Business

Warren Buffett

Bought his first stock at 11; funded his 1956 partnership with family-and-friends money.

Born: 1930 · Omaha, Nebraska, US
Roots: White American
Family: Affluent; Stockbroker father who later served four terms in the US Congress.
Education: University of Nebraska → Columbia Business School (under Benjamin Graham)
Started with: $105K raised; The 1956 partnership was funded by family and friends; he put in $100 of his own.
Affiliations & societies: The Giving PledgeDocumented; Co-founded the campaign with Bill and Melinda Gates in 2010.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1941 · age 11
First stock purchase$114
Three shares of Cities Service preferred.
1945 · age 14
Paper routes and pinball
Files his first tax return; installs pinball machines in barbershops with a partner.
1950 · age 20
Rejected by Harvard Business School
Enrolls at Columbia instead to study under Benjamin Graham.
1956 · age 25
Buffett Partnership$105K
Starts the fund in Omaha with money from family and friends.
1965 · age 34
Takes control of Berkshire Hathaway
Then a declining textile mill; becomes his holding company.
2006 · age 75
Pledges most of his fortune
The bulk committed to the Gates Foundation over time.
2008 · age 77
Ranked world's richest person
Per Forbes.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.