--- title: 5 Things We Learned About Warren Buffett From His New HBO Documentary description: A new film reveals a surprising set of facts about the investing titan. Here are five of our favorites. authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2017-02-02T18:12:41.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T05:07:42.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Berkshire Hathaway - Charity - Documentary - Investing - stock market - Warren Buffett - what to watch word_count: 468 canonical: https://money.com/5-things-warren-buffett/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Film still from documentary](https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_em_buffettdoc.jpg) *Buffett in his Berkshire Hathaway office* Earlier this week, HBO aired "[Becoming Warren Buffett](http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/becoming-warren-buffett)," a documentary that chronicles the upbringing and personal philosophy of the stock market titan. Chock full of the traditionalist eccentricities the "oracle of Omaha" is best known for--like his love of Coca Cola, and the fact that he lives in the same house he bought in 1958 for $31,500--the film also reveals a surprising set of facts even Buffett die hards may have missed. Here are five of our favorites. **The stock market dictates his breakfast** Buffett, who drives himself to work to Berkshire Hathaway every day, makes [an early morning pit stop](https://money.com/heres-what-warren-buffett-eats-for-breakfast-every-day/) at McDonald's drive-thru. When the stock market is up, he spends $3.17 on his breakfast -- the cost of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. When the market is down, Buffett opts for a Sausage McMuffin with egg and cheese. When he's "not feeling so prosperous," he buys two sausage patties for a grand total of $2.61. ![Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting](https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb1.jpg) *Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, eats a Dairy Queen vanilla orange ice-cream bar as he tours the exhibition floor prior to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., on Saturday, May 1, 2010.* **The only diploma in his office is from a public speaking course** Buffett holds degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Columbia University, but the only diploma hanging on his wall is from a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Once terrified of public speaking, Buffett credits the class for much of his success. ![Warren Buffett speaking](https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb2.jpg) *Investor Warren Buffett speaks during the "United State of Women Summit" at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, June 14, 2016. / AFP / YURI GRIPAS (Photo credit should read YURI GRIPAS/AFP/Getty Images)* **His wife changed his political views** Buffett was married to his first wife, Susan Buffett (née Thompson) from 1952 until her death in 2004. Raised a Republican, "Susie" was very active in the civil rights movement, and often brought him along to speeches and meetings. Today, Buffett is an active Democrat. ![Buffett Speaking at Hillary Clinton Event](https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb5.jpg) *Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., smiles during an event with Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, not pictured, at Sokol Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.* **Philanthropy was always the long game** At the beginning of his marriage to Susan, Buffett made plans to give the bulk of his future fortune to charity. The plan, he says, was to accumulate wealth until his death, with Susan deciding where to donate the money. When she died of a stroke in 2004, Buffett switched gears, and gave more than $30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- the largest charitable donation in history. In 2010, Buffett, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg signed a pledge to donate at least half of their wealth to charity, and urged other wealthy people to do the same. ![Warren and Susan Buffett](https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb3.jpg) *Warren Buffett (L), chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, arrives with his wife Susan at the White House 05 February for a state dinner in honor of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie.* **He's Woke** In archived footage, Susan talks about Buffett's displeasure in America's gender disparity. “Wait until women discover they’re the slaves of the world,” she recalls him saying. In the doc, Buffett doubles down on that sentiment, and quips that he believes the country would be more successful if more women were in business. In recent years, Buffett's charitable giving has gone towards securing rights for low income women workers, ending the mass incarceration of women, domestic violence prevention and other efforts aimed at closing the gender gap. ![170202_wb4](https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb4.jpg?quality=85) *Spencer Platt—Getty Images* Spencer Platt/Getty Images *"Becoming Warren Buffett" is available for streaming for HBO customers [here](http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/becoming-warren-buffett).* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/5-things-warren-buffett/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Investments", "item": "https://money.com/investments/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "5 Things We Learned About Warren Buffett From His New HBO Documentary" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/5-things-warren-buffett/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/5-things-warren-buffett/", "name": "5 Things We Learned About Warren Buffett From His New HBO Documentary", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-02-02T18:12:41.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/5-things-warren-buffett/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/5-things-warren-buffett/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:07:42.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "5 Things We Learned About Warren Buffett From His New HBO Documentary", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_em_buffettdoc.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1440, "caption": "170202_EM_BUFFETTDOC" }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb1.jpg", "width": 800, "height": 345 }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb2.jpg", "width": 800, "height": 373 }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb5.jpg", "width": 800, "height": 373 }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb3.jpg", "width": 800, "height": 381 }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/02/170202_wb4.jpg?quality=85", "width": 800, "height": 373 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. 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