Warren Buffett Says This Is Why He Had an Early Advantage in Investing
If this one factor had been different, Warren Buffett may not have been able to build up Berkshire Hathaway.
Key Takeaways
- Reflecting on his career in a new interview, Warren Buffett says his father made all the difference in his life.
- Buffett pointed out that he had an early edge in finance because his father was a stockbroker.
- He said it was an “accident” that he was born into a family that allowed him to gain early exposure to the field of finance.
Warren Buffett, the chairman and largest shareholder of investment group Berkshire Hathaway, turned a struggling textile company into a trillion-dollar conglomerate over six decades.
Reflecting back on his career in a new interview with CNBC, Buffett pointed out that he had an early edge in finance because his father was a stockbroker. He said it was an “accident” that he was born into a family that allowed him to gain early exposure to the field of finance.
“If my father had been a plumber,” he said, “I would not have had the same advantage I had.”
Buffett said he got extremely lucky in life. “Out of eight billion people, I may be one of the 10 luckiest in the world,” he claimed in the interview.
He considers himself fortunate to be alive and healthy at the age of 95. He joked that he is “losing marbles at this point,” but added that he had the privilege of gathering marbles “for a longer time than I deserved, and that’s just a matter of luck.”
Buffett also said in the interview that he got lucky because investing is a field he is passionate about, has a natural affinity for and functions as a vehicle to accumulate wealth. Investing is a far more lucrative passion than being a “great violin player or anything else,” he said.
Buffett’s father did not pressure him to follow in his footsteps
Buffett told CNBC earlier this year that the most “important” career advice he ever received from his father, and later passed on to his own children, came from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay, Self-Reliance. The work encourages readers to choose an occupation that fits their nature instead of one that meets parental expectations or society’s approval.
Buffett said that his father “had no feeling that I should follow in his footsteps.” Instead, his father urged him to find what uniquely excited him, a message straight out of Emerson’s work.
Buffett said he did not choose investing because it was expected or glamorous, but because it was what he would have wanted to do even without a paycheck.
Buffett has conveyed the advice his father gave him to his own children.
“I told my own kids … look for the job you’d take if you didn’t need a job,” Buffett told CNBC. “And that’s basically what my dad was telling me.”
Buffett’s children have pursued careers in fields like music and agriculture rather than following Buffett’s example in finance. Buffett has, however, included his children in philanthropy efforts, tasking them with giving away his multi-billion-dollar fortune.
Buffett also shared plans to donate his fortune by 2034
In a news release earlier this week, Buffett shared his goal of disposing of all of his Berkshire shares within about eight years. He currently has about $150 billion in Berkshire stock, comprising more than 99% of his net worth.
Buffett has donated more than half of his wealth since 2006.
Key Takeaways
- Reflecting on his career in a new interview, Warren Buffett says his father made all the difference in his life.
- Buffett pointed out that he had an early edge in finance because his father was a stockbroker.
- He said it was an “accident” that he was born into a family that allowed him to gain early exposure to the field of finance.
Warren Buffett, the chairman and largest shareholder of investment group Berkshire Hathaway, turned a struggling textile company into a trillion-dollar conglomerate over six decades.
Reflecting back on his career in a new interview with CNBC, Buffett pointed out that he had an early edge in finance because his father was a stockbroker. He said it was an “accident” that he was born into a family that allowed him to gain early exposure to the field of finance.
“If my father had been a plumber,” he said, “I would not have had the same advantage I had.”
