Warren Buffett gives his three children an astonishing $143.1 billion task and the famed investors eldest son Howard says its not so easy
Warren Buffett has given his three children an astonishing $143.
Warren Buffett has given his three children an astonishing $143.1billion task that his eldest son says is not so easy.
The 94-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has decided to donate his entire fortune to a charitable trust after his death, which his three children - Howard, 69, Susie, 71, and Peter, 66 - will be in charge of.
They will have just 10 years to allocate all of the money to charities of their choice, according to the Associated Press.
Its not so easy to give away money if you want to do it smart, if you want to be intelligent about it, said Howard, a farmer who is to take over as Berkshire Hathaways nonexecutive chairman upon his fathers death.
Its pretty amazing that hes given us this opportunity, he added.
Warren Buffett has decided to donate his entire fortune to a charitable trust after his death, which his three children will be in charge of
The billionaires eldest son, Howard (center), who is to take over as Berkshire Hathaways nonexecutive chairman upon his fathers death, said it is not an easy task
Howard went on to say he and his siblings would continue to follow their fathers lead and take risks, while trying to find ways to make a difference.
I can tell you, well sit down in a room when the time comes, and well get it figured out pretty quickly, he said.
What this is going to do is were going to bring all of our collective experience together.
Howard also said he agrees with his fathers decision to allocate the hundreds of billions of dollars.
In general, he said he believes that wealthy people should give their money away within their lifetimes, rather than holding them in perpetual foundations.
Somebody is going to spend that money. Somebody is going to give that money away.
So I would rather do that with my brother and sister and do it together as a partnership, than see it done any other way.
He vowed that he and his siblings, Susie and Peter, will come to the table to discuss how to allocate the estimated $143.1billion
It remains unclear what organizations the siblings might donate the fortune to, but they have each run their own foundations from which they have donated more than $15billion of their fathers money since 2006.
The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, of which Susie is the chairman of the board and Peter is a board member, has donated $8.4billion mainly to reproductive health care organizations.
It also funds access to abortion contraception, granting hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to Planned Parenthood affiliates, the National Abortion Federation and Population Services International - which works outside of the United States.
Susies Sherwood Foundation has also been a major funder for early childhood education programs, and its largest grantee is the nonprofit Buffett Early Childhood Fund, which has granted hundreds of millions of dollars for research, advocacy, training and support for child care providers.
The Howard G Buffett Foundation, meanwhile, supports food security and conflict mitigation internationally.
Each of the Buffett children have their own foundations, from which they have donated more than $15billion of their fathers money since 2006
It has partnered with the Catholic Relief Services, which it has funded for at least 15 years to support farmers in Central America.
Howard was particularly interested in addressing the factors that were driving people to leave rural communities in Central America and Mexico and risk everything to migrate to the US, Erica Dahl-Bredine, a senior advisor for Catholic Relief Services, explained.
And thats where our vision really came together.
Peter Buffett and his wife, Jennifer, have focused their grant-making efforts on supporting girls around the world and social-emotional learning in schools.
Since 2002, though, the couples foundation has increased its support for Native American organizations, which the younger Buffett became interested in since he composed some of the music for the film Dances With Wolves and wrote the score for the miniseries 500 Nations.
Buffett will continue to donate to the Gates Foundation annually
For now, however, Buffett will continue to donate to the Gates Foundation annually - something he has done since 2006 to the tune of more than $40billion.
He will also continue to donate to his familys own charities, telling the Wall Street Journal in 2022 his fortune should be used to help the people that havent been as lucky as we have been.
Theres eight billion people in the world and me and my kids, weve been the luckiest 100th of one percent or something.
Theres lots of ways to help people, he added.
