Here’s how I’d follow Warren Buffett’s pre-millennium advice to get rich

US investor and business magnate Warren Buffett has been enormously successful. And at 90, he’s one of the richest people in the world because of a long series of great investments.

But he’s worked very hard at it and shows no sign of easing up. He loves the game. In fact, he loves investing and business so much that he’s done little else with his life. And that story reveals itself in his authorised biography, The Snowball. Even now he still enjoys turning up at the office to put in several hours every working day.

Warren Buffett’s advice for ordinary investors (like me)

And that kind of commitment and focus is what it takes to outperform the markets in a really big way. But Warren Buffett said in an interview before the year 2000 that he thought most people shouldn’t bother trying to copy him. Instead, his pre-millennium advice to the ordinary investor like me was to seek diversification in investments and add regular money – perhaps monthly. 

But he went even further and suggested an investment in an index tracker fund would be an excellent way to proceed. And I can see his point. If I dedicate my life to investing in the way he has, there will be no time left over for other careers, interests and pastimes – such as going on holiday!

You see, taking a less-intensive approach to investing and doing it in a passive way can still produce decent returns over time. For example, If I invest £400 per month and manage to achieve an annualised return from the stock market of 7%, I could actually get rich. And 7% is often quoted as a realistic long-term expectation for returns from the general stock market.

Passive returns can be big

Here are what the numbers could look like:  

And by increasing my monthly investments each year I could help the final balance to grow even more to keep up with inflation.

As well as benefiting from the diversification a tracker fund provides because it follows many underlying shares, I’d also be keen to diversify between trackers. For example, I’d likely select trackers that follow the FTSE 100 index, the FTSE 250 and America’s S&P 500. Indeed, it would be easy to spread my monthly investments between several funds because the minimum investment thresholds are often as low as about £25.

I think trackers could form a solid base portfolio. But I like investing and I find it to be a fascinating and absorbing activity. So, I’d also aim to improve my annualised returns by doing a mini-Buffett. In other words, I’d make a few select investments in individual company shares after thorough research and I’d monitor those investments carefully.