Did Warren Buffett Really Get Rich Slowly?

I once had someone tell me that they did not want to invest for the long-term like Buffett because they did not want to wait until they were too old to do anything to be rich. I found this to be a surprising comment, and I was even more surprised to find that a lot of people share this sentiment. The craziest part about it is that it's not based in reality. Long-term investing does not mean get rich right before death. It's just about growing your money over a long period of time. Another crazy thing about the above sentiment is that while Buffett did take advantage of long-term investing, he was rich long before he was old. 

Many of you may be surprised to find that Warren Buffett actually tried to retire at 26 years old. He already had enough money at that point in his life where he would never have to work again. He plan was to just manage his own investments and do no other work besides that. Many people around him, however, had other plans for Buffett. They asked him to mange their money as well since he was already managing his and this led to Buffett owning an investment partnership. 

The point is, Buffett was successful long before he was old. While he did use a longterm investing strategy and used compound interest to increase his gains overtime, Warren Buffett was a very skilled investor who worked very hard in his early years to have the amount of capital necessary to achieve what he has.

The above picture from marketwatch.com shows how Warren Buffett's net worth has changed throughout the years. Notice in the early days that those numbers are not adjusted for inflation. 

While Warren Buffett did get rich quickly, he used that to become one of the world's wealthiest people over a long period of time. 

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