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The house he bought at 28 is 3500 square feet in a very very nice neighborhood and was worth $1.2 million a few years ago. It's humble by billionaire standards,

The house he bought at 28 is 3500 square feet in a very very nice neighborhood and was worth $1.2 million a few years ago. It's humble by billionaire standards, not by average person standards. He never needed to size-up because of children, or size-down because of a bad economy, he was already set for both space and finances. Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need.

santoshalper 10mo ago
I think it's more that he didn't build a gaudy billionaire mansion, even though he easily could have.
WaxProlix 10mo ago
It's insanely humble by billionaire standards. Any FAANG SWE over 30 or so in the United States can get that. Contrast with multiple compounds, entire islands, etc.
- rapidfl 10mo ago
  Buffet surely made lots of upgrades and has added plenty of material comforts. But it is quite possible to be a kind of lazy where even 10-20x current wealth, people would live where they currently live. American neighborhoods are reasonable that way. It is just primary home and they would holiday/vacation wherever.
  - tmule 10mo ago
    It is highly unusual for someone to stay put after their net worth increases tenfold. Normally, you would expect an individual to seek out more elite social circles and embrace a significantly more opulent lifestyle. Not having that isn’t a sign of laziness (one can be certain that someone like Warren Buffett lives exactly as he chooses) but rather a reflection of the rare ability to decide that what he has is already enough.
- brcmthrowaway 10mo ago
  Not the daily FAANG SWE injection
- esseph 10mo ago
  > Any FAANG SWE That is so few people. So, so, few people. Rough lookup says less than 150,000 people in the US, or 0.044% of the US population.
  - smokel 10mo ago
    Still, slightly more than the 0.00026% who are billionaires.
  - sadeshmukh 10mo ago
    They're not the only group that can afford it. They're just one that also happens to be much larger by multiple orders of magnitude than billionaires.
  - rhplus 10mo ago
    Zillow estimates that home as $1.5 million. That’s not far off the current median home sales price in San Francisco and easily the median home price in many, many upper middle class neighborhoods across the country. How many households in the US can afford a $1.5m home? Assuming they need $400k then we can see that that’s a 95th percentile household income in the US, which translates to about 6 million of the US’s total 135 million households. Redfin has data showing about 8 million homes are worth $1 million plus, so 5 to 6 million households at the $1.5m mark seems about right as an estimate - or put another way - about 5% of US households could afford Warren Buffets home (but maybe not on a 95th percentile income in Omaha, Nebraska). https://www.redfin.com/news/million-dollar-homes-increasing/ https://www.redfin.com/news/million-dollar-homes-increasing/
    - esseph 10mo ago
      And yet "Majority of Americans Can No Longer Afford an Average House" https://www.statista.com/chart/32925/annual-income-required-to-afford-a-median-priced-home-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/chart/32925/annual-income-required-...
jonemi 10mo ago
For reference, this is the house: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett#/media/File:Dundee_HD_Omaha_NE.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett#/media/File:Dun...
- TehCorwiz 10mo ago
  That's a very misleading photo. An aerial view shows the multiple large buildings much better. https://presidenthouse.org/entry-18 https://presidenthouse.org/entry-18
  - jonemi 10mo ago
    That's a much better set of photos. It also confirms he was content with a two-car garage. It also stands in contrast to the other celebrities and business leaders featured on that site. If they had a ranking ordered by size/value ascending, I wonder what number he would be. I still suspect it'd be near the top.
  - KellyCriterion 10mo ago
    Very interesting page :-D Buffet seems to be on top. Eric Schmidts condo is also worth a look.
nonethewiser 10mo ago
>Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need. That's the moral though. He didn't need it so he didn't do it. Whereas so many others with so much less do so much more.
g947o 10mo ago
If you compare that with Zuckerberg, Buffett is a saint without question.
- vouwfietsman 10mo ago
  Question: does it make you a saint if you don't spend money lavishly when you have it? Note: its only about not spending it, not about donating or otherwise using it for an ethical purpose.
  - Yokohiii 10mo ago
    Bezos was at least controversial to some when he was amazon CEO, now he started spending his fortunes and looks like a complete douche. A touch of humbleness creates sympathy with people that cope with reality.
hn_throwaway_99 10mo ago
You say "it's humble by billionaire standards" - I think it's relatively humble by ~$300k a year standards. The thing I love about this house is that I think it represents just about the maximum real utility one can get from a home. He had 3 kids, and a 3500 sq ft house is, IMO, an extremely average size for any decently paid professional where I live with a family that size. It basically looks like something that had everything he needed, and anything beyond that that you so often see in rich people houses is just for show and bling.
- deleted 10mo ago
  [deleted]
- craigds 10mo ago
  the GP said "average person" though and 300k/year is waaaaaaay past average person.
altmanaltman 10mo ago
No, he's really humble, guys, trust me. He has only owned JUST ONE private jet in his life and has upgraded it only ONCE guys. He also currently owns the world's largest private jet operator NetJets [0] via Berkshire that he uses regulary to leverage its fleet now. I'm dying in the light of this humility. 0 - https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-28383 https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-28383
pembrook 10mo ago
> Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need. Absolutely, but let's also not do the opposite. Being poor does not make one morally superior either.

santoshalper 10mo ago

I think it's more that he didn't build a gaudy billionaire mansion, even though he easily could have.

WaxProlix 10mo ago

It's insanely humble by billionaire standards. Any FAANG SWE over 30 or so in the United States can get that. Contrast with multiple compounds, entire islands, etc.

rapidfl 10mo ago
Buffet surely made lots of upgrades and has added plenty of material comforts. But it is quite possible to be a kind of lazy where even 10-20x current wealth, people would live where they currently live. American neighborhoods are reasonable that way. It is just primary home and they would holiday/vacation wherever.
- tmule 10mo ago
  It is highly unusual for someone to stay put after their net worth increases tenfold. Normally, you would expect an individual to seek out more elite social circles and embrace a significantly more opulent lifestyle. Not having that isn’t a sign of laziness (one can be certain that someone like Warren Buffett lives exactly as he chooses) but rather a reflection of the rare ability to decide that what he has is already enough.
brcmthrowaway 10mo ago
Not the daily FAANG SWE injection
esseph 10mo ago
> Any FAANG SWE That is so few people. So, so, few people. Rough lookup says less than 150,000 people in the US, or 0.044% of the US population.
- smokel 10mo ago
  Still, slightly more than the 0.00026% who are billionaires.
- sadeshmukh 10mo ago
  They're not the only group that can afford it. They're just one that also happens to be much larger by multiple orders of magnitude than billionaires.
- rhplus 10mo ago
  Zillow estimates that home as $1.5 million. That’s not far off the current median home sales price in San Francisco and easily the median home price in many, many upper middle class neighborhoods across the country. How many households in the US can afford a $1.5m home? Assuming they need $400k then we can see that that’s a 95th percentile household income in the US, which translates to about 6 million of the US’s total 135 million households. Redfin has data showing about 8 million homes are worth $1 million plus, so 5 to 6 million households at the $1.5m mark seems about right as an estimate - or put another way - about 5% of US households could afford Warren Buffets home (but maybe not on a 95th percentile income in Omaha, Nebraska). https://www.redfin.com/news/million-dollar-homes-increasing/ https://www.redfin.com/news/million-dollar-homes-increasing/
  - esseph 10mo ago
    And yet "Majority of Americans Can No Longer Afford an Average House" https://www.statista.com/chart/32925/annual-income-required-to-afford-a-median-priced-home-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/chart/32925/annual-income-required-...

jonemi 10mo ago

For reference, this is the house: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett#/media/File:Dundee_HD_Omaha_NE.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett#/media/File:Dun...

TehCorwiz 10mo ago
That's a very misleading photo. An aerial view shows the multiple large buildings much better. https://presidenthouse.org/entry-18 https://presidenthouse.org/entry-18
- jonemi 10mo ago
  That's a much better set of photos. It also confirms he was content with a two-car garage. It also stands in contrast to the other celebrities and business leaders featured on that site. If they had a ranking ordered by size/value ascending, I wonder what number he would be. I still suspect it'd be near the top.
- KellyCriterion 10mo ago
  Very interesting page :-D Buffet seems to be on top. Eric Schmidts condo is also worth a look.

nonethewiser 10mo ago

>Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need. That's the moral though. He didn't need it so he didn't do it. Whereas so many others with so much less do so much more.

g947o 10mo ago

If you compare that with Zuckerberg, Buffett is a saint without question.

vouwfietsman 10mo ago
Question: does it make you a saint if you don't spend money lavishly when you have it? Note: its only about not spending it, not about donating or otherwise using it for an ethical purpose.
- Yokohiii 10mo ago
  Bezos was at least controversial to some when he was amazon CEO, now he started spending his fortunes and looks like a complete douche. A touch of humbleness creates sympathy with people that cope with reality.

hn_throwaway_99 10mo ago

You say "it's humble by billionaire standards" - I think it's relatively humble by ~$300k a year standards. The thing I love about this house is that I think it represents just about the maximum real utility one can get from a home. He had 3 kids, and a 3500 sq ft house is, IMO, an extremely average size for any decently paid professional where I live with a family that size. It basically looks like something that had everything he needed, and anything beyond that that you so often see in rich people houses is just for show and bling.

deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
craigds 10mo ago
the GP said "average person" though and 300k/year is waaaaaaay past average person.

altmanaltman 10mo ago

No, he's really humble, guys, trust me. He has only owned JUST ONE private jet in his life and has upgraded it only ONCE guys. He also currently owns the world's largest private jet operator NetJets [0] via Berkshire that he uses regulary to leverage its fleet now. I'm dying in the light of this humility. 0 - https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-28383 https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-28383

pembrook 10mo ago

> Let's not create a moralistic myth out of his lack of need. Absolutely, but let's also not do the opposite. Being poor does not make one morally superior either.