Warren Buffett on His Wealth: ‘I’d Be Very Happy with $100,000 a Year’

‘99% of my net worth is in Berkshire Hathaway stock; every share of that stock has been pledged to philanthropy’

EXCERPT:

WOODRUFF: “Well, speaking of taxes, let’s just use that as an entry point to talk about it. You shared some of your tax return with us for 2016. Thank you very much.”
BUFFETT: “Yes.”
WOODRUFF: “But before I ask you about that, how wealthy are you? I mean, I’m reading that you’re $77 billion?”
BUFFETT: “Ninety-nine percent of my net worth is in Berkshire Hathaway stock. Every share of that stock has been pledged to philanthropy. So, I’m a trustee for that stock. So, it will go to society. And then the rest will as well. But if you add up what’s in my name, if we go down to my safe deposit box, we will find some stock certificates that are worth that much. But as I — you know, I have written, they have no utility to me. They can’t do anything to make me happier. I’m already happy. I would be happy with, you know — certainly with $100,000 a year, I could be very happy. And they can’t buy anything for me that I want. If they did, I would buy it. And they do have utility to others, so I have got this system to essentially try and translate that into vaccines and education and all of that sort of thing.”

Video files
Full
Compact
Audio files
Full
Compact