Warren Buffett just turned 95 in August, and while some billionaires his age are swapping red meat for kale and booking longevity consultations with biohackers, Buffett’s secret to a long life remains as carbonated as ever: Coca-Cola. Not just a sip here and there — we’re talking five 12-ounce cans a day.
“If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola,” he told Fortune in 2015. “I drink at least five 12-ounce servings. I do it every day.” That same year, speaking with reporters, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO noted, “I’m 84… literally, one quarter of all the calories I’ve consumed myself have been Coca-Cola.”
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Buffett’s unabashed diet has long fascinated fans and baffled nutritionists. He’s spoken of his love for Utz potato sticks. He often pairs fast food with cherry Coke. He once joked to Fortune, “I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among 6-year-olds. So I decided to eat like a 6-year-old.”
Buffett, ever the brand loyalist, is walking proof that the man doesn’t just invest — he lives his portfolio. Berkshire Hathaway owns roughly 9% of The Coca-Cola Company, a stake worth over $20 billion. But long before analysts tracked every sip for signs of brand loyalty, Buffett was already hooked. He was known as “Pepsi Warren” by his son until 1986, when neighbor and Coca-Cola exec Don Keough successfully nudged him toward Cherry Coke. The switch was so solid, Buffett declared Cherry Coke the “official drink” of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.
Even his Coke habits carry a lesson in shareholder alignment. When he praises Coca-Cola — the taste, the brand, the feeling — it isn’t just marketing. It’s Buffett being Buffett. He’s long preached that companies should be run with consistency, joy, and confidence — qualities he seems to bring to lunch at Dairy Queen and board meetings alike.
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And while it’s tempting to write off the Coke-fueled longevity as a quirk of billionaire genetics, Buffett sees a deeper link. “I think happiness makes an enormous amount of difference in terms of longevity,” he told Fortune.
For someone who famously said he skips to work each day, it tracks. The man who buys companies based on joy — “I don’t work to collect money. I work because I love what I’m doing,” as he once put it — has applied the same metric to his life. He’s not trying to outlive everyone in Silicon Valley. He just wants to enjoy his cherry Coke while holding for the long term.
Of course, most financial planners probably wouldn’t suggest modeling your diet on a 6-year-old. But your investment philosophy? That’s a different story. Buffett’s endurance, like his portfolio, is built on consistency, conviction, and the occasional splash of carbonation.
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