Buffet wouldn't have gotten rich in today's environment. When he was growing up, the stock market was a plaything of the rich. Valuations were lower across the board, markets weren't nearly as efficient (in the technical sense) as they are now, volumes were much thinner, in general it was a lot less systematized.

Nowadays, much like YC, he's a brand, so while he might be a very smart and capable investor, it's his deal flow that puts him in such a strong position. He gets calls normal people don't get because he's made a name for himself over the past 50 years and people want his name for their company, as much as anything else.

I wonder what lesson can be drawn from all this. The primacy of reputation in today's world?

In my first year investing, I read The Intelligent Investor, then promptly found out that no stocks were trading below their value. Not even close; more often at multiples. The only time shares trade below book these days are either when book is seriously questionable, or when cash burn is expected to deplete the value.

An investor with low funding costs and stable funding source can always beat the market in theory. Studies suggest that the bulk of BRKs excess returns are due to leverage and deep balance sheets that allows him to buy deep value but more importantly to be able to hold those stocks long term.

A smaller investor who tried to duplicate that strategy would have been stopped out due to margin calls. For example it isn't everyone that can sell, and hold, a ten year billion dollar put on the S&P 500 like BRK did in 2008.

Buffett isn't exactly buying index funds for BRK

He isn't buying a stock here or there either. He's mostly doing deals in bulk that the average investor can't. For example, his investment in Goldman Sachs during 2008.

The parent comment said criticisms of private day traders were motivated by jealousy, and I said that's certainly not the case for the most notable of the critics. Buffett could have made his success as a rodeo clown for all it matters to my point.