Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett's half-century of roughly twenty-percent annual compounding stands virtually unmatched in financial history. His shareholder letters are studied worldwide as primary texts, and his philosophy constitutes a discipline in its own right.

Born in Omaha in 1930, son of congressman Howard Buffett, he bought his first stock at eleven. By high school graduation, his savings were worth tens of thousands in today's dollars. He attended Wharton, transferred to Nebraska, then studied under Benjamin Graham at Columbia, absorbing the margin-of-safety concept that became his bedrock.

After working at Graham-Newman, he launched his own partnership in 1956 in Omaha, delivering about thirty-percent annual returns over thirteen years. In 1965 he acquired struggling textile maker Berkshire Hathaway and converted it into an investment vehicle.

Charlie Munger joined as vice chairman in 1978, prompting a shift from pure bargain-hunting toward buying wonderful businesses at fair prices. That evolution yielded landmark investments in Coca-Cola, American Express, and later Apple.

Buffett's method is clear: invest only in what you understand, trust excellent managers, hold long-term. His circle-of-competence discipline led him to skip tech stocks during the dot-com bubble, drawing criticism vindicated by the crash. In 2008 he put five billion dollars into Goldman Sachs, demonstrating contrarian conviction.

His frugality and philanthropy are equally notable. He has lived in the same Omaha house for decades. In 2006 he pledged a major gift to the Gates Foundation and in 2010 co-founded the Giving Pledge. At the May 2025 shareholder meeting, he announced plans to hand the CEO role to Greg Abel by year-end while remaining chairman.