Billionaire Warren Buffett offers surprise advice to all parents on finances

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has penned a surprise letter to shareholders ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, with the 94-year-old sharing a number of personal reflections on his children and his legacy.With a net worth of $US150.5 billion according to Forbes, the Berkshire Hathaway chief executive is considered one of the most successful investors of all time.His widely read annual letters are normally released in February.This year’s letter, published on Monday, had a more personal tone as the “Oracle of Omaha” discussed his fortunate life, his children’s inheritance and the importance of philanthropy.It also came with the announcement of a $US1.2 billion donation to four family foundations — The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation and The Howard G.

Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation.After his first wife Susan Thompson Buffett died of a stroke in 2004, Mr.Buffett pledged in 2006 that he would gradually give away his fortune to philanthropic foundations during his lifetime and after his death.The latest gift reduces Mr.

Buffett’s holdings of class A voting shares to 206,363, a 56.6 percent decrease since 2006.“When Susie died, her estate was roughly $US3 billion, with about 96 percent of this sum going to our foundation,” Mr Buffett wrote.“Additionally, she left $US10 million to each of our three children, the first large gift we had given to any of them.These bequests reflected our belief that hugely wealthy parents should leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing.”At the time of their mother’s death, Mr.

Buffett said their children — Susan, 71, Howard, 69, and Peter, 66 — were “not ready to handle the staggering wealth that Berkshire shares had generated”.“Nevertheless, their philanthropic activities were dramatically increased by the 2006 lifetime pledge that I subsequently made and later expanded,” he said.“The children have now more than j...