- Warren Buffett, CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has an estimated net worth of $136 billion.
- According to Bloomberg, he is the eighth richest person in the world, ahead of Google founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
- Buffett lives modestly and is known as one of the world's most generous philanthropists.
Warren Buffett is off to a good start this year. His wealth has so far grown to more than $16 billion.
With an estimated net worth of $136 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 93-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO is the eighth richest person in the world. He is richer than Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ($133 billion and $126 billion, respectively).
But you might not know it when you look at Buffett's frugal ways.
The Oracle of Omaha, who still lives in the house he bought in the 1950s and drives a similarly modest car, prefers to save and grow rather than take money out of the bank. He often ate breakfast at McDonald's and rented furniture when his children were born.
Let's take a look at how Buffett spends — or doesn't spend — his billions of dollars.
Buffett's hobbies include bridge, golf, and playing the ukulele.
Buffett loves playing bridge, sometimes spending more than eight hours a week, the Washington Post reported. He also likes getting on the green for golf, spends a lot of time reading, and loves playing the ukulele. In 2020, he said he has a collection of 22 ukuleles. He had been playing the ukulele since childhood and used that skill to court his first wife, Susan, his son Peter once told NPR.
Mr. Buffett once bought 17 Hilo ukuleles to donate to the North Omaha branch of the nonprofit organization Girls Inc., and showed up at the group's building to give group lessons.
His wealth mainly depends on his investment company.
The bulk of Buffett's net worth is tied to his publicly traded conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, which owns businesses such as Geico and See's Candies, and holds billions of dollars of stakes in companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola. There is.
Buffett owns about 15.1% of Berkshire stock, or more than $135 billion, according to Berkshire's latest proxy statement.
Berkshire Hathaway itself owns more than $1 trillion in assets, Insider previously reported.
Buffett started investing at a young age.
According to Forbes, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO started building his wealth by investing in the stock market at the age of 11 and filed his first tax return at 13.
As a teenager, he earned about $175 a month delivering for The Washington Post, more than his teachers (and most adults). Berkshire Hathaway owned nearly 30% of the paper for 40 years until selling it in 2014.
They also sold calendars, used golf balls, and stamps. By the age of 16, he had amassed the equivalent of $53,000.
Most of Buffet's fortunes were built in later years.
Most of Buffett's wealth was earned after his 50th birthday. His salary at Berkshire Hathaway last year was just $100,000, the same as it has been for the past 40 years, and he paid back $50,000 to the company as part of his personal phone and postage costs.
Last year, the company spent $313,595 on Buffett's personal and home security, three times his annual salary, according to the company's proxy statement.
Buffett's worst investment was a Sinclair gas station.
Buffett's biggest investment mistake is said to be the Sinclair gas station he bought in 1951 at the age of 21. He and his friend bought stock in the gas station, and the business consistently outsold the large Texaco gas station across the street.
Yahoo Finance quotes Glenn Arnold's book “Warren Buffett's Trading, Volume 1: The First 100 Million Dollars,'' which says that out of his total net worth of $10,000 at the time, he ultimately lost $2,000 of his investment. Reported.
Buffett has been married twice and has three children.
Buffett married his first wife Susan Buffett in 1952. Together they had his three children: Susie, Howard, and Peter. He and Susan remained married until Susan's death in 2004, but had been separated since the 1970s. He married his second wife and long-time friend Astrid Menkus in 2006.
When Susie was born, Buffett apparently turned Susie's drawers into a bassinet for her to sleep in, according to Roger Loewenstein's 2008 biography of the billionaire. For her second child, Howard, he rented a crib.
Buffett lives a simple life.
Despite his billionaire status, Buffett has long lived a relatively frugal and frugal lifestyle. He previously told CNBC and Yahoo Finance's “Off the Cuff” that he “never had a big desire to have multiple homes, all kinds of things, multiple cars.”
Buffett lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in a house he bought in the 1950s.
Mr. Buffett, who lives in a modest home in Omaha, Nebraska, once called Berkshire the “third best investment” he had ever made in a letter to shareholders.
He bought the house in 1958 for $31,500. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $338,000. Currently worth an estimated $1.4 million, according to Zillow, he has 6,280 square feet, five bedrooms, and 2.5 bathrooms.
Since Buffett bought the company, security has been beefed up and it is now protected by a fence and surveillance cameras.
Mr. Buffett owned a vacation home in California.
In 1971, Buffett purchased a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California for $150,000. Part of a gated community called Emerald Bay, the six-bedroom home is within walking distance of the beach and was renovated after Buffett bought it.
He originally put it up for sale in early 2017 for $11 million, but lowered the price to $3 million later that year. It was sold for $7.5 million in October 2018, about two years after it went on the market.
Buffett's vehicle selection has also been modest for many years.
Unlike many other super-rich people, Buffett has long driven a fairly modest car.
He previously drove a 2001 Lincoln Town Car with a license plate that read “THRIFTY” for about 10 years, but it was auctioned off for charity and replaced with a 2006 Cadillac DTS. Ta. According to Forbes, in 2014 he switched from a DTS to a Cadillac XTS.
“The truth is, I only drive about 3,500 miles a year, so I rarely buy a new car,” Buffett once told Forbes.
Buffett splurged on a private jet.
One of Buffett's splurges is a private jet. Buffett spent $850,000 on a used Falcon 20 jet in 1986, then sold his first jet in 1989 and upgraded to another used jet, spending $6.7 million.
Buffett and his late business partner Charlie Munger revealed in a letter to shareholders that they had nicknamed the second plane “The Indefensible.”
Buffett used a flip phone for many years.
Despite Berkshire Hathaway being a major shareholder in Apple, Buffett did not upgrade to a smartphone until 2020.
Until then, I preferred the Samsung SCH-U320, which you can buy on eBay for under $20.
Although Buffett eventually switched to an iPhone, he told CNBC that he only uses it “as a phone.”
Buffett's style includes suits by Chinese designers and an affordable haircut.
Buffett said he owns about 20 suits, all made in China by designer Madame Lee, according to CNBC.
He has a long-standing friendship with Lee, a successful business entrepreneur. Buffett has been getting the same $18 haircut for years at the barbershop in the same building as his office.
Buffett regularly eats at McDonald's and drinks a lot of Coke.
Buffett once told Fortune magazine that he eats “like a 6-year-old.” He eats breakfast at McDonald's almost every morning on his way to work.
In 2017, he spent only $3.17 on orders and paid with change, he said in the HBO documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett.” He also drinks at least five colas a day.
Buffett is a longtime friend of Bill Gates.
Buffett once went to a McDonald's in Hong Kong with his longtime friend Bill Gates and paid with coupons, Gates recalled in his 2017 annual letter.
The letter said: “Remember how we laughed when we traveled to Hong Kong together and decided to have lunch at McDonald's? You offered to pay, dug into your pocket, and… pulled out a coupon!”
Gates described Buffett as a “thoughtful and kind” friend and said Buffett drives to pick him up from the airport every time he visits Omaha.
Buffett is one of the world's most generous philanthropists.
Warren Buffett is considered one of the world's most generous philanthropists. In 2006, he announced that approximately 85% of Berkshire's Class A stock was owned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (named after his late wife), and his three children. He pledged to donate to five of the three foundations.
In 2010, he teamed up with Bill and Melinda Gates to create The Giving Pledge, an initiative that asks the world's richest people to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Buffett himself has vowed to donate 99% of his wealth to charity during his lifetime or after his death.
As of 2023, the shares he had already given away were worth about $50 billion based on their value at the time of the donation, and about $130 billion when considering Berkshire Hathaway's stock value at the time. . If Buffett had continued to hold those shares instead of donating them, he would likely have become the world's richest person with a net worth of nearly $300 billion.
The Washington Post reported in 2014 that Buffett plans to leave each of his children $2 billion. In a letter to his shareholders, Buffett once recommended that ultra-wealthy families “leave enough for their children to do everything, but as little as possible.” I have said this before. do nothing. “
Even for Buffett, there are things that money can't buy.
“There are some things that money can't buy,'' Buffett once said at a shareholder meeting. “I don't believe that beyond a certain point, the standard of living matches the cost of living. My life could not be any happier. In fact, six or eight houses would be worse. We have everything.’ We need it and we don’t need anything more because after one point there is no difference.”
