Warren Buffett’s Son Reacts to Dad’s Plan for His Fortune That They’ll Have to Give Away Within 10 Years of His Death
“It’s not so easy to give away money if you want to do it smart,” son Howard said of his and his two siblings’ future donations
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Warren Buffett in a Miami Dolphins jerseyWarren Buffett’s kids have quite the financial task ahead of them — and the billionaire’s middle child admits it will be a “not so easy” responsibility.
Howard Buffett recently reacted to the decision his 94-year-old dad — the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway — made this year to change his mind about donating his fortune to the Gates Foundation, from which Warren resigned as a board trustee in 2021.
Instead, the Nebraska businessman will donate his fortune, estimated to be $143.1 billion based on Forbes data, to a charitable trust after his death, according to the Associated Press. His three adult children — Howard, 69, Susie, 71, and Peter, 66 — will be in charge of the trust and have 10 years to allocate the money to charities of their choice.
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From left: Howard, Susie, Warren and Peter Buffett in 2011Related: Who Is Warren Buffett’s Wife? All About Astrid Buffett
“It’s not so easy to give away money if you want to do it smart, if you want to be intelligent about it,” Howard told the AP.
“It’s pretty amazing that he’s giving us this opportunity,” he added.
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Until his death, Warren will continue to donate to the Gates Foundation annually, something he has done since 2006 to the tune of more than $40 billion, per the AP. He will also continue donating to his family's charities, including the one named after his late first wife, who died in 2004 at age 72: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.
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From left: Peter, Warren and Susie Buffett in 2017Related: 10 Fascinating Habits of Billionaires, from Only 1 Meal a Day to Life in a 'Cocoon'
Susie, who is the board chair for that foundation, once told PEOPLE that money means something different to her father than for many people.
“He’s pretty boring — it’s just not what people expect,” Susie said in 2017, the year HBO’s Becoming Warren Buffett documentary came out.
“I think it’s also probably surprising to people that the money doesn’t matter to him,” Susie continued of her father. “He made the money sort of by accident because he was really good at doing what he loved, and when you do that particular thing really well, you end up with a whole bunch of money. But it’s really true that he does not care about having a bunch of money.”
Warren is currently the sixth-richest person in the world, behind only Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg and Bernard Arnault, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.
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