Warren Buffett and Wife Susie Ate Fritos, Steak, Chocolate and Cookies—Then She Asked Him to Pay Her to Stay 118 Lbs, but Money Didn’t Motivate Her
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett has built a fortune by understanding incentives. But one of the most revealing lessons about motivation didn’t come from Wall Street or an annual shareholder meeting. It came from his own kitchen, where a weight-loss pact with his first wife showed that the same reward can inspire one person and barely register with another.
Susan “Susie” Thompson Buffett cooked without much enthusiasm and the family’s meals rarely strayed beyond meat and potatoes, according to Alice Schroeder‘s authorized 2008 biography, “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life.” The book offers a glimpse into the couple’s eating habits and their very different relationships with money.
Don’t Miss:
When Money Wasn’t Enough
Buffett often started the day with Fritos and Pepsi, snacked on chocolate and popcorn, and preferred steaks and hamburgers. Susie had a sweet tooth of her own, favoring chocolate, Rice Krispies Treats, frosting straight from the can, cookies, Tootsie Rolls and plenty of milk. She ate vegetables but largely skipped fruit except for watermelon, according to the biography.
Weight was a recurring concern for Buffett, who Schroeder wrote had been fascinated with scales since childhood and wanted the entire family to stay thin.
Trying to lose weight herself, Susie proposed a deal. Schroeder wrote that she asked Buffett to pay her if she could keep her weight at 118 pounds. The arrangement sounded simple, but it quickly unraveled because, as Schroeder observed, “she cared less about money than her husband did.”
Instead of changing her everyday habits, Susie often found herself scrambling as weigh-in day approached. If the number on the scale wasn’t where she wanted it, Schroeder wrote she’d joke, “Uh-oh… I’ve got to call your mom for her diuretic pills.”
Trending: AI Robots Have Already Fried More Than 5 Million Baskets Of Food. Everyday Investors Can Still Buy Into The Company Behind Them.
Why Buffett’s Strategy Worked
Buffett responded very differently to financial incentives.
When the couple’s children were young, he wrote them unsigned $10,000 checks and told them he would sign the checks if he failed to weigh 173 pounds on a predetermined date. The children tried tempting him with ice cream and chocolate cake, but it never worked.
“The prospect of giving up money pained Warren far more than giving up a treat,” Schroeder explained. Buffett repeatedly wrote the checks but never had to sign one.
The lesson had little to do with dieting and everything to do with building systems that matched what motivated him.
Most people don’t have $10,000 checks lying around to keep themselves accountable—and they don’t need to. Buffett’s approach wasn’t really about the dollar amount. It was about creating a system that made good habits easier to maintain. Today, that can be as simple as setting up automatic contributions to a retirement account, consistently investing in low-cost index funds or creating additional income streams that grow over time.
Real estate investing has also become more accessible. Platforms like Arrived let investors purchase fractional shares of professionally managed rental homes with as little as $100, offering a way to gain exposure to real estate without saving for years to buy an entire property. Rental income and potential appreciation can build over time, allowing wealth to grow steadily in the background.
Buffett never had to sign one of those $10,000 checks because the possibility of losing the money was enough to change his behavior. Susie, meanwhile, showed that the same incentive doesn’t work for everyone. Lasting habits often come from finding the motivation that actually matters—and then putting a system in place that lets it do the heavy lifting.
Read Next: The AI Boom Needs More Than Chips. Explore The Infrastructure Company Building For The Next Wave Of Compute Demand.
Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market
Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.
Arrived
Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors canbuy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.
Realberry
Institutional-quality real estate has traditionally been difficult for individual investors to access.Realberry gives accredited investors direct access to private real estate opportunities backed by a team with 35 years of experience, $3.4 billion in assets under management, and $481 million in cumulative distributions paid to investors as of Q4 2025, according to the company. With a portfolio spanning 13 million square feet across seven U.S. states, Realberry focuses on acquiring, developing, and managing real estate with an emphasis on long-term value creation while its principals often invest alongside clients to help align interests.
FarmTogether
Farmland has historically held its value through market volatility and delivered returns uncorrelated to stocks and bonds. For accredited investors,FarmTogether offers direct access to high-quality U.S. farmland starting at $15,000 — fully managed, with no landlord headaches.
Immersed
Immersed is building technology for the future of work through spatial computing. Known for its AR/VR productivity platform that enables users to work across multiple virtual screens, the company has grown to more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Immersed is also developing Visor, a lightweight headset designed specifically for professional productivity, positioning the company at the intersection of remote work, extended reality (XR), and next-generation computing.
Fundrise
Private real estate and private credit can add income and stability to a stock-heavy portfolio.Fundrise offers access to diversified private real estate and credit strategies through an easy-to-use platform, with professionally managed portfolios designed to generate passive income and long-term growth.
Mode Mobile
Mode Mobile is changing the way people interact with their phones by letting users earn money from the same apps and activities they already use every day. Instead of platforms keeping all the advertising revenue, Mode Mobile shares a portion back with users who engage with content, play games, and scroll on their devices. Named one of Deloitte’s fastest-growing software companies in North America, the company has built a large beta user base and is scaling a model that turns everyday smartphone usage into a potential income stream.
EquityMultiple
For accredited investors looking beyond stocks and bonds, EquityMultiple provides access to vetted commercial real estate deals starting at $5,000, with only ~5% of opportunities passing their due diligence process.
Image: Shutterstock
This article Warren Buffett and Wife Susie Ate Fritos, Steak, Chocolate and Cookies—Then She Asked Him to Pay Her to Stay 118 Lbs, but Money Didn’t Motivate Her originally appeared on Benzinga.com
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.