How Much Money Is Warren Buffett Giving To His Kids?
Warren Buffett is a rich guy. The Oracle of Omaha and Berkshire Hathaway founder has amassed an approximately $87.3 billion fortune. That's, like, 187 Lebron Jameses. Or 1.6 Michael Bloombergs. If Warren Buffett wanted to, he could fill a Scrooge McDuck-sized vault with gold doubloons and go for daily swim. You get the point.
Buffett's vast personal fortune makes him the wealthiest single human in the state of Nebraska, and the fourth richest person in the world. But Warren Buffett is also 89 years old, and since you can't take it with you, in all likelihood he's going to leave behind a sizable estate for his heirs to inherit. Typically, you might assume billionaires are pretty greedy guys. After all, you don't accumulate a massive dragon hoard by throwing it all away willy nilly. While the stereotype is true of many, Warren Buffett has always been cut from a different million thread-count Egyptian cloth.
Buffett's philanthropy
Buffett has always been a committed philanthropist, and even received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in acknowledgment of his generous gifts to charity. He's supported organizations like Girls.inc and the Glide Foundation, and donated over $50 million to fight nuclear proliferation. In keeping with his altruistic reputation, Warren Buffett is one of the most prominent signatories of the Bill and Melinda Gates Giving Pledge. In August 2010, the Gates family challenged their ultra-wealthy peers to bypass their heirs and pledge the majority of their fortunes to charity. Buffett was one of the first forty billionaires to sign on. It's this pledge that has the most serious implications for his estate and the future inheritances of his children.
The Buffett family
Warren Buffett has four children: Susan Alice Buffett, Howard Graham Buffett and musician Peter Buffett. He also has two grandchildren: Nicole Buffett and Howard Warren Buffett. The family patriarch is on the record in opposition to multi-generational wealth. He has famously argued that wealthy people should leave their children "enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing." So any Buffett progeny hoping to join the ranks of the Waltons or the Sacklers, may be out of luck. After meeting his obligations to the Giving Pledge, in no small part through a hefty donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett Sr. plans to leave approximately $2 billion to each of his children. That's a paltry 7% of his total fortune. Let's hope they don't spend it all in one place.