There's a video interview with Buffet from Forbes on philanthropy posted on YouTube. I jotted down some notes to share since the Oracle's philosophy is usually worth remembering:
On his kids:
“My kids went to public schools, and their kids went to public school and that's how it will be. I told them a long time ago that I'm not going to let you control my money. If you're not happy at 0.1% then you'll never be happy with more money. They know everything in my will; the fact that they know they will receive a significant amount of my wealth. They know that they have a responsibility towards it”
On why he outsources philanthropy:
“I don’t do a lot of philanthropic work. Why Bill and Melinda Gates foundation? Why outsource?
Well when my wife had a baby, I didn't deliver it[laughs]. Smith said that specialization is a good thing and it helps society. My wife is good with un-piling the money, and I'm good with piling it. When she died earlier, I had to make a decision, and Bill and Melinda Gates foundation was the choice. People who are younger and more energetic deserve that money because they can spend it effectively”
·
“My plan in my will is that it[his wealth] should all be given it away within 10 years of my death, so that I don't leave a burden to my children 15 generations from now”
·
“It’s tough to serve two masters. I'd rather have one organization do the money making, and another one serve philanthropy”
On retirement and you when should people stop piling:
·
“If you think you're ready to stop compounding, then perhaps you're ready to invest it in Philanthropy, but at the end of the day, the decision is yours”
On a philanthropist he models:
·
“In 1959, the NYT wrote about a philanthropist on his death and mentioned the following words - "no other American has contributed more to the welfare of this country and humanity in general" and that man was Abraham Flexner”
· “Most of you haven’t probably even heard of him, but he was my role model not for the money, but what he brought to the game. He was picked by Carnegie to examine the US medical system and made significant contributions to society. He was not a doctor, but influenced humanity like no one else”
· “I believe in getting things done through others”
On the giving pledge:
·
“Philanthropy should be done on an individual basis, the parent company Berkshire doesn't make charitable contributions because that’s the decision of people who own the company, the shareholders…”
· “The pledge was started to help people to focus on it[philanthropy], norms are changing, but examples are enormously important”
On what he feel about the UN, and multilateral organizations?
·
“Governments have a big part to play, but to do things that governments can privately, is different”
· “I believe in failure, and if you’re not failing then you're not tackling the right things”
· “But if there 1/5 chance of success for these things[Multilateral organization led projects], then it’s worth the initiative”
· “Large organizations don't work as efficiently as small ones, personally”
What are the not reasons people give for not signing on to the giving pledge?
·
“There are usually two reason that people have for not signing up for the pledge. The first one is that they have all their wealth tied up in a business. They don't enough wealth freed up and separated from invested capital, and I think that’s a legitimate reason”
· “But the second reason is that they are concerned that they’ll give up their privacy, or they say that their spouse doesn't want to give up their privacy[laughs]. Now is this reason as legitimate? Who knows…”
· “I didn't dream that 81 people would sign up for the pledge”
On life and learning:
·
“I learned a lot about investing in my 20's, all that needed. But I learned about being wiser and human behavior a lot later, and there is no prescription for that, or perhaps even a need to speed up that process”
Sending kids to public schools? I feel like that's kind of a giant spin. I wouldn't send my kids to public school system here in Brooklyn, New York. I don't think private schooling gives children any form of entitlement if that's what he meant.
yeah... besides for healthcare, I'd say sending my son to a good school is my top reason for trying so hard at school ha
If he were a real philanthropist he wouldn't wait until he dies to give his money away, and he'd move into a 1 BR apartment. Even Buffet is smart enough to know he can't take it with him to his grave, so he gets to publicize how great he is today for what he's planning on doing when he's gone.
I just don't respect people like Buffet. I can't stand the man.
How many people can compound the money at 20% a year? How many people would do that and donate almost all of it? Sure, he could have given away 100mm decades ago when that was half his net worth. Then he'd have 40 billion less to give away these days.. The man isn't a saint, but I don't get why he gets any hate for this.
You cant respect a guy who maintained one of the best investment records ever, who has given tens of billions of dollars already to the Gates foundation? Really bro? Can you really criticize him so readily and easily?
You understand that he maintains an incredible investment record largely because of his amazing political connections, right? The guy is the classic insider trader. He may not have initially amassed his wealth in an ethically questionable way, but in the last decade there are literally dozens of examples of crony capitalism from Buffet where his political connections clearly made the difference. Buffet made out like a bandit on TARP.
give away money to charity that his children own. yea some philanthropist.
Can't stand the guy. Constantly preaching about why taxes should be raised on OTHER people. Wish he would just mind his own business instead of sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.
Ate lunch with mr. Buffet last year. Truly an awesome guy. Taught me a lot about life and honesty and success. He is a very simple guy. He drank a ridiculous amount of cherry coke and ate a ton of chicken parm. Still talk to him a little over email. Would never ask anything of him though. I hate his tax policies though. Too socialisty for my taste. But politics and personal qualities are unrelated
Thanks for the article OP
Cool, did your university host him or something?
I can't really go into much detail as to how I met him but I can PM you the circumstances.
I can't stand Buffett because he acts like new money rather than old money. I've never seen a rich person talk about his own personal wealth as much as Buffett, which is just the lowest form of class. For a guy as "simple" as Buffet, he's got an opinion and an interview about all things concerning his own personal wealth. You know there are more than 1,200 billionaires and Buffet is the only household name billionaire as a result of him discussing his wealth in the media every single day. Most rich have more class than that.
I also can't stand the fact that he advocates for tax policies that punish the "little guy" rich--families with net worth in the $10 million or less neighborhood--by using himself (a guy worth north of $40 billion) as an example. My assumption is that this is supposed to make him feel good about himself or alleviate his guilt for the incredible amount of crony capitalism he's engaged himself in over the decades in order to multiply his wealth (is there a single man in America more politically connected to government and with absolutely no moral compunction about using every one of those connections to amass even more wealth?).
And to top it all off, after advocating against the "little guy" rich and on behalf of government waste, he turns around and, for the last decade, has fought the IRS over a large tax bill. And as BTBanker pointed out, he disowned his own effing granddaughter over money.
Yeah, this is a real class act--a crony capitalist loud mouth who talks about his own personal wealth to the public virtually every day.
Whatever happened to the days of Andrew Carnegie? Buffet needs to build libraries, hospitals, start college funds, change the world. This Bill Gates shit is having jack balls impact.
I'm not really sure if the Gates foundation is doing a lot or not, but this is pretty impressive: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/watersanitationhygiene/Pages/reinventing…
If I were as rich as Buffet, I would donate little to causes that focus on entirely social issues. I worked for an exceptional non profit as an intern the summer before I started my first job, and I saw how inefficient and outdated some of these models were. A lot of starry eyed women (and men) with soft degrees, little business & science/tech skills, focusing on unsuccessful education and direct aid.
No I'd donate all of my money to scientific/tech/healthcare research and investments for tomorrow, be it at unis, people doing research for clean water/healthcare for 1st and 3rd world, and of course physics and engineering research. These investments take longer but allow for breakthroughs in society that allow people to become independent.
I'd try to be more like Elon Musk and less like Melinda Gates.
@DCDepository You complain Buffet should live in a one bedroom Apt, he lives in an average house in Omaha. It's piss poor for the second richest person in America.
You complain Buffet shouldn't wait till he dies to give the money away. Uhh he's already given a lot away, he also doesn’t spend it.
You complain Buffet shouldn't talk about his wealth so much. It's the only thing OTHER people ask or care about when talking to the guy.
You complain he’s the ultimate insider, but then you admit that he amassed his wealth before any of the “insider” deals you are referencing.
@TNA You complain he should be building hospitals and charities. He already explained that his expertise is valuing businesses, not building things, and how that should be outsourced to more competent people.
What do you mean OTHER people? He wants taxes highest on himself! Also, why would his nose not belong there any more than yourself or anyone else. If anything he’s probably the MOST impacted person in America by the tax code and should have the loudest voice in the debate?
@Blackthorne I agree with you, but you may be likening the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation a little too much to the other non-profits. They’re both pretty capable. But overall I agree with your premise
Your reading what you want to read, not what I said. I said Buffet MAY have initially amassed his wealth ethically, but he's multiplied his wealth many times over through legalized insider trading. This myth surrounding Buffet needs to stop--he's not some amazing stock trader. He's a well connected crony capitalist, perhaps the most well connected crony capitalist in America, if not the world.
I'm not complaining about anything. If you want to talk about your wealth and generosity every single day, then give your money away--don't hoard 90% of it and then talk about how generous you are WHEN YOU DIE AND IT'S IRRELEVANT. People were dying of AIDS in the 1990s, children starving in 2005, etc. Yeah, his money may do a lot of good when he dies, but it could have done a lot of good for people 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, too. He's not some man of great character because he's decided to give his money away upon his death. Even though Buffet is an intellectually shallow blow hard, he at least has enough commonsense to know that giving money away when he dies has no negative impact on himself and allows himself to be lionized in life.
And no, you're 110% wrong about Buffet being the most impacted in the tax code, since Buffet has advocated for an increase in the INCOME TAX, which hardly impacts him at all (I actually think I have higher adjusted gross income than Buffet that is taxed at the normal federal income tax rate), as well as an increase in the death tax, which won't impact him materially either since he is giving his money away upon death and his assets are relatively liquid. The people impacted by the Buffet death tax are families with wealth tied up in illiquid assets which the government has somehow claimed an inherent right to.
Buffett: "I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains."
You're reading what you want to read. I can't post the link, but just google "stop coddling the rich". He has said elsewhere it as well, but that's the recent piece.
Well, how about on real estate depreciation, unrealized gains, alternative minimums applied to municipal bonds, etc.? You think capital gains is the only method that a guy worth $40 billion protects his money? Are you crazy?! The guy no doubt has one of the best tax firms in the world working on his behalf to take every single deduction he's entitled to, to set up every kind of tax-free trust to legally funnel money through. If Buffett is as brilliant as everyone thinks he is then there's no way on this planet that he's going to be financially impacted by raising taxes on the rich. Again, Buffett is advocating that income taxes be raised on the wealthy when he knows full well that it won't have any material impact on their take home pay. This is a method for Buffett to sound like a man of the people in his ivory tower.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/09/warren-buffett-baptist-and-bootle…
Interesting article on Buffett the crony capitalist regarding TARP. Companies that he held stock in received $95 billion of TARP money and $130 billion in FDIC backing. This after Buffett bought stock in these companies and then personally lobbied Congress and the Speaker of the House for TARP.
Wait, so you cant respect Buffett because companies he was invested in got tarp, and because he was pro tarp? Wasnt just about EVERYBODY then? Those were hectic days, a lot of people all over the place ideologically were confused. You dont think thats a bit harsh?
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