It's not every day someone gets to ask Warren Buffett how to become a billionaire — especially not with a microphone, a full crowd, and Charlie Munger sitting nearby. But in 1999, during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, one audience member did just that.
He stood up and got straight to the point.
"My question is," he said, "if you were starting out again today in your early 30s, what would you do differently or the same in today's environment to replicate your success? In short, Mr. Buffett, how can I make $30 billion?"
Buffett didn't hesitate. "Start young," he replied.
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That was the real answer, and it got a laugh — but Buffett didn't leave it there. He compared wealth-building to a snowball rolling down a hill, building momentum as it picks up more snow. "Charlie's always said that the big thing about it is we started building this little snowball on top of a very long hill… And the trick is to have a very long hill, which means either starting very young or living to be very old."
Then he gave the same investing advice he's repeated for decades — and still believes works today.
"I would do it exactly the same way if I were doing it in the investment world," Buffett said. "If I were getting out of school today and I had $10,000 to invest, I'd start with the As. I would start going right through companies. And I probably would focus on smaller companies… there's more chance that something is overlooked in that arena."
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Buffett emphasized that buying pieces of good businesses at good prices never goes out of style — and no one's going to hand you the opportunities.
"You can't expect anybody else to do it for you. People will not tell you about wonderful little investments… you have to pursue it very vigorously and act on it when you find it," he said. "And you can't look around for people to agree with you. You can't look around for people to even know what you're talking about. You know, you have to think for yourself."
Munger followed up with his own reminder: getting to your first $100,000 is the hardest part.
"If you have a standing start at zero, getting together $100,000 is a long struggle for most people," Munger said. "And I would argue that the people who get there relatively quickly are helped if they're passionate about being rational, very eager and opportunistic, and steadily underspend their income grossly."
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Buffett's fortune has since multiplied from roughly $33 billion in 1999 to more than $145 billion today, a 26-year stretch that reinforces just how durable his approach has been. His advice wasn't flashy, new, or easy—but it worked. Study businesses. Buy what's undervalued. Ignore the noise. And start early enough to let compound interest do the heavy lifting.
Replicating that success today isn't about chasing hot stocks or timing the market—it's about discipline, patience, and knowing your lane. For anyone looking to build long-term wealth, consulting a licensed financial advisor could help tailor those same principles to modern markets—and maybe even build a snowball of their own.
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