Warren Buffett is one of the world’s most recognisable business figures. But for years, his youngest son, Peter Buffett, was largely unaware of just how rich and influential his father was.
According to a report by Fortune, Peter Buffett once said he only realised his father’s status in his 20s, after seeing his name featured on Forbes’ list of the richest Americans.
“I’m not kidding. It was when I was in my 20s that my mom and I talked at some point, because there he was, on this list,” Peter said in a 2013 interview with Forbes. “And we laughed about it, because we said, ‘Well, isn’t it funny? You know, we know who we are, but everybody’s treating us differently now.’”
Peter, now 67, is the youngest of Buffett’s 3 children with his first wife, Susan Alice Buffett. Over the years, he has built a career independent of his father’s financial empire. He is a musician, composer, author and a philanthropist. He has won a regional Emmy Award, become a New York Times best-selling author, and served as co-chair of the NoVo Foundation.
Despite the public attention that followed his father’s rising profile, Peter said the discovery had little impact on how the family lived or how he viewed his upbringing. “It was a fascinating switch, although not a huge one because we didn’t live in that world or a cultural framework where there was a lot of wealth being shown,” Peter said. “Our friends were as surprised as I was,” he added.
Buffett echoed his son’s remarks, saying his children had already formed their own identities and paths by the time they understood the scale of his wealth. “The kids were formed by that time, and they knew who their friends were, and their friends were their friends because they liked ’em, and not because they were the rich kid on the block or anything of the sort,” Warren Buffett said.
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Warren Buffett’s net worth
The former Berkshire Hathaway CEO was once the world’s richest man, famously dethroning Bill Gates in 2008 with a $62 billion net worth. While he is no longer the world’s richest man, he remains among the wealthiest. He is currently worth about $145 billion, ranking him among the top 10 richest people globally.
Yet Buffett has long rejected flashy displays of wealth. The 95-year-old investor lives a famously frugal lifestyle. He eats McDonald’s, drives an old car, and continues to live in the modest Nebraska home he bought in 1958 for $31,500.
In his final Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter published in November, Buffett wrote that money alone was never his definition of success. “Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government,” he said.
Instead, Buffett has repeatedly emphasised kindness and philanthropy. “When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world,” Buffett wrote. “Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior…Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman,” he added.