Warren Buffett'ın akıl hocalığı yaptığı eski NFL yıldızı, Omaha Kahini'nden öğrendiği 2 yatırım dersini paylaşıyor

Former NFL star who was mentored by Warren Buffett shares the 2 investment lessons he learned from the Oracle of Omaha

Eric Esposito

Wed, September 16, 2026 at 12:55 PM GMT+3 5 min read

NFL fans know all about Ndamukong Suh's impressive career as a defensive lineman for teams like the Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But what they may be surprised to learn is that this former football star has long been interested in investing.

Back in Suh's college days as a Nebraska Cornhusker, he was searching for someone to help guide him on creating a winning portfolio. Luckily for Suh, he was able to get in touch with one of Wall Street's most illustrious investors: Berkshire Hathaway's former CEO Warren Buffett.

Must Read

• Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one

• Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake. Here's what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP

• The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028. Here are 4 moves to make before the window closes

As Business Insider reports, Buffett took Suh on as a protégé 15 years ago, helping the Super Bowl champ become one of the NFL's greatest super investors.

In addition to his real estate holdings as a partner in HMS Development, Suh is involved in diverse industries including hospitality and restaurants like Pizzanna. He's also becoming a financial guru in his own right, thanks to his No Free Lunch podcast.

To this day, Suh told Business Insider he talks with Warren Buffett at least once a quarter about his investments. But it wasn't so much knowledge about stock valuations and P/E ratios that stuck out as Buffett's biggest pieces of advice.

Instead, Suh said two seemingly simple life lessons from Buffett have made him much better with his finances.

Only the long game pays

For anyone who followed Buffett's investing style, it shouldn't be too shocking that he put a huge emphasis on patience when advising Suh. Berkshire Hathaway constantly talks about letting time do the heavy lifting with its investments, telling investors, "We think in decades, act with discipline, and uphold our commitments."

Buffett's long-term mindset — combined with his focus on companies he understands and feels are undervalued — has certainly delivered results for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Between 1995 and 2026, Berkshire's Class A share rose from $24,600 to about $758,300 (or a roughly 2,982% gain).

Read More: Vanguard reveals what's coming for U.S. stocks — and it could be bad news for this group of investors

But it's not enough to just stick it out with high-conviction stock picks through volatile swings. Suh said Buffett's second critical recommendation is to surround yourself with knowledgeable, genuine friends.

As Suh told Business Insider, "If you can learn to have patience and stick to quality people and identifying that, those two things will serve you right."

And Suh admitted he didn't always learn these lessons the easy way. For instance, Suh recounted feeling an intense need to jump into the media space when he heard about NBA star LeBron James' Uninterrupted company. Rushing into this venture without the proper planning and guidance led to "some terrible investments," in Suh's words.

Fighting today's 'financial FOMO'

It makes sense that developing patience and networking with high-quality friends are solid foundations for our finances. In practice, however, the "fear of missing out" (FOMO) seems to be creeping into more people's financial decisions.

Survey data from Empower shows how common "financial FOMO" is becoming, with 51% of Americans admitting they buy something or make an investment purely because they're afraid of missing the party.

Buffett recently criticized the fast-paced, FOMO-driven stock market he's noticed in recent years. As Buffett told CNBC, "Since humans love to gamble so much, there's more money in…actually cultivating gamblers than there are cultivating investors." He took specific aim at products like one-day options, which let traders take same-day bets on a stock or ETF, as encouraging this narrow mindset.

The rise in borrowing in the market adds even more fuel to Buffett's concerns over how short-term thinking is becoming dominant. For example, since the SEC approved single-stock leveraged ETFs in 2022, demand for these highly volatile trading products has exploded to $250 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Overall, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority estimates total debit in U.S. customers' securities margin accounts at around $1.4 trillion, showing how much borrowed money drives stock market activity.​

Even though the trend seems toward trading, that isn't swaying Buffett or disciples like Suh from the belief that long-term investing is the most reliable path to wealth. As Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO Greg Abel summarized this strategy, "We will assess value carefully, act patiently, and hold for the long term – preferably forever."

What To Read Next

• A single line on your car insurance policy could be inflating your premium by up to 30% — here's what to change

• Millionaires under 43 hold only 32% of their wealth in stocks. Here's where their money is actually going

• Savvy Americans are using 1 simple 'claw back' move to erase pain at the pump forever — act now before gas prices rocket higher (edited)

• Here are 4 simple ways to grow your cash in 2026 without touching the stock market

Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise's best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.

This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Former NFL star who was mentored by Warren Buffett shares the 2 investment lessons he learned from the Oracle of Omaha

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.