24 Surprising Facts About Warren Buffett
Posted: 30 Aug 2017 02:09 PM
Billionaire and legendary investor Warren Buffett turns 87 years old on August 30. With a net worth of nearly $77 billion, “The Oracle of Omaha” is currently the fourth-richest person in the world — but he doesn’t act like it.
His modest home in Nebraska is worth just .001% of his total wealth and he never spends more than $3.17 on his daily McDonald’s breakfast.
To those who knew him from the beginning, Buffett’s success comes as no surprise: He was picking out stocks at 11 years old and had amassed the equivalent of $53,000 in today’s dollars by the time he was 16.
But Buffett isn’t just a master at making money — he’s good at giving it away, too. Although he didn’t start donating until later in life at the insistence of his first wife, Buffett is now regarded as one of the most generous philanthropists in the world, giving more than $27 billion to causes in the last decade.
Inspired by a Quora thread asking “What are some mind-blowing facts about Warren Buffett,” we rounded up 24 astonishing facts about the legendary investor and his massive fortune.
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While his elementary school classmates were dreaming about the major leagues and Hollywood, 10-year old Buffett was having lunch with a member of the New York Stock Exchange and setting life goals
Buffett’s legendary career all began with an epiphany at age 10 when he was on a trip to New York City with his dad.
Dining with a member of the NYSE planted the idea in young Buffett’s head to organize his life around money.
He bought his first stock at age 11.
He purchased multiple shares of Cities Service Preferred for $38 apiece.
When Buffett was a teen, he was already raking in about $175 a month — more than his teachers (and most adults).
He pulled this off by dutifully delivering the Washington Post.
He had amassed the equivalent of $53,000 by the time he was just 16.
Paper delivery was just one of many small businesses teenage Buffett orchestrated: He sold used golf balls and stamps, buffed cars, set up a pinball machine business, and turned a horse track into a lucrative playground.
He was rejected from Harvard Business School.
Buffett, confident he nailed his admissions interview, had already told a friend, “Join me at Harvard.”
“I looked about 16 and emotionally was about nine,” he recalled of the in-person interview. Forced to look elsewhere, he settled on Columbia University, which only required a written application and no interview.
His idol refused to hire him the first time he applied.
Buffett originally wanted to work with his idol, and author of “The Intelligent Investor,” Benjamin Graham, but Graham rejected him because he wasn’t Jewish (Graham was saving a spot at his firm for someone Jewish, since at the time Jewish people had a tougher time landing work on Wall Street).
Buffett wouldn’t take no for an answer, and continued pitching Graham ideas until he eventually hired him.
Buffett spent $100 to take a Dale Carnegie course on public speaking.
He was 21 and terrified of public speaking. It ended up being a worthy investment, as the course helped him propose to his wife.
His house is a humble five-bedroom in Omaha, Nebraska, that he bought in 1956 for $31,500.
If you want to be Buffett’s neighbor, the house across the street will cost you about $2.15 million.
Buffett doesn’t keep a computer on his desk, and he chooses to use a flip phone rather than a smartphone.
There is, however, a World Book Encyclopedia set on his shelf.
In fact, he’s only sent one email in his life, to Jeff Raikes of Microsoft.
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His distance from technology leaves him time for bridge, which he plays about 12 hours a week.
Oftentimes, his bridge partner is Bill Gates.
He spends 80% of his day reading.
When he’s not playing bridge, he’s reading. “I just sit in my office and read all day,” he says.
He drinks an alarming amount of Coca-Cola each day.
The business magnate is a notoriously unhealthy eater: “If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola. I drink at least five 12-ounce servings. I do it everyday.”
He also likes to double-fist salt shakers, and don’t put it past him to enjoy a bowl of ice cream for breakfast.
99% of Buffett’s wealth was earned after his 50th birthday.
Among investing legends, Buffett has the longest track record for beating the market.
The longevity of Buffett’s outperformance is greater than that of other savvy investors, such as David Einhorn and Walter Schloss.
$1,000 invested in Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock in 1964, when Buffett took over the company and shares cost just $19, would be worth about $13 million dollars today.
Buffett’s net worth is greater than the GDP of Uruguay.
Uruguay’s 2014 GDP was estimated to be $57,471,277,325.
Though Buffett spends frugally, he gives generously. In 2010, he teamed up with Bill and Melinda Gates to form The Giving Pledge, an initiative that asks the world’s wealthiest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
As of June 2016, more than 154 affluent individuals have signed the pledge, including Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison.
Buffett has also so far donated nearly enough money in his lifetime to build six Apple ‘Spaceship’ Campuses, which are $5 billion endeavors.
The Apple Campus, one of the last major projects Steve Jobs worked on, is a futuristic-looking company campus that will feature curved glass panels, an underground parking lot, a private auditorium for keynotes and product launches, and a 360-degree view of nature.
Buffett has donated nearly $30 billion — the second-highest amount (following that of Bill Gates).
In 2013, Buffett made on average $37 million per DAY — that’s more than what Jennifer Lawrence made the entire year.
According to Forbes, Jennifer Lawrence was the second-highest-paid actress in 2013, and she is estimated to have made $34 million that year.
Warren Buffett made $37 million per day in 2013.
Read more: 5 things you didn’t realize about Warren Buffett, according to his daughter
In July 2016, Buffett broke his own giving record when he donated $2.9 billion to various charities, including The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named for his late wife.
The multi-billionaire reportedly earns only $100,000 a year at Berkshire Hathaway — and spends it frugally.
People are so fascinated with the legendary Buffett that they’ll spend millions of dollars to eat lunch with him.
Buffett has been auctioning off a “power lunch” since 2000 at his charity event for GLIDE Foundation.
The highest bidder gets to bring up to seven people to dine with the steak-loving business magnate at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan, and the most recent winner paid $3,456,789.
He doesn’t think money equals success: ‘I measure success by how many people love me. And the best way to be loved is to be lovable.’
This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com
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