The Real Wealth Warren Buffett's Children Will Inherit

Warren Buffett’s children face an unusual fate in the world of generational wealth. While their father stands as one of history’s most accomplished investors, with a fortune Forbes estimates at $166.7 billion, these three adult children—Howard, Susan, and Peter—won’t be receiving a substantial personal inheritance. Instead, Warren Buffett’s children will take on a different kind of legacy: stewardship of one of the world’s most ambitious charitable enterprises.

A Fortune Built on Different Principles

The 94-year-old Berkshire Hathaway founder has been remarkably consistent in his public statements about wealth and parenting. Back in 1986, he told Fortune magazine that his philosophy was straightforward: “My kids are going to carve out their own place in this world, and they know I’m for them whatever they want to do.” However, he refuses to give them “a lifetime supply of food stamps just because they came out of the right womb.”

This unconventional approach reflects a deeper belief. Buffett has said he plans to leave his children “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” It’s a philosophical sweet spot—enough to provide freedom and opportunity, but not so much that ambition becomes unnecessary.

The Berkshire Hathaway empire controls dozens of major companies including Duracell, Dairy Queen, and Geico. Yet despite managing this corporate kingdom, Buffett has never intended for his children to simply inherit and enjoy it. Instead, he’s spent decades reshaping how wealth transfers across generations.

Billions in Charitable Control, Not Personal Wealth

The precise personal net worth of Warren Buffett’s children remains unknown. Now in their late 60s and early 70s, they don’t maintain the public profiles that would require transparent financial reporting. However, their real inheritance lies elsewhere.

In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates created the Giving Pledge, a movement challenging the world’s wealthiest individuals to donate at least half their fortunes to charitable causes. But Buffett goes further—he’s already given away $62 billion to various causes and plans to eventually donate 99% of his remaining wealth.

Here’s where Warren Buffett’s children enter the picture in a transformational way. Each of them received $10 million from their mother’s estate in 2004, which became seed money for their personal foundations. Buffett then donated $3 billion to each of his children’s foundations. When he passes away, his estate will transfer into a charitable trust that his children will administer—containing approximately 99% of his wealth at that time.

To grasp the scale of this responsibility, consider this: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has an endowment of about $75.2 billion. Warren Buffett’s children would control roughly twice that amount. They will emerge as the world’s most powerful trio of philanthropists, wielding unprecedented influence over global charitable spending.

When Money Matters Less Than Values

Despite the vast sums involved, Warren Buffett’s children have embraced their father’s philosophy about money and meaning. In a 2006 interview with the New York Times, Howard articulated their shared perspective: “It was always clear we were not going to get a lot of money. If my dad said, ‘either you can have $50 million a year personally or $50 million a year for the foundation,’ I’d put it in the foundation.”

His sister Susan agrees with this approach, though she acknowledged its peculiarities. In a 1986 Fortune interview, she reflected: “I basically agree with him. But it’s sort of strange when you know most parents want to buy things for their kids and all you need is a small sum of money–to fix up the kitchen, not to go to the beach for six months.”

Peter shared a story that captures the deeper inheritance his father offered. In a 2010 NPR interview, he recalled hitting a rough patch in his 20s and asking his father for a loan. Rather than writing a check, Buffett declined. Instead, Peter received something he now values more than any financial gift: unconditional support. “That support didn’t come in the form of a check,” Peter explained. “That support came in the form of love and nurturing and respect for us finding our way, falling down, figuring out how to get up ourselves.”

This perspective reveals the true nature of Warren Buffett’s children’s inheritance. While they will control billions in charitable assets, the greatest wealth they’ve already received is a philosophy that money amplifies values rather than replaces them. As they prepare to steward one of the largest fortunes in human history, they do so guided by principles their father instilled decades ago—that the measure of wealth isn’t what you keep for yourself, but what you give to the world.