It was worth every dime. Buffett is the most successful investor in history, yet he has reached that pinnacle while being supremely ethical. As remarkable for his philanthropy as for his stock picking, he announced in 2006 that he'd give the bulk of his billions to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and, typically, the fee for our lunch went to the Glide Foundation, a charity that helps the poor and homeless. Lunch with Buffett, we figured, would be a good way to give to charity, but it would also be the ultimate class on capitalism — a unique chance to see up close what makes the Sage of Omaha tick and to learn from his wisdom.

And so it was that my wife and I sat down for lunch with Buffett last week in a cozy, wood-paneled alcove of the Manhattan steak house Smith & Wollensky. Mohnish brought his wife and two daughters, who sat on either side of Buffett. When the menus arrived, Buffett joked with the girls that he didn't eat anything that he wouldn't touch when he was younger than 5. His order: a medium-rare steak with hash browns and a cherry Coke — a fitting choice, given that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, is Coca-Cola's largest shareholder.

Characteristically, Buffett had done his homework: he'd found out in advance, for example, that my wife was born in Salisbury, N.C. But after a minimum of small talk to put us at ease, it was down to serious matters. I mentioned how difficult I'd recently found it to do the right thing by lowering the fees I charged my fund's shareholders; he nodded sympathetically and observed, "People will always try to stop you from doing the right thing if it is unconventional." When I asked if it would get any easier, he paused in thought, then replied with a wry smile, "Just a little."

Buffett has always made a point of doing business with integrity — and of working only with people who share his values. As we learned at lunch, he credits his father with teaching him at an early age to rely on his own sense of what's right, rather than look for affirmation from others. "It's very important to live your life by an internal yardstick," he told us, noting that one way to gauge whether or not you do so is to ask the question, Would you rather be considered the best lover in the world and know privately that you're the worst — or would you prefer to know privately that you're the best lover in the world, but be considered the worst?

When it comes to investing, nothing is more important than the ability to think clearheadedly for oneself — and Buffett is unsurpassed on this front. In the late 1990s, he was widely criticized for his refusal to invest in booming tech and Internet stocks, a decision that was richly vindicated when the bubble burst. Buffett has made a fine art of keeping that kind of distracting noise at bay. For example, he said he limits his contact with the managers of businesses in which he invests, preferring to assess them by studying their companies' financial records — a more neutral source of information.

Equally vital to his success, Buffett explained, is focusing only on investments that lie within his "circle of competence." As a result, whenever he makes an investment, he has no doubt at all that he's right. One of Mohnish's daughters asked which of the many companies that he's bought is his favorite. Buffett replied that he's especially fond of Geico, a hugely profitable insurer that Berkshire wholly owns and that he first visited more than half a century ago.

For most people, achieving the level of intellectual clarity and emotional detachment that investing requires is tough. But Buffett, for all his affability, is shrewd about disengaging himself to avoid any unnecessary distractions that might impair his judgment. People often try to convince him to meet with them so they can pitch investments to him, he said, but he sees through their many ruses — not least, their flattery — and is comfortable saying no far more often than he says yes.

One thing Buffett wasn't about to say no to was dessert. He delighted in sampling an array of them, telling the waiter, "Just bring a couple of spoons, and I'll have a little of everyone's." His zest for life is clearly undiminished — indeed, in Berkshire's latest annual report, he wrote that he and his octogenarian partner Charlie Munger find every day so exciting that they "tap-dance to work."

What better role model could you ask for? And how do you put a price on the opportunity to spend nearly three hours in his company? Well, two days after our meal, the auction closed on eBay for next year's lunch with Buffett. The winner, a Chinese money manager named Zhao Danyang, bid $2.1 million. So that proves it: our $650,100 lunch was a total bargain.