What will happen with Warren Buffett\u2019s billions when he dies? Some of it might go to every kid on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So reports the <\/a>Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>in a recent investigation of the future of Buffett\u2019s fortune, which is worth $96.8 billion<\/a> at the time of this article’s publication. In 2006, the Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> CEO pledged to give away 85% of his stock in the company to charity, designating the majority of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Four years later, he vowed<\/a> to redistribute 99% of his wealth to philanthropy during or after his lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of Buffett’s $90 billion Berkshire stake, $56 billion will go to the Gates Foundation and $17.4 billion to four family charities, leaving an uncommitted $18.7 billion\u2014all numbers the\u00a0Journal\u00a0<\/em>says could climb if Berkshire shares continue to perform the way they have been. He reportedly wants his billions spent within 10 years of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gates Foundation staffers have been banking on receiving the full amount of both Buffett\u2019s pledged shares and remaining unpledged shares, the Journal<\/em> reported, having spent years figuring out where to put the money since some Gates Foundation grant recipients were already maxed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One proposed solution was to create a world children’s savings bank. The exact amount allocated to each child wasn\u2019t disclosed, but a former Gates Foundation employee told the Journal <\/em>that each child would receive thousands of dollars that \u201csit on a shelf, like a battle plan\u201d for baby beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Buffett, who turns 92 this year, hasn\u2019t yet disclosed the nitty-gritty of how his wealth will be split after his death; estate planning experts told the Journal <\/em>his pledge letter was a bit ambiguous. The investigation found that Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, a family charity that supports abortion rights, has been hiring staff and planning for a \u201cmassive influx of money\u201d as high as $100 billion\u2014meaning it may inherit some of the windfall the Gates Foundation has been anticipating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials from the Gates Foundation and the Buffett Foundation didn\u2019t respond to Fortune<\/em>\u2019s requests for comment, and Buffett told the Journal<\/em> there were inaccuracies in its reporting. But, if the Gates Foundation does receive enough money to distribute a cut to every child, it would help even the world\u2019s socioeconomic playing field and possibly provide parents with the financial safety net they need to have kids in today’s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the cost of living soars<\/a>, paying for one\u2019s own expenses is becoming more and more unaffordable, let alone those for another human being. Finances are partly why the percentage of U.S. non-parents ages 18 to 49 who say it\u2019s not likely or not at all likely that they will have kids has increased by 7% since 2018 to 44% in 2022, per the Pew Research Center<\/a>. The cost of raising a child in the U.S. sets parents back more than $280,000<\/a> on average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s contributing to the birth rate decline<\/a> in the US that has been ongoing for over a decade, as more debt<\/a>-saddled and recession-afflicted<\/a> millennials delay having kids until they get their finances in order. The drop in births is a worldwide trend among more developed nations; in China, for example, the birth rate<\/a> fell for the fifth year in a row in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As wealth inequality<\/a> and the pay gap widened during the pandemic, a growing number of billionaires<\/a> have been thinking of more inventive ways to allocate their assets. That includes the idea of a more equitable distribution of money, beginning with kids. It’s even reaching the Senate\u2014the Democrat-backed American Opportunity Accounts Act<\/a>, a proposal that addresses the racial wealth divide by introducing $1,000 baby bonds for all newborns in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Gates staffers carry through with such plans for a worldwide children\u2019s bank, Buffett\u2019s billions could have the same effect across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What will happen with Warren Buffett\u2019s billions when he dies? 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