A Parenting Lesson From Warren Buffett

I know, I know you're probably thinking, "another week of children and money? enough already!"  I couldn't help myself because I saw a very interesting and informative interview with Warren Buffett and his son Peter.  It got me thinking, how do you successfully raise children, when you have money?
  
We all know Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest people in the country and currently ranked 3rd in the world, worth an estimated $47 Billion.  At the age of 79, he is The Oracle or Sage of Omaha.  He is world renown for his savvy investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, his philanthropy and of course his frugality.  While I'm not endorsing anything he has done or said, when it comes to children, he did a great job in my opinion.   He raised 3 children (although he was only a millionaire at the time) to be successful adults in their professions.  I heard him say that when it comes to children, you should give them enough money to do something, but not enough to do everything.  That's just what he did with his children.
  
When his youngest son Peter was in college he was given 600 shares of stock in Berkshire Hathaway.  At the time, in the 70's, this was worth about $90,000 and a proverbial drop in the bucket compared to the Buffett fortune.  Peter, who wanted to be a musician, used this money to start his very successful music career.  Oddly enough, if he hadn't done anything with the stock, it would be worth several million today, but Peter doesn't regret that fact at all.  His father taught him how to work and follow his passion in life.  Above all the Buffett children were taught the core values that money is just money and not everything.  As a result, they have the character and independent identities to withstand the immense weight of their father's fortune.


Another great example of this was in the mid 90's Warren announced he was going to give away his fortune before he died.  To jump start that, he gave each of his children a billion dollars (yes, with a B) to give away to whatever charity they wanted.


Now obviously we aren't Warren Buffet and it's not likely than anyone reading this will amass the kind of wealth that he has.  The lesson, however, is the same, just on a smaller scale.  Teach your kids to have the character to withstand the responsibility of their inheritance, whatever the size.  If you don't they will crumble under pressure and it will be a curse instead of a blessing.