Billionaire David Rubenstein explains why he admires Warren Buffett - and lays out the traits shared by the world's best investors

• Warren Buffett's intellect, focus, and passion for investing are admirable, David Rubenstein said.
• The Carlyle Group cofounder interviewed several of the world's elite investors for his upcoming book.

David Rubenstein admires Warren Buffett's intellect, focus, and love of investing for its own sake instead of the luxury lifestyle it can fund, Fox Business reported this week.

"He has pretty good instincts and intuition," the billionaire investor and Carlyle Group cofounder said at the National Book Festival on Saturday, according to Fox.

Rubenstein has spent the last year studying and interviewing top investors such as Ray Dalio, Seth Klarman, and Stanley Druckenmiller for his upcoming book, "How to Invest: Masters on the Craft."

His comments speak to Buffett's business acumen, how the Berkshire Hathaway CEO makes concentrated bets and rarely strays outside his "circle of competence," and Buffett's joke that he "tap dances to work" because he enjoys his job so much.

Meanwhile, Buffett's instincts and intuition have helped him to avoid disasters such as the dot-com crash, pounce on investments when the price is right, and strike fast and simple deals with people he's determined are trustworthy.

Rubenstein touched on whether Buffett's talents are best put to use as an investor in a recent New York Times interview.

"Would the world be better off if Warren Buffett was a schoolteacher?" he asked. "I don't know," he continued, adding that perhaps investors are hugely overpaid relative to schoolteachers.

The private equity tycoon detailed the traits shared by some of the world's best investors.

"People would be surprised that these individuals are relatively humble," Rubenstein told the newspaper. "They have a certain amount of humility because they realize the markets can make you and break you."

Rubenstein also noted that elite investors have gotten lucky in some ways, but suggested that prospering over several decades requires more than luck. Moreover, he argued they weren't born with their investing prowess, they developed it over time.

Carlyle's co-chairman noted in a CNBC interview that great investors tend to come from middle-class families, they do well in school and have a natural affinity for math, and they love to read. They also enjoy being in control, making final decisions, and going against conventional wisdom, he said.

"They're workaholics," Rubenstein said. "These people love what they're doing, and if they weren't making the enormous amounts of money that they're making, they'd still do it."

Top investors are adept at recognizing when they've made a mistake and pulling their money out, moving on from failures, and scooping up bargains when markets crash and their peers panic, Rubenstein told CNN.

It's easy to see how Buffett fits the profile that Rubenstein laid out. The Berkshire chief has underscored how lucky he was to be born in a country that rewarded his skills, and to live so long. At 92 years old, he's had more time to compound his wealth than most people.

Moreover, Buffett's father was a banker and state representative, the investor is a whiz with numbers and reads 500 pages a day, and he controls Berkshire and decides how to allocate its capital.

Buffett has also owned up to mistakes, such as selling Apple and Costco stock in the fall of 2020. He invested in BYD, Chevron, and Apple after being burnt by PetroChina, ConocoPhillips, and IBM. Also, one of his best-known pieces of advice is to act contrarian and "be greedy when others are fearful."

Read more: 'Richer, Wiser, Happier' author William Green interviewed dozens of the world's best investors. He breaks down the 6 key traits they share, and gives examples of them in action.