Happy birthday, Mr. Buffett.
Investing legend Warren Buffett turns 96 on Sunday, and the 12 months since his 95th birthday have been truly transformational, featuring a huge career move and a major new investment. He’s also accelerated his charitable giving and dispensed plenty of his trademark wit and wisdom.
Into the next chapter
For his Thanksgiving message, Buffett penned a love letter to his hometown of Omaha, reflected on his good fortune, and thanked the many people who helped him throughout his life.
Buffett, who has pledged to donate virtually all of his wealth to good causes, said he would speed up his giving as he wanted his children to be the ones who distribute his fortune.
He also encouraged his followers to learn from their mistakes, choose good role models, live up to the obituaries they want for themselves, and care for others.
“When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world,” he wrote. “Kindness is costless but also priceless.”
Buffett retired as Berkshire Hathaway CEO at the end of December after six decades in charge. He remains chairman of the company, which he transformed from a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion juggernaut.
Sharing life lessons
Buffett shared several pieces of life advice during a CNBC interview aired in January but filmed in May 2025.
The billionaire warned against getting into debt as it leaves people “underwater” and unable to escape.
He urged parents to practice what they preach and set good examples for their kids: “If you want to have good children, be a good parent.”
Buffett also recommended people find jobs they love so much that the “paycheck is incidental to what you’re doing.”
The bargain hunter also vented about high asset prices constraining him from deploying Berkshire’s capital, which has caused its cash pile to balloon.
He said he’d be “willing to spend $100 billion this afternoon,” as he’d much rather have that money in a quality business than in cash.
The past and the present
Berkshire’s annual report highlighted Buffett’s remarkable track record: Berkshire stock rose by about 6,100,000% between 1965 and 2025, trouncing the S&P 500’s roughly 46,100% return, including dividends, over the same period.
It also showed the power of Buffett’s stock picks. Berkshire’s Apple stake was worth 10 times its cost base at the end of December. Coca-Cola was up 21-fold, American Express was up 45-fold, and Moody’s was up 51-fold.
In a March interview with CNBC, Buffett said his life hadn’t changed much since retiring as CEO. He’s still commuting to Berkshire’s headquarters in downtown Omaha five days a week, and continuing to pick stocks and field calls about potential acquisitions, albeit with his successor Greg Abel having the final say.
Nati Harnik/AP
Buffett also sat for a surprise interview during Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in May. He warned of a “gambling mood” in markets, describing it as a “church with a casino attached.”
He said it was “not an ideal environment” for deploying cash, so he and his team were having to “pick our spots.”
Buffett also cracked a few jokes, replying when asked whether he’d met the new managers of some of Berkshire’s key holdings: “I haven’t met the old managers.”
Still in the mix
In his July letter about his philanthropy, Buffett said he hoped to distribute his entire Berkshire fortune, over $140 billion, to good causes by the end of 2034.
Buffett also told CNBC at the time that he’d “read a great deal” about his friend Bill Gates’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and that while it was a “distasteful” situation, everyone makes mistakes when judging people.
In the same interview, Buffett said he made the surprising call to invest in Alphabet last summer. Berkshire built that stake from scratch to nearly $38 billion by the end of June, making Google’s parent company the third-biggest position in its stock portfolio after Apple and American Express.
If Buffett is still behind that bet — likely given his early involvement, the size of the wager, and his confirmation that he’s still picking stocks as chairman — it could be his last big play.
Weeks away from his 96th birthday, Buffett said he felt fortunate to be alive and healthy, and while he was “losing marbles,” he’d “accumulated marbles for a longer time than I deserved, and that’s just a matter of luck.”
