Growing Up Buffett
Don’t look for Susie, Howard and Peter Buffett’s names on the Forbes list of richest Americans any time soon. Sure, they’ve got more money than the average millionaire. After all, their dad is Warren Buffett. But he’s not drawing up a mega inheritance for them, like you might expect from the third-richest person in the world.
You remember the headlines: Warren Buffett giving his billions to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. So do you think the kids are bitter? Not even a little bit. (And they’re talking to Donny Deutsch about it in a rare interview on "The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch" to be broadcast Monday, May 7 at 10 p.m. EST and again at 1 a.m. EST.) And that’s a classic Buffett move by a guy who never let his kids get a big head growing up.
In fact, Susie, Howard and Peter say they were never really aware their dad was anyone special. Howard says life was just like it was for all his friends. Apparently growing up Buffett wasn’t that much different from growing up Smith, Jones, or maybe even Brady.
Peter Buffett insists his dad was just this “aw-shucks” guy, and Omaha was the city where the family roots ran deep. The kids went to the same grade school as their mother and the same high school as their grandfathers. They would just stroll down the street a few blocks to have dinner with their grandparents.