Warren Buffett is a multi-billionaire investment genius worth more than King Midas’ bedroom after he’s had a seizure in it. He’s also though a frugal, grandfatherly man who isn’t one to let something like being the fourth richest man on the planet stop him from getting a good deal.
For anyone unfamiliar with Buffett, he’s mostly known for two things: Pledging to give away 99% of his 73 billion dollar fortune before he dies and being a tight-fisted bastard who probably reuses toilet paper to save money. Now at first glance those two things don’t necessarily add up, but it’s important to remember that just because someone is rich, it doesn’t necessarily mean they like spending money.
In regards to Buffett, his frugality and dislike of the usual trappings and extravagances of other billionaires is well known. He drives the same car he did 30 years ago, lives in the same house he did in the 50’s and still occasionally travels using public transport. Hell, when his company bought a company jet for top executives in 1989, Buffett insisted that they buy a used one and then named it “The Indefensible” as a nod to how it was kind of a hypocritical move for his company to buy such a thing given his own frugal nature and frequent criticisms of other CEOs for doing the same thing.
Speaking of CEO’s, despite being the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a monolithic corporate entity that has stakes in everything from Apple to companies selling vacuum cleaners, Buffett’s salary is only $100,000 per year. Before you scoff, just remember that this is amongst the lowest of any CEO in the states and that there are probably people hocking those shitty Lootboxes on YouTube who earn more than that per year.
Buffett also refuses to leverage his position as CEO for his own benefit, turning down stock options as a bonus and even paying out of his own pocket for one of the few indulgences he allows himself, cans of Coca Cola. We’d like to point out that Buffett does this despite owning like 10% of the Coca Cola company. He could literally call the company and have them airlift 80,000 cans to his office if he wanted and doesn’t because he’d feel bad taking them for free.
Buffett also famously eats at McDonald’s every day, stopping there on his 5 minute drive to work (yes, before you ask he drives himself because it’s cheaper) and will order one of three options ranging in price from $2.61 to $3.17. Adorably Buffett’s decision of what to order will be influenced on the current state of the market and if his company’s stock isn’t doing well, he’ll order himself the cheaper option. Remember, this man is rich enough to buy Mount Rushmore and carve dicks into it if he wanted. Buffett always pays in exact change (because he hates carrying around cash) and makes a habit of asking about any coupons or offers they have.
Now if we hadn’t spoiled it in the header image you’d probably find yourself thinking, “what would a billionaire need McDonald’s coupons for?” but you already know. Buffett uses them when he orders with friends, even if that friend just so happens to be Bill Gates. It’s easy to criticise Buffett for being thrifty but it’s hard to argue that a man that careful with his money doesn’t fucking deserve it.
