What Warren Buffett Would Tell Young Students Today | Berkshire 2025

[Transcript]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi, my name is Patrick Nester. I am 13 years old and from Tampa, Florida.

My question is, what high school class or activity helped influence you to who you are today as the greatest investor of all time?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, that's good question. (Applause)

The teachers you get in your life have this incredible impression on you, and a lot of it are the formal teachers you have, but some are informal teachers too. I mean I’ve learned from certain employers, you know, so much. You really hope you’re learning from everybody you find who’s well-intentioned and has had a lot of experience. And I had a lot of good luck in that.

But I would say that where I was really lucky was my dad was in the investment business. So I would go down on Saturday and I’d wait for him to go to lunch, and I’d read the books that were around there that nobody else ever read. And they just, they talk to me – Numbers talk to me, and I could never get my fill of them.

And then I discovered the public library and I read every book there was on investments, literally, in the Omaha Public Library at 19th and Harney. You know I enjoyed learning about that. Unlike Charlie – if Charlie was reading about electricity, he would want to have known everything that Thomas Edison knew and more, and then go through the same thought processes and understand how everything worked. I didn’t care how it worked. I just cared whether it worked. And that’s a limitation – I’m confessing here, I’m not bragging. (Laughs)

As Charlie would say, I mean, people would always say, “If you could only have lunch with one person living or dead, who would it be?” And Charlie said, “I’ve already had lunch with all of them because I’ve read all their books.” And he really did it.

I think having curiosity and actually finding sympathetic teachers is very useful. I ran into a couple of teachers that both in high school and college. In fact, I would say that I went to three different – hired, you know, three different universities – and I went to high school in Washington, and at each place I found about two or three really outstanding people. And I just spent my time with them and didn’t pay much attention to the other classes.

And I was lucky to find something that fit me very early on. If my ambition had been to become a ventriloquist or you know whatever it might have been, and it wouldn’t have worked you know. I just spent hours and hours and hours, and I wouldn't have been any good when I got through. So I don’t believe that.

I think there was a book that talked about spending 10,000 hours or something. I could spend 10,000 hours at tap dancing and you’d throw up if you watched me. (Laughter) But if I spent 10 hours reading Ben Graham, I would be damn smart when I got through.

So minds are really, really different. I watch great bridge players, and I watch great physicians. I mean, people really, really, really have different talents. And I think you’re supposed to have 88 billion cells in your brain. I’m not sure that all of mine are flashing bright lights, but – (Laughs) – you are different than anybody else.

That’s what my dad always used to tell me that – essentially that you know you're something different. (Laughs) It may not be good at the moment, but you find your own path and you will find the people in schooling that want to talk to you.

People that teach, in general, they love having a young student who's actually really interested in the subject, and they'll spend extra time with you. They'll do all kinds of things that – and I ran into that. I had Graham and Dodd at Columbia. Dave Dodd treated me like a son basically.

But I was interested in what they were saying and they found it kind of entertaining that I was so interested, so I would just – I would look around at you know what really fascinates you. I wouldn’t try and be somebody else.

You’ll find the teachers at a school, and you’ll find some outstanding people that are teachers. I’ve had at least 10 people that have had huge impacts on my life, and every one of them was positive you know because I got to select, in a sense. And a number of people really like helping younger people.

You know I found that in school, and it probably helps to look a little bit lost like you need help. I would say my school experiences were good but – really very good – but I attribute it much more to the individual than to the institutions.

Source: https://buffett.cnbc.com/2025-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/

 

[YAPSS Takeaway]