Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, recently reiterated his views on wealth and the market in a media interview. The renowned investor admitted that luck, rather than sheer ability, is the core factor behind his massive success. Based on this understanding, he firmly believes the wealthy have a responsibility to give back the vast majority of their wealth to society and again warned against the growing speculative atmosphere in the current US stock market.

According to the latest billionaire index, Buffett's net worth is approximately $147 billion. However, he has long emphasized that personal wealth accumulation does not stem entirely from ability, effort, or investment judgment. Birth environment, health, era background, and access to suitable careers at a young age often play a decisive role. Reviewing his upbringing, he noted that his father's stockbroker business allowed him early access to financial markets; if his father had been a plumber, he would not have had the same advantages. He calls this birth advantage winning the "ovarian lottery." Simply being born in the US with good health is a huge advantage given by fate, not personal effort.

As he aged, Buffett saw many people face extremely unfavorable lives due to birth conditions, illness, or family environment, reinforcing his belief that the wealthy have a responsibility to help those not equally lucky. He criticized some for using their lucky conditions to defend extreme social stances, which is why he encourages philanthropy. As early as 2010, Buffett formally pledged to donate the vast majority of his personal wealth. Over the past two decades, he has donated large amounts of Berkshire stock annually, much of it to the Gates Foundation. It is estimated that the total value of stocks donated over the years was close to $48 billion at the time of donation; if held until now, their current value could reach about $159 billion. This means he not only relinquished hundreds of billions in current wealth but also forfeited the potential huge appreciation returns these assets could have brought.

Buffett further announced plans to dispose of all Berkshire stock he holds by the end of 2034. Based on current holdings, he needs to donate about $17 billion annually over the next few years to meet this goal. He confirmed future donations will no longer go to the Gates Foundation but mainly to four family foundations managed by his three children. These foundations focus on early childhood education, food security, and health and economic aid projects for women and children. After his death, distribution of remaining wealth requires unanimous consent from the three children; no single person can decide on major fund usage alone. This arrangement shows trust in the next generation while setting up checks and balances to prevent arbitrary disposal of huge charitable funds by one individual.

Discussing wealth and investment, Buffett also targeted the increasingly speculative US stock market. He stated the market is driven more by short-term trading and a gambling mentality than long-term enterprise value investment. When everyone prefers gambling, it is hard to find truly valuable investment targets. This is not his first criticism of current market speculation; he once described the modern stock market as a church with a casino attached, specifically pointing out the rapid growth of single-day options trading, calling this behavior closer to gambling. As retail and professional traders flood in, these tools continue to amplify short-term volatility in some hot stocks and indices. Besides short-term options, leveraged ETFs and other high-risk tools are increasingly popular. These products amplify daily gains and losses through derivatives, suitable for short-term trading but posing obvious risks to long-term holders due to volatility and compounding loss.

This year, US stocks continue to hit record highs, with major indices performing strongly despite geopolitical conflicts, energy price shocks, and inflation uncertainty. However, market skeptics believe some stocks around AI infrastructure construction have become overly speculative, with options and leverage tools further amplifying capital chasing behavior. More retail investors are concentrating buying on AI, chips, and hot new stocks. As trading heat rises, market pricing becomes more susceptible to short-term capital flows, social media sentiment, and options positions rather than long-term corporate cash flow and profitability. Buffett's concern is not entirely about stock price rises but the changing way investors participate. When participants focus on next day or week moves rather than enterprise performance over years, the stock market is more likely to deviate from its long-term capital allocation function.

Buffett has long adhered to value investing philosophy. He believes the most meaningful investment opportunities are inherently rare, requiring investor patience and discipline rather than daily searching for targets. Sometimes opportunities come at incredible speed, too fast to grasp all, but other times, finding one truly worthy investment opportunity within a few years is already very lucky. This statement explains why Berkshire has maintained a huge cash reserve in recent years. In Buffett's view, when the market lacks enough cheap and quality assets, holding cash is not failure but saving ammunition for future major mispricing. True value investing does not require investors to be fully invested always nor trade continuously; on the contrary, most of the time, patient waiting is itself part of the investment strategy.

Buffett also pointed out that the financial industry itself has incentives to encourage investors to trade more frequently because high-frequency traders, options investors, and leverage product users continuously create commission, spread, and management fee income. Since humans love gambling so much, actually, cultivating gamblers earns more money than cultivating investors. Long-term investors may not trade for years, while market participants chasing short-term volatility buy and sell repeatedly. For trading platforms, brokers, market makers, and product issuers, the latter often has higher commercial value. With the popularity of zero-commission trading apps, mobile investment platforms, and complex derivative tools, the threshold for ordinary investors to participate in high-risk trading has significantly dropped. The market has become more convenient, but the line between investment and speculation is also increasingly blurred.

The charity models of billionaires like Buffett have long faced controversy. Critics argue high-profile donations not only help wealthy individuals obtain tax benefits but may also reinforce personal reputation and social influence. However, Buffett believes large-scale charitable behavior still has positive significance because it not only directly helps vulnerable groups but may also inspire more wealthy people to participate in donation. If what you do can evoke the better side of people, they will sometimes respond. Buffett believes the ultimate goal of charity is to improve the situation of those who drew the "short straws" in life. The final goal is to let those who drew short straws live better, and those who drew short straws are far more numerous than those we can ultimately help.