Warren Buffet's one-line reply to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ question on why people don't like copy his investment strategy

It is regarded as one of the most successful investing strategies in human history, yet almost no one copies it. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once asked Warren Buffett why more people do not copy his investing strategy. The legendary American investor’s one-line reply was classic, witty and entirely brutally honest: his approach is a “get-rich-slowly scheme,” and most people do not like those. Bezos recalled a conversation he had with Buffett during a fireside chat at the America Business Forum in 2025 (videos of which is now being reshared on social media).

“I once asked Warren Buffett, ‘Why don't more people copy your investment strategy? It's not that difficult to understand in principle’, and he said, ‘Jeff, that's easy. My approach is a get rich, slowly scheme. Yeah, people don't like those but there's a lot of Truth in that for everything’,” Bezos said.

The Amazon founder agreed to the strategy, further explaining that long term will give people a head start against all competitors.

“If you can think in terms of seven years instead of three years, right… And you can defer gratification and think long term that will give you a head start against all of your competitors. So, most people can't do that,” Bezos noted.

Warren Buffet’s 10-minute rule

This isn’t a new advice from Buffet as he has been talking about importance of patience for his entire career. In his famous 1996 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, he laid out a strict rule for anyone looking to enter the stock market:

“If you aren't willing to own a stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”

Ultimately, the takeaway from the conversation between two of the world's richest men isn't that everyone needs to buy the exact same stocks as Berkshire Hathaway. The real lesson is that patience and consistency are the competitive advantages because they are the rarest, and probably the most important traits in modern business.

Warren retired as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025, handing over leadership to Greg Abel on January 1, 2026. Warren remains chairman, focusing on investments, at the Omaha headquarters.