The Buffett siblings just got handed the world’s most polite family chore: divvy up Dad’s $150 billion (give or take a few billion, depending on how the market feels today) and spend it all on good causes—within a tight 10-year deadline after Warren Buffett’s eventual departure.
In a rare joint interview with CNBC, Susie, Howie, and Peter Buffett revealed the plan their 95-year-old father laid out in 2024: a new charitable foundation run by the three of them, requiring unanimous agreement on every dollar disbursed. Peter’s initial reaction? A phone call begging to opt out. Warren’s response: “I don’t blame you.”
The pressure is real, and the siblings admit it openly. They’ll need to shovel out at least $15 billion annually—roughly 4% of all charitable giving in the U.S.—while dodging the inevitable flood of funding requests that will make their inboxes look like a Black Friday sale gone wrong.
Imagine suddenly becoming three of the planet’s most powerful philanthropists overnight. Media scrutiny, donor envy, and endless pleas for cash will follow like seagulls after a french fry. Yet the siblings seem remarkably unfazed, perhaps because they grew up riding the bus to public school while their father drove a beat-up Volkswagen Bug.
Their childhood wasn’t one of private jets and caviar; it was chores for allowance, census forms listing Dad as a “security analyst” (Susie thought he installed burglar alarms), and a mother who hosted exchange students. That grounded upbringing appears to have inoculated them against fortune-induced vertigo.
The real impact might be a quiet revolution in philanthropy: a family-sized operation moving billions with lean efficiency, quick decisions, and zero fear of the occasional flop—proving you don’t need a skyscraper of bureaucracy to change the world.
The details paint a picture of disciplined chaos. Warren has offered no micromanaged playbook, only a broad directive to help the “less fortunate.”
The siblings have spent two decades honing their skills through their own foundations—Susie in Omaha championing early childhood and social justice, Howie tackling global food security and conflict zones, Peter focusing on women and children’s economic health closer to home in upstate New York. They’ve already given away billions of Dad’s Berkshire shares since 2006, so this isn’t amateur hour.
The unanimous-vote rule is the cleverest part. Susie calls it the perfect excuse: “I’m sorry, I’d like to help, but my brothers would hate it. Call them.” It turns potential sibling squabbles into a built-in polite rejection machine. No drama here—just three people who’ve learned that saying no is sometimes the kindest answer.
They’ve distilled years of experience into five refreshingly practical principles. Flexibility tops the list, because the world refuses to stay still. Embrace risk and failure, because philanthropy is the “risk capital of the world”—and learning from flops beats playing it safe.
Seeing is believing: Howie’s 97 trips to Africa taught him more than any report ever could. Trust but verify, with clauses allowing instant termination of grants and demands for full bad-news transparency. And efficiency: Howie’s foundation runs at a slim 1.3% overhead, making decisions faster than most boards can schedule a coffee break.
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