett, who was homesick for Omaha, said he never felt comfortable at the University of Pennsylvania.
Buffett then transferred to the University of Nebraska and finished his undergraduate degree there.
At the time, Buffett had apersonal net worthof $140,000.
The partnership began as a modest venture.
Investors included his father-in-law, his sister Doris and his aunt Alice.
Buffett himself invested just $100 in the venture.
The initial investments in Buffett Partners totaled $105,000.
Buffett charged his customers a fee of 50% for all earnings above 4%.
He also pledged to cover 25% of any customer losses.
The firm was highly successful.
Munger later became the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
Munger died in November 2023, at the age of 99.
His net worth at the time of his death was $2.2 billion.
Like Buffett, Munger was known for his investment savvy, his pragmatism and his generally frugal lifestyle.
He was also an active philanthropist who gave millions to the causes he believed in.
Buffett and Munger didnt meet until they were adults, at a dinner party.
Munger earned just $2 working a 10-hour shift in the store.
Buffett later called the move the dumbest stock purchase hed ever made.
The company, founded in 1888, was originally a textile business.
By the time Buffett started investing in Berkshire Hathaway, the business was failing.
Today, Berkshire Hathaway is a multinational holding company.
Its market capitalization has come close to $1 trillion.
The company provides a number of services through its subsidiaries, includingfinance, manufacturing, utilities and engineering.
The company also acquired Sees Candies, which Buffett called a dream business, in 1972.
Berkshire Hathaway also owns GEICO and a wide range of insurance companies.
And I wont tell you what Im doing.
His own stake in the firm amounted to $25 million by the time he was 38 years old.
By the mid-1980s, Berkshire Hathaway was a runaway success.
Buffett had shifted the company away from textiles to focus on insurance.
In 1983, Berkshire Hathaways shares topped $1,000, another milestone for the business.
Buffett is so notorious for loving Coca-Cola that his face was once used to sell Cherry Coke in China.
So it should come as no surprise that Berkshire Hathaway is heavily invested in the Coca-Cola company.
Today, Berkshire Hathaway owns a 400 million-share stake, for a value of nearly $25 billion.
The billionaire still lives in the same home he purchased for $31,500 back in 1958.
Buffetts simple lifestyle means that he can afford to be generous.
Buffett partnered with the Gates Foundation to help him give away his money.
The medal was officially awarded during a ceremony at the White House.
During that ceremony, Buffett talked about the circumstances that allowed him to become such a success.
Finally, he added, And theres no power on earth in my view like unconditional love.
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