How To Rule The World Like… Warren Buffet

Start Early

The 83-year-old recently admitted in a CNBC interview that he began buying stocks 71 years ago, when he was just 12, and that he has been acquiring businesses for “almost as long.”

“If I find a business I like, I buy it. The first stock I bought was in the spring of 1942.

“It was right after Pearl Harbor and we were getting clobbered in the South Pacific. And the war did not look good.

“But when I bought my first stock, I went in 100 per cent. I spent all of my $120. I was not doing it based on headlines. I was doing it based on what I was getting for my money,” he said.

Stack up The Returns

Considered the most successful investor of the 20th century, Buffett managed a nearly 20 per cent annualised return between 1965 and 2012.

Running the Berkshire Hathaway office with a staff of just two-dozen, the shrewd businessman now has interests in numerous companies across the globe, spanning sectors as diverse as consumer goods, media, chemicals and construction.

Top The Wealth charts

In March, Buffett beat Carlos Slim to rank second on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of around $63.4 billion, up 4.3 per cent year-to-date.

A keen philanthropist, Buffett pledged to give the majority of his fortune to charity in 2006.

Be The ‘Happiest Guy In The World’

Although reported to be extremely frugal, Buffett’s three children praise him as having taught them the value of money and important life lessons.

Peter Buffett, his youngest son told ABC News: “He’s the happiest guy in the world but not because he has a lot of money but because he does what he loves to do. That’s what he told us to find in the world, something we love.”