The Buffett Paradox: $166B Dad, Ordinary Kids

Warren Buffett worth $166.7B, but his three adult children won’t get the fortune you’d expect.

Here’s the plot twist: Buffett plans to leave them “enough to do anything, but not so much they could do nothing.” Not exactly a blank check.

Instead of inheriting billions, his kids Howard, Susan, and Peter will control something bigger—a charitable trust holding 99% of his wealth after he’s gone. For context, that’s roughly $160+ billion in philanthropic firepower—more than the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s entire $75.2B endowment.

But here’s what actually shaped them: Buffett once refused to give his son Peter a loan during a rough patch. Instead, Peter got “love, respect, and the chance to figure it out myself.” That advice stuck harder than any inheritance ever could.

The irony? The kids don’t even care. Howard once said if he had to choose between $50M personally or $50M for the foundation, he’d pick the foundation. They already got the real inheritance—a philosophy that money isn’t the point.