Buffett has eaten at McDonalds every day for 60 years? 🤯 (2024)

I know a very frugal billionaire.

He told me the only way to become a billionaire was to pinch every penny.

I’ve also met a few flamboyant billionaires, so I know there are a few ways to skin a cat.

But it's still worth thinking about.

The frugal billionaire I know has told me many times that he has more money than he can ever spend. I believe him.

I hosted him as a keynote speaker at one of my conferences and put him in a five-star hotel. In the morning, I bumped into him on the sidewalk. He was walking over to the food court at the nearby mall—“I’m not paying $25 for breakfast,” he scoffed. He walked up the block so he could eat for $7.

In Warren Buffett's documentary on HBO, the 92-year-old revealed that for the past six decades, he has stopped at McDonald's on his five-minute drive to the office every morning.

"I tell my wife, as I shave in the morning, I say, 'Either $2.61, $2.95 or $3.17.' And she puts that amount in the little cup by me here [in the car]," he said on camera. "When I’m not feeling quite so prosperous, I might go with the $2.61, which is two sausage patties, and then I put them together and pour myself a co*ke. $3.17 is a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit, but the market’s down this morning, so I’ll pass up the $3.17 and go with the $2.95."

When the market is down, Buffett reigns in his order by 23 cents.

He pinches every penny.

My frugal billionaire friend, Warren Buffet, and scores more have built their wealth by being incredibly intentional with every dollar.

Every dollar is considered before it is actioned.

Never a dollar wasted.

Another good friend, a local hedge fund manager who may not be a billionaire but is headed in that direction, told me that he thinks about every dollar as if it were a soldier.

He would never send a soldier into the field for nothing. He considers the mission, the risk and the reward before making any decisions. Every dollar sent to battle must come home with captives.

I am not entirely aligned with this philosophy of money. I don’t think about 23 cents if the market is down.

I may not love money the way these guys do. But I love its utility—the stuff I can do with it.

The freedoms, experiences and optionality it provides.

And I enjoy the sensational too much to pinch every penny. Or maybe I place a higher value on experiences as a return on capital than others.

But if I have no path to becoming a billionaire in the dollar sense - I have thought about something else I can Scrooge McDuck my way towards.

What about a time billionaire?

What if I was as intentional with every minute as my friend is with every dollar?

Never a minute wasted.

Now - a minute wasted is a topic of debate. To quote Jerry Seinfeld, “Quality time with your kids can be sitting on the couch eating cereal.”

That may not be your jam, but the point is clear - it doesn’t always have to be grand - sometimes the simple stuff is the best. Don’t overthink it.

But the same as Buffet may feel better after pocketing the $0.23, my best days are when every minute on my calendar is scrutinized.

But here is the real juice.

Every morning, I quickly review my priorities, projects, and tasks. I assemble a list of items I must tackle and then sort them by urgency and importance. I include the estimated time to complete each.

Everything gets slotted into the calendar, whether the task will take ten minutes or two hours.

And here is the crucial part.

When the work block arrives - no matter what it is, I have one rule. I don’t have to do the task listed on my calendar - but I am not allowed to do anything else.

I can sit at my desk and do nothing—or complete the task—but nothing else is allowed.

It may seem silly - but the option of not doing the thing actually makes me more productive.

Even doing the most tedious of jobs is more interesting than sitting there doing nothing at all.

If it is a writing block - I don’t have to write, but I am not allowed to do anything else.

If it's an email response block, I don’t have to respond to emails, but I am not allowed to do anything else.

I hate administrative work.

However, I operate two small companies, so I need to do a fair amount of administrative work.

So, I set the work block. I sit at my desk and declare that I don’t have to do that admin. But I am not allowed to do anything else. Before I know it, I am halfway through the task.

The mind is tricky. When it comes to the stuff we don’t want to do, everything else suddenly seems urgent—suddenly, I need to check if a particular email has come in or have a quick peek at recent YouTube analytics.

Taking these options off the table until they are allocated a calendar block is one of the most productive things I’ve learned to do.

If my only other option is to sit and do nothing - my output rises dramatically.

And here is the core of the lesson—whether we are meticulous with money or time, the principle remains: intentionality leads to enrichment.

An investor mentor from a few years back used to amaze me with his discipline. He would identify a stock he wanted to own, decide the valuation he was willing to buy at, and then wait.

I remember a certain position; he waited for two years before getting the allocation he wanted at the price he thought was fair.

Another, I watched the share price fall 30% towards his bid, but still need to catch his price target by $0.02.

He didn’t move. He did nothing.

He would allow himself to do two things - execute the exact trade he wanted or do nothing at all.

Most investors think they should always be putting their money to work. As a result, most investors make too many decisions, not too few.

Most entrepreneurs chase too many ideas.

We are good at identifying the cost of doing nothing.

However, we are less good at identifying the opportunity cost of doing the wrong thing.

Have an epic Sunday,

Jay