Warren Buffett built one of history’s great fortunes not through complex strategies or insider advantages, but through principles anyone can follow. His advice to the middle class is remarkably consistent across decades of shareholder letters and interviews. The investments he recommends aren’t exotic or expensive.
They’re purchases most people can make starting today. Here are five things the middle class can buy that genuinely build wealth, based directly on Buffett’s consistent teachings over 60 years.
1. Broad, Low-Cost Index Funds
Buffett has spent decades telling ordinary investors to skip stock picking and buy index funds instead. In his 2013 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, he wrote that “a low-cost index fund is the most sensible equity investment for the great majority of investors.” This isn’t casual advice.
Buffett specified in his own will that 90% of the cash left to his wife should be invested in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. He famously won a decade-long bet against hedge funds, proving that a simple index fund outperformed expensive active management. The reason is straightforward: index funds capture broad economic growth while minimizing the three wealth killers of high fees, emotional mistakes, and poor timing.
The middle class can’t afford to pay 1%-2% annual fees to fund managers who rarely beat the market. Those fees compound against you for decades. Index funds charge as little as 0.03% annually, letting you keep nearly all your returns.
Buffett’s point is that trying to beat the market usually means underperforming it. The S&P 500 has returned about 10% annually over the long term. Most people would build substantial wealth simply by capturing that return consistently instead of chasing higher ones and getting lower ones.
2. Books, Education, and Skill Development
Buffett has called knowledge the best investment, particularly early in life. He’s stated repeatedly that “the best investment you can make is in yourself.” His own fortune is directly tied to the skills he developed through reading and education, particularly in communication and decision-making.
Early in his career, Buffett took a Dale Carnegie public speaking course because he was terrified of speaking. He credits that $100 course as one of his best investments because it permanently raised his earning power through improved communication skills. Skills compound faster than capital when you’re just starting.
The middle class often underestimates the extent to which earning power can be increased through deliberate skill development. A $20 book on negotiation might lead to a $5,000 raise. A $500 course on your profession’s technical skills might open a promotion path worth six figures over time.
Buffett said he reads 500 pages daily and has done so for decades. His investment edge primarily stems from knowledge accumulation, rather than capital access. The middle class has the same access to books, courses, and learning resources that enable the development of valuable skills.
3. Ownership in Productive Assets
Buffett’s wealth comes from owning businesses through his Berkshire Hathaway shares, not from selling his time for wages. He’s emphasized that ownership of productive assets separates wealth builders from perpetual workers. Whether through stocks, small business ownership, or partnership stakes, owning something that generates returns while you sleep fundamentally changes the wealth equation.
The middle class typically trades time for money through employment. That’s necessary but insufficient for building substantial wealth. Buffett’s approach is to buy pieces of quality businesses through stocks or to own companies outright as Berkshire subsidiaries.
When you own stock in a productive company, you own a claim on future profits generated by other people’s work and the company’s assets. This is how wealth compounds without your active labor. Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway by acquiring ownership stakes in businesses with strong economic fundamentals and holding them for decades.
The middle class can’t usually buy entire businesses, but fractional ownership through stocks accomplishes the same goal. The key is to view stock purchases as investments in companies, not as a bet on price movements.
4. Financial Protection and Peace of Mind
Buffett’s first rule of investing is “Don’t lose money”. His second rule is “Don’t forget the first rule”. This translates practically into buying adequate insurance, maintaining emergency reserves, and avoiding catastrophic financial risks.
The middle class often under-insures or carries no emergency fund, creating vulnerability to forced bad decisions. A medical emergency or job loss without savings or insurance means selling investments at the worst time, stopping compounding, or taking on high-interest debt.
Buffett emphasizes that avoiding big mistakes matters more than making brilliant moves. Insurance against catastrophic loss, whether it be health, disability, or property, prevents single events from destroying years of wealth-building. An adequate emergency fund, covering 3-6 months’ expenses, prevents panic selling during market downturns or temporary income loss.
This isn’t about excessive insurance or hoarding cash unproductively. It’s about removing the financial fragility that forces poor decisions under stress. Buffett can make patient investment decisions because he never faces forced liquidation.
The middle class needs the same protection to let compounding work uninterrupted. Buying peace of mind through proper insurance and reserves is actually purchasing the ability to make better financial decisions consistently.
5. Time and Patience
Buying time to study by freeing up menial tasks or investing time to allow investments to work through patience and discipline are crucial to success.
Buffett’s most valuable purchase is time, allowing compounding to work. He’s described the stock market as “a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” The middle class often sabotages wealth building through impatience, trying to get rich quickly instead of getting rich slowly and reliably.
The power of compounding requires time to create meaningful results. A 10% annual return doubles money in about seven years, quadruples it in 14 years, and multiplies it eight times in 21 years. But only if you don’t interrupt the process.
The middle class frequently interrupts compounding by selling investments during downturns, chasing hot trends, or withdrawing funds for consumption. Buffett’s advice is to buy quality assets and let decades of compounding do the heavy lifting. His fortune wasn’t built through trading or timing but through patient ownership.
Buying time means resisting the urge to constantly check account balances, avoiding panic during market volatility, and maintaining discipline when friends brag about speculative gains. It means understanding that wealth building is usually slow, quiet, and undramatic. Buffett bought his first stock at age 11 and didn’t become notably wealthy until his 50s.
Conclusion
Buffett’s pattern across all five purchases is consistent: buy assets instead of status symbols, pay low fees, avoid catastrophic mistakes, and let time and discipline compound your wealth. None of these purchases requires unusual intelligence or significant capital. They require decision-making that prioritizes long-term wealth over short-term consumption or excitement.
The middle class can afford all five purchases. What separates wealth builders from perpetual earners isn’t access to secret strategies but the willingness to make unsexy, patient decisions repeatedly. Buffett’s advice works precisely because it’s boring, accessible, and focused on not losing rather than on winning big.