Summary
Warren Buffett gave $1.1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to family foundations and detailed plans for distributing his $147 billion fortune after his death.
His three children will oversee giving the remainder within 10 years, with designated successors in case they predecease him.
Buffett, 94, reaffirmed his belief in avoiding dynastic wealth, favoring philanthropy instead.
Over the years, he has donated $55 billion to the Gates Foundation but plans to shift focus to his family’s foundations.
Buffett continues leading Berkshire Hathaway while preparing Greg Abel as his successor.
I once met a wealth manager for a billionaire whose entire job was to donate money as effectively as possible, focusing on infrastructure and education projects in Central and South America. She explained that the challenges are often unexpected.
For example, most smaller local organizations struggle to absorb large sums of money efficiently. Take, for instance, a group that builds homes for those in need. A sudden donation of millions of dollars can be too difficult to manage efficiently. So they try to be mindful of local needs, build trust, and build long-term partnerships.
So, why not just support many small communities? Well, a billion dollars could fund a thousand 1 million$ projects. That’s why this billionaire hired multiple wealth managers just to handle donations. That chat changed my perspective on how difficult it can be to give away large amounts of money.
Still, I’d rather them pay fair taxes.
I was about to say, they should just pay taxes, after all this is what government is for.
Yeah, I was very disappointed in Bill Gates for being pro-philanthropy but against higher taxation. That said, Gates and Buffet don’t get the final say. The American people just elected an anti-tax fraudulent billionaire.
But if they donate enough then we will never force them to give up all their excess wealth.
And they like having excess wealth, a lot, like most rich people have hoarding mental disorders.
None of them really want to better society, they just want us to not rip all their skin off and redistribute their wealth so our economies benefit everyone again.
Nah, I don’t like that. That’s bad. Everybody should have to pay a share to fund public available necessities and uplift people as equals. It’s not optional, it being optional demonstrably does not work, and even if it did we shouldn’t rely on faith and goodwill.
Billionaires should be illegal.
It reminds me of this thing I read where countries would give all these donated designer clothes to some country, only for it to collapse their economy because making clothes was one of the only jobs available there.
They definitely need to pay their fair share of taxes. But even that wouldn’t be enough. People will always demand more be done.