Whoever said investing is a young man’s game must’ve never heard of the Oracle of Omaha.
This summer Warren Buffett will turn 95, and the legendary investor doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all.
Earlier this week, Buffett’s investment house, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) , doubled down on its investment bets in Japan, boosting its holdings in five of the country’s trading houses by more than 1 percentage point each.
Buffett said the entities operate “in a manner somewhat similar to Berkshire itself.” At the end of 2024, Berkshire’s Japanese holdings totaled $23.5 billion at an aggregate cost of $13.8 billion, CNBC reported.
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Buffett is taking big shots on what some investors might see as a risky bet on Japanese trading houses. But Buffett lives by an ironclad investing philosophy that has served him well over the years.
Warren Buffett and longtime friend, adviser and Berkshire exec Charlie Munger. Munger died in November 2023.
Image source: Getty Images.
Buffett’s investing philosophy hasn’t failed him yet
Buffett has been a successful investor for over six decades, but one thing that has set him apart is his willingness not to gatekeep the secrets to his success.
Buffett has told anyone who will listen how to beat the market as he consistently does. While it’s hard to distill nine decades of wisdom into just a few words, a few bullet points definitely will help you trade like Buffett.
Value Investing – invest in companies trading below their intrinsic value (don’t buy at the top)Focus on Quality – invest in high-quality companies with strong brands, loyal customers, and reliable earnings.Understand the Business – know, intrinsically, what you are investing in.Have Patience
While there is much more to his philosophy, these four basic tenets have served Buffett well on his way to becoming one of the wealthiest men in history.
Buffett’s wealth overtakes that of Bill Gates
Buffett’s investments have paid off handsomely for him this year, boosting his net worth by $18.7 billion in 2025, far outpacing the wealth increases of his peers.
Buffett currently has a net worth of $164 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the seventh richest person in the world.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos hold the top two spots on the index with net worths of $312 billion and $217 billion, respectively. But their fortunes have fallen sharply this year. Musk’s has dropped by $121 billion while Bezos has seen nearly $22 billion leave his coffers.
Buffett overtook that of ex-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates ($162 billion), who was once the world’s richest person, for the sixth spot on the list. Berskhire Hathaway’s 13% rise this year, coinciding with Microsoft’s 8% decline, has put Buffett’s fortune past Gates’s, according to Bloomberg.
Since the list’s inception in 2012, Gates had maintained a lead over Buffett, even in lean years.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury-goods icon LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and Oracle pioneer Larry Ellison all sit on the list ahead of Buffett. Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Alphabet/Google fame and Steve Ballmer, also an ex-Microsoft CEO, round out the top 10. Ballmer’s $136 billion fortune is No. 10.
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