Here’s the Salary You’d Need To Retire as Rich as Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is one of the best investors of all time. Through strategic investments and building his holding company — Berkshire Hathaway — Warren Buffett has amassed a fortune that would take many of 1,000 lifetimes to build.
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And while most billionaires don’t get there on their salary alone, it’s interesting to think about how much you’d actually have to earn — and save — to retire as rich as someone like Warren Buffett. So here’s a breakdown of how much you’d need to make each year from now until retirement to retire as rich as Warren Buffett!
Warren Buffett is the 6th richest person in the world, with a net worth of around $148 billion dollars as of early February 2025, according to Forbes. His wealth comes primarily from his large stake in his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway — as of 2023, Warren Buffett owned over 38% of the holding company voting shares, with around 227,416 Class A shares and 276 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock.
Buffett doesn’t dabble in real estate much, currently still living in the home he bought in 1958 for $31,500.
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So, if you wanted to retire with $148 billion in the bank, how much would you need to make each year to get there?
You’ll first need to know how much you can save from that salary. Here’s how much money you need to put away each year to retire with $148 billion in the bank.
|
Savings per Year |
Years Until Retirement |
|---|---|
|
$3.7 billion |
40 |
|
$4.2 billion |
35 |
|
$4.9 billion |
30 |
|
$5.9 billion |
25 |
|
$7.4 billion |
20 |
|
$9.9 billion |
15 |
|
$14.8 billion |
10 |
If you work a normal 40 year career, you’d need to save at least $3.7 billion EACH YEAR to end up with $148 billion by the time you retire.
If you’re 20 years into your career and still have 20 years left until you retire, you’ll have to start saving $7.4 billion per year to retire as rich as Warren Buffett.
And if you’re late to the game and only have 10 years left, you’ll need to save $14.8 billion per year to retire with $148 billion!
But those numbers are just your savings each year. Say you’re comfortable living on just 10% of your income. Here’s how the income numbers break down:
|
Salary per Year |
Years Until Retirement |
|---|---|
|
$4.07 billion |
40 |
|
$4.65 billion |
35 |
|
$5.43 billion |
30 |
|
$6.5 billion |
25 |
|
$8.14 billion |
20 |
|
$10.85 billion |
15 |
|
$16.28 billion |
10 |
If you work for 40 years and save 90% of your income, you’d need to make over $4 billion per year for 40 years to retire as rich as Warren Buffett is right now. Wow!
If you’re working a regular 40-hour workweek full-time, that’s about 2,080 hours worked per year — You’d have to earn around $1,923,077 PER HOUR to make $4 billion per year — for 40 years! And that’s just to retire as rich as Warren Buffett is right now!
Not to crush your dreams, but there is a very small chance that you’ll earn $4 billion per year for the next 40 years as a salary.
You can, however, build an innovative business that helps millions — or billions — of people, and build enough value to be worth billions of dollars. It will take hard work, determination, grit and time. And even if you don’t build the next billion-dollar company, you can still have financial freedom through thoughtful investing and spending less than you make.
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