Last Updated on January 15, 2024 by Ben
Warren Buffett has a substantial net worth of $115 billion. He got there by spending wisely and making wise choices. He has traded stocks since childhood. On vacation to New York City at 10, he visited the New York Stock Exchange and acquired three Cities Service Preferred shares at 11.
Buffett’s investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns hundreds of companies outright and has significant investments in several hundred more. Its market cap is a staggering $700 billion, most of which was made after Buffett turned 50.
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Warren Buffett has been very successful in business and promised to give away 99% of his net worth before he dies. Most of this money will go to Bill Gates’ foundation as part of The Giving Pledge, an effort by the two billionaires to get other wealthy people to give away at least half of their wealth during their lives.
Early Life
Warren Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 30, 1930. He was the second of Leila and Congressman Howard Buffett’s three children and their only son. He knew a lot about business and money from a young age. At seven, he set his sights on money after reading a library book called “One Thousand Ways to Make $1,000.”
At eleven, he had lunch with a New York Stock Exchange executive, which piqued his interest in money. He bought stocks and Oklahoma farms with his paper route money after that. In high school, he was worth $6,000, or $60,000, today.
Buffett and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1942 after his father was elected to Congress for four years. He attended Alice Deal Junior High School before graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947.
College
In 1947, Buffett went to the University of Pennsylvania to study at the Wharton School. Warren went there to school for two years and became a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi club. After two years, Warren didn’t see any reason to keep going. He knew his goal:
a) Live in Omaha
b) Invest in stocks.
In 1947, Buffett went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Warren went there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi club. After two years, Warren no longer saw a reason to go, and he had already decided what he wanted to do.
Buffett Partnership Ltd
Warren Buffett worked as an investment salesman for his family’s company, Buffet-Falk & Co., after he graduated from Columbia. He also taught a course on financial principles at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and bought a gas station. The second business failed, but it caught the attention of Benjamin Graham, a respected businessman and one of Buffet’s former professors.
Graham offered Buffet a job as a securities analyst at the Graham-Newman Corp., with a starting salary of about $106,000 in today’s money.
During the four years Buffett worked for Graham, he learned a lot and saw that he was more willing to take investment risks than his boss. So, when Graham retired and closed the business, Buffett started Buffett Partnership Ltd. with the nearly $1.47 million he had saved.
He went from three companies to six in just three years. By 1962, he was a millionaire.
Geico Investment
In April 1952, Warren Buffett made his first big investment bet on the then-struggling Government Employees Insurance Company, now better known as GEICO. Trading for more than it was worth, Buffett studied the business and predicted how it would likely look in a few years. With three-quarters of his hard-earned money, he bought 100% of GEICO, which Berkshire still owns.
Berkshire Hathaway
By 1960, Warren Buffett had been making money so well that he was starting to get the image of being a money wizard. In 1962, he started buying shares in the textile company Berkshire Hathaway for $7.60 per share. By 1965, he was rapidly buying up most of the company for $14.86 per share, even though its working capital was $19.
He eventually became Chairman and CEO of the company in 1970. He then started a series of aggressive investments, takeovers, and restructurings that caused his assets to grow much faster than expected. He became known as an investing genius who could find stocks that were way undervalued and ride them to ever-larger profits.
By the early 1980s, Warren Buffett was worth about $2 billion in today’s money. He was called “The Oracle of Omaha” because of this massive amount of money. By 1990, each share of his company Berkshire Hathaway was worth $7,175, making him a millionaire. Of course, Buffett is also known for investing in things he uses himself, like shirts and underwear from Fruit of the Loom, because he liked them.
Personal Life
In 1949, Warren Buffett had a crush on Susan Thompson. Her boyfriend played the uke, so Buffett bought one to beat him. Since then, he has played it. In 1952, they married and had three kids: Susie, Howard, and Peter. Susan went to San Francisco in 1977 to try to make it as a singer, but they stayed married until she died in 2004.
However, Warren married his longtime girlfriend, Astrid Menks, on his 76th birthday the following year. Susan had set up their meeting before she left Omaha, and their Christmas gifts were signed “Warren, Susie, and Astrid.”
Buffett goes to as many University of Nebraska football games as he can. He is famous for not having a computer on his desk or a cell phone (he uses a flip phone instead) and for only writing one email to Microsoft’s Jeff Raikes.
As for dieting, Buffett is known for having food that is very bad for you. He drinks at least five 12-ounce cups of Coca-Cola daily, a quarter of the 2,700 calories he needs. He also eats ice cream for breakfast.
Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates founded The Giving Pledge in 2010. This group pushes the world’s wealthiest people to give away most of their money to charity.
Wealth Details & History
Buffett’s colossal wealth comes from the fact that he owns 18% of Berkshire Hathaway. From 1965 to 2016, the company’s share price increased by an average of 20.8% per year. He also owns class A and class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway, more than two million shares of Wells Fargo and Seritage Growth Properties, almost 900,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp, and another 9000 shares of IBM.
These investments make up more than 98% of his net worth. He also gives away about 5% of this stock every summer.
At age 21, Buffett had a fortune worth $199,175.93 in today’s money. By age 30, it was around $8.1 million; five years later, he had $53.3 million. At age 39, he had a net worth of $25 million, and at age 47, it jumped to $67 million. At age 56, he became a billionaire with a fortune worth $1.4 billion; at age 66, he had a crazy $17 billion.
By the time he was 72, it had increased to $36 billion, and another $12 billion was added in 2016. What a career!
Real Estate
Warren and Susan Buffett bought a five-bedroom house in Omaha for $31,500 in 1958. The house was lovely, but not very big. He still lives in the same house, worth about $700,000.
In addition to his Omaha home, Warren has invested in real estate over the years. He bought a farm near Decatur, Illinois, for $2.3 million in 1977 and sold it two decades later for $4 million. In 2006, he purchased a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, for an undisclosed amount. The house was sold in 2012 for $11 million – a pretty good return on investment!
Pros and Cons of Warren Buffett Net Worth
Pros
- Warren Buffett is considered one of the most successful investors in history. He has achieved impressive success and continues to make smart investments with his money.
- His net worth has grown significantly due to wise investment decisions and his willingness to take risks.
- He is a generous philanthropist who uses some of his wealth to benefit charities and other important causes.
Cons
- Some consider his wealth excessive, especially compared to the average American’s net worth.
- Warren Buffett’s investments may only sometimes be successful, meaning he could lose some of his net worth over time.
- There is a potential for conflicts of interest regarding how he invests his money, as some may benefit friends and family members more than the general public.
- His wealth can draw unwanted attention from people looking to cash in on his success. They may try to take advantage of him or pressure him for financial favors.
- His wealth can lead to a sense of entitlement among those who benefit from his charity, potentially leading them to take advantage of the situation.
- His wealth can also create inequality between himself and the average American, making it difficult for him to relate to or understand their struggles. This can be seen as a form of elitism that some may find offensive.
- His wealth can also create a perception of unfairness if he is seen as having access to opportunities or advantages not available to the general public. This could lead to resentment and inequality between those with much and those with little.
- Finally, his wealth can be used as an excuse by those who do not wish to work or contribute to society in any meaningful way. They may see his wealth as an excuse not to do their part and instead rely on the charity of others. This could hurt society, leading to increased poverty or other issues.
Final Thought – Warren Buffett Net Worth
Warren Buffett has amassed an impressive net worth over his lifetime and is an inspiration for those looking to build their wealth. However, it is essential to recognize that his wealth can have positive and negative consequences for society.
By recognizing these potential issues and working to address them responsibly, Warren Buffett’s net worth can continue to be a source of strength and hope for people worldwide.
This means that Warren Buffett should use his wealth to encourage people to work hard and become productive members of society while also supporting those less fortunate. The key is striking a balance between these two goals so that Warren Buffett’s wealth can positively impact society.
This could include using his money to fund innovative projects that create jobs, donating to charities and social organizations that help those in need, investing in education initiatives, or supporting socially responsible companies.