Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have been friends for over 60 years and business partners since 1978. During that time, they've both become billionaires while building Berkshire Hathaway into a $630 billion investment giant.
But, to hear the two wealthy nonagenarians tell it, at least, all of that money wasn't even the biggest prize of their decades-long partnership.
"We made a lot of money but what we really wanted was independence," Buffett, the 90-year-old investing icon, told CNBC's Becky Quick in an interview that aired on Tuesday as part of the special, "Buffett & Munger: A Wealth of Wisdom."
Buffett went on to explain that the "independence" he and Munger sought had to do with having the freedom to choose who they associate with on a day-to-day basis, whether that's in business or their personal lives.
"What's really great is if you can do what you want to do in life and associate with who you want to associate in life, and we've both had that spirit all the way through," Buffett said, calling it "one of the luxuries of life."
Berkshire's success has meant that Buffett and Munger have spent decades calling their own shots in terms of the companies they invest in and the employees or partners they work with, and they've been able to do it all while working closely with each other.
"If we associated with jerks, that was our problem, but we didn't have to. We've had that luxury now for 60 years, or close to it," Buffett added, calling that freedom more important than other trappings of wealth, such as expensive material items: "That beats 25-room houses, or six cars."
