Have you ever stopped to think about how someone builds a fortune of over 150 billion dollars? I was researching Warren Buffett and discovered that his story is quite different from what many imagine.

Warren Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska. What’s interesting is that he didn’t get rich overnight — in fact, he started investing at age 11 by buying his first stocks. By age 13, he was already filing income taxes. Meanwhile, most people were just playing around.

He studied at Wharton and later in Nebraska, but the real turning point was when he did his master's at Columbia and was a student of Benjamin Graham, the guy who invented Value Investing. Graham taught Buffett to look for good companies being sold cheaply — and this philosophy became the foundation of everything he did afterward.

In 1956, at age 25, Buffett created his first fund with friends and family. He started small, but the results drew attention. Later, he bought shares of a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway — and here’s the interesting part? What started as a opportunistic investment turned into his main vehicle for wealth.

Buffett transformed Berkshire from a bankrupt textile industry into a giant conglomerate. He entered insurance (GEICO, National Indemnity), then began buying shares of companies like Coca-Cola, American Express, Apple, Bank of America. Today, Berkshire is worth more than 1 trillion dollars.

What stands out is his strategy: he doesn’t follow complex formulas. Warren Buffett looks for companies with real competitive advantages, good management, predictable cash flow, and a price below intrinsic value. He avoids sectors he doesn’t understand. For him, investing is buying businesses, not just stocks.

An important detail: most of Warren Buffett’s wealth was built after age 50. This shows the power of compound interest over the long term. He buys and holds — American Express has been in his portfolio since 1963, Coca-Cola since 1988. Decades holding the same positions.

He also buys during crises. In 1987, after Black Monday, Buffett bought Coca-Cola shares while everyone was panicking. In 2008, during the subprime crisis, he published an article saying “Buy America. I am.” His famous phrase sums it up: “Be greedy when others are fearful.”

Regarding Warren Buffett’s current fortune, Forbes estimated it around 159 billion dollars in 2025. But here’s the twist: he promised to donate more than 99% of that to philanthropy. He has already donated about 159 billion to foundations. He won’t leave an inheritance for his children in the traditional sense.

About cryptocurrencies, he’s very clear — he doesn’t invest. For Buffett, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, doesn’t generate cash flow, and can’t be fundamentally analyzed. He only invests in what he understands and that creates real value.

What I learned studying Warren Buffett is that good investing isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about understanding value, controlling emotions, and respecting time. Consistency beats genius. Simple decisions, repeated correctly over years, build extraordinary wealth. This is very different from what you see out there about quick trading and mind-blowing gains.