Warren Buffett P2

America's most beloved investor is now the world's richest man. Soared past friend and bridge partner Bill Gates as shares of Berkshire Hathaway climbed 25% since the middle of last July. Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy. Filed first tax return at age 13, claiming $35 deduction for bicycle. Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway 1965. Today holding company invested in insurance (Geico, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim's), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), food (Dairy Queen, See's Candies). Also has noncontrolling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo. Insurance operations flourished in 2007. "That party is over. It's a certainty that insurance-industry profit margins, including ours, will fall significantly in 2008." The Oracle of Omaha issued a challenge to members of The Forbes 400 in October; said he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group of richest Americans would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries. Had long promised to give away his fortune posthumously. Irrevocably earmarked the majority of his Berkshire shares to charity in 2006, mostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gift was valued at $31 billion on day of announcement; donation will far exceed that sum so long as Berkshire shares continue to rise.

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[Aurigalive]

Berkshire shares lost 50 pc of the value from the peak time at one stage, it is hard for lots of share holders to accept !

[nikanj]

"I do buy nice suits, they just look cheap on me."

[u2berz]

2:47 LOL!

[theporksicle]

Its your money you can do what you like with it, but I think its better to leave your kids secure with a trust fund or whatever to make sure they don't end up dirt poor.

Where would the money go you didn't give to them?

[Kin94285]

How about leave them nothing and teach them how to make money?

[theporksicle]

Something like what Buffett has in the form of Berkshire Hathaway could easily be left to one of his kids, or ideally passed on as a gift during his lifetime, or sold for $0.01 a share to avoid taxes.

His gift for analysing shares to get an estimate of their intrinsic value could probably be passed on to one of his kids, I'd certainly fancy my chances as an investor if I had studied under him, so therefore by giving his business to an informed heir he could be sure it would last.

[theporksicle]

Prima genitor is the best system, your eldest son inherits. It need not be your eldest son though, the most responsible of your offspring, just so long as it is ONE person who inherits what you have, not five or six people. Its just that the eldest son makes it easier, everyone knows who it goes to.

[theporksicle]

Look at the Murdoch family's problems, Murdoch is a shrewd businessman, none of his critics can rob him of that, but by trying to treat his 6 kids 'equally' financially he'll end up with a situation where the family's 29% stake in NWSA is spread out over 100s of his descendants, most of them will probably just sell up anyway, they didn't build the company from nothing, all a share in it represents is cash.

[theporksicle]

Four years? When did I mention that time scale?

I'm stupid? Well...each to their own I guess.

Coca cola aren't no but they're hardly going to grow a great deal any time soon, its tantamount to sticking it into the bank, you're basically living off the dividend, that becomes harder as your brood grows.

Look at the Bancroft family, by the time the WSJ was bought they consisted of 30 distant relatives squabbling over their $80 million dividend.

[PecknarmLondonEnland]

SO! Do you honestly think they'll loose 40 billion in fours years to taxes and depreciation? You are seriously stupid mate. I would be harder for them to spend that money than to make it grow. Cooa cola aren't going out of business anytime soon mate.