Warren Buffett’s Legacy: Lessons from the Oracle of Omaha

Warren Edward Buffett, a 94-year-old legendary investor, philanthropist, who created a history by leading the industry for six decades, has announced his retirement by the end of the year 2025, at the Annual General Meeting of Berkshire Hathaway on the 3rd of May 2025.

He has been investing since before we were born, before the internet and even smartphones existed.

He is also known as the Oracle of Omaha because of his smart investment strategies, and he chose to live in Omaha, where he was born.

His net worth is 159.7 billion dollars (According to Forbes) ranked 5 in the world.

His retirement decision made him the spotlight of the town, so let me walk you through the successful journey of the billionaire and the greatest investor of all time.

Early Life

Warren Buffett was born on August 30th, 1930, in a small town in Nebraska called Omaha. He was the only son among three children of Howard Buffett, who was a member of the republican congress and a stockbroker.

He grew up seeing his father as a stockbroker, so ultimately, his interest in the stock market was in his veins. He started learning about business and different ways of making money from a very young age.

First Investment

His first investment was preferred stocks of the company called Cities Corporation at the age of 11 (can you believe it??). The selling of those shares taught him a lesson about patience, which he applies all over his life.

Education

Young Buffett completed his high school education in 1947 from Woodrow Wilson High School. The yearbook of the school named him “Future Stockbroker” under his picture. He continued his academic education in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, later transferred to the University of Nebraska, where he completed a bachelor’s in science of business administration.

When he was trying to get to the bottom of stock market system, how it works and how to make profits, he read a book named “The Intelligent investor” written by Benjamin Graham, who was the professor at the Columbia Business School at that time where Buffett decided to get an admission and completed his master’s degree in economics in 1951. Graham’s mentorship changed his perspective towards investment and laid the foundation of his investment strategies.

Career and Business Venture

Buffett worked in Graham's firm and gained invaluable lessons and expertise. In 1956, Buffett moved back to Omaha and started his business venture, Buffett Partnership Limited, which was an investing firm where he applied Graham’s principle of investing. He started a long-term investing strategy in companies that have a high growth potential. It was the time when his smart moves gave his company higher returns, and his net worth substantially increased.

Berkshire Hathaway

In 1962, Buffett Partnership invested in Berkshire Hathaway, considering it an undervalued textile company, and by 1965 bought major shareholdings of the company and transformed it into a conglomerate holding company and Buffett became the Chairperson of the company in 1970.

Berkshire Hathaway has always been a publicly traded company. In 1965, Buffett started writing annual letters to his shareholders in which he explained his investment decisions and activities, which became the source of information to everyone.

Once in an interview Buffett recalled that The— the dumbest stock I ever bought— was—— Berkshire Hathaway.

Partnership with Charles T. Mungler

Warren Buffett and Charles Mungler (Harvard Law School Graduate), had been in a long-lived friendship. They both met in Omaha and shared a common interest.

Charles Munger became the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway in 1978. He motivated Buffett to switch from purchasing cheap companies to top-class businesses. Warren Buffett called Charles Munger “Architect of Berkshire Hathaway” in the annual letter.

Munger died in 2023 at the age of 99.

Top Stocks Pick

Warren Buffett believed in a strategy of finding undervalued companies that have strong fundamentals and competitive advantage, and holding stocks for the long term and waiting patiently to grow their value. He wrote in Annual Letters to Shareholders of Berkshire that he and Charles Munger are not “Stock Pickers” but they are “Business Pickers”. His Berkshire Hathaway top stock holdings are;

Apple, Coca-Cola, American Express, Bank of America, and Chevron

Invaluable Lessons He Taught

Buffett gave a new direction to the financial world, even in today’s fast-paced world, he still believes in patience and persistence.

1. Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds like compound interest. Buffett advised students who want to start their investing career in order to read piles of manuals and reports.
2. Never invest in a business you cannot understand. Here he is trying to say that people lose money because they don’t understand the company fundamentally, they just buy trendy stocks or in pressure from others, and do not do complete research.
3. Our favourite holding period is forever. Here, he is trying to make it clear that investing is not a short-term game; you should not hold a stock for the shorter term if you cannot hold it for the longer term. Be patient.
4. The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. Here, he is talking about a disciplined investor being a wealthier investor because he knows market fluctuations are temporary, and patience pays off.
5. Never depend on a single income. Make an investment to create a second source. Buffett is emphasizing making an investment to generate a second source of income
6. Do not save what is left after spending; instead, spend what is left after saving. If you don’t save first, then you end up with nothing.
7. If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need. It is crystal clear that if we do not spend wisely and carefully, then in emergencies, we will have to sell the necessary things.
8. If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die. Here, he is talking about passive income, you have to put your money in the financial market to work, otherwise, you will be working till you die.

Conclusion

Roger Lowenstein begins his new biography of Warren Buffett with a disclaimer. He reveals that he is a longtime investor in Berkshire Hathaway, the company that under Buffett’s guidance has seen its share price rise in 33 years from $7.60 to approximately $30,000.

He is one of those few people who has weight in their voices. His financial acumen and wisdom made Berkshire Hathaway one of the largest conglomerate holding companies.

A Wall Street icon announced in 2006 that he would donate 99% of his wealth to charitable foundations.