OMAHA — Peter Buffett did not know his father, Warren Buffett, was a billionaire until he was in his 20s. He learned the truth after seeing Warren Buffett’s name on a list of the richest Americans.
“I’m not kidding. It was when I was in my 20s that my mom and I talked at some point, because there he was, on this list,” Peter Buffett recalled in a 2013 Forbes interview. He added, “And we laughed about it, because we said, ‘Well, isn’t it funny? You know, we know who we are, but everybody’s treating us differently now.’”
Peter Buffett described the shift in public perception as “a fascinating switch, although not a huge one because we didn’t live in that world or a cultural framework where there was a lot of wealth being shown.” He noted that the change surprised not only him but also his social circle: “Our friends were as surprised as I was.” Warren Buffett, reflecting on how his children responded to his public wealth, said, “The kids were formed by that time, and they knew who their friends were, and their friends were their friends because they liked ’em, and not because they were the rich kid on the block or anything of the sort.”
Peter Buffett is the youngest of Warren Buffett’s three children with his first wife, Susan Alice Buffett. He is an American musician, composer, author, and philanthropist who has won a regional Emmy Award, became a New York Times best-selling author, and served as co-chair of the NoVo Foundation.
As of 2026, Warren Buffett is worth about $142 billion and ranks as the 12th wealthiest person in the world. Despite his fortune, he continues to live in a modest Nebraska home that he bought for $31,500 in 1958. All insights about the family’s experience with wealth come directly from the Buffetts themselves, primarily through Peter Buffett’s 2013 interview and Warren Buffett’s public remarks.