Buffett's top positions in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio include Apple, American Express, and Bank of America.

Perhaps that’s one reason stocks are selling off globally this morning. While most indexes in Asia and Europe remain near their all-time highs, there is broad-based but mild selling in all of them.

Warren Buffett has loomed over Wall Street for so long that it’s easy to forget how quietly his story began. He started buying his first shares at age 11 and filed his first tax return at 13. From those humble beginnings,