"Meet the Buffetts"- Susie Buffett
Wednesday, April 30, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: This weekend Warren Buffett presides over the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha. I’ll be there, covering the event known as Woodstock for capitalists. Ahead of that, we're taking a closer and more personal look at the "Oracle of Omaha." In a series of rare interviews with Warren Buffett's kids, I talked with Susie, Howard and Peter Buffett, asking them what they have learned from their father about money, business and charity.
Tonight, as we continue our series "Meet the Buffetts," we get some answers from Susie Buffett, the eldest of Warren's three children.
Susie Buffett works in the same building in Omaha where Berkshire Hathaway has been headquartered for the past 43 years and her house is just a few blocks from where her father lives. Of the three Buffett children, Susie is the closest physically and emotionally to her father. That close connection comes through in the movie she produces every year with her father for the Berkshire shareholders' meeting. Father and daughter have fun coming up with cartoons and hokey skits featuring Warren Buffett.
The hour-long satire is a big hit with Berkshire shareholders. Susie puts in long hours at her foundation. She named it Sherwood after the fictional forest where Robin Hood lived. She's dedicated to improving education in public schools across the country, especially in Nebraska where she has donated millions of dollars to students and teachers. What was it like growing up as the daughter of Warren Buffett?
SUSIE BUFFETT, CHAIRMAN, THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION: Even though I was technically the daughter of Warren Buffett growing up, Warren Buffett wasn’t Warren Buffett. He wasn't rich. He wasn’t famous. We lived in a (INAUDIBLE) , went to school, public school. The neighborhood is what I would describe as sort of a regular, nice neighborhood. But, you know, not the rich neighborhood. So it was normal.
GHARIB: I understand you once asked your father for a loan to renovate your kitchen and he turned you down.
BUFFETT: A story that will not die.
GHARIB: Obviously he could afford it. Why not?
BUFFETT: He turned it down because he felt that, you know, I should go out and do it like everybody else. But honestly looking back on it, I can't argue with anything he did. I think he did the right thing.
GHARIB: Your father seems very proud of his frugal ways.
BUFFETT: Oh, yes.
GHARIB: Many people might wonder with all the money that he has, why not indulge a little bit?
BUFFETT: Because that's not what he's interested in doing. If he wanted to have 20 houses or six yachts or, you know, fly to Paris every other week, he would do it. He doesn't like to do that. He likes to sit in his house, play bridge on his computer, hang out with my son and my dad and I go to the movies almost every Sunday. You know, it's what he likes to do. He's doing what he likes to do.
GHARIB: Did you and your brothers ever challenge your father or was it a case of whatever he said goes?
BUFFETT: If we didn't agree with him, we certainly could say it and he would listen. But when he gave us his side of it, it usually made sense.
GHARIB: Are you raising your daughter and son the same way your father raised you?
BUFFETT: Mostly.
GHARIB: Do you have the same kind of frugal habits and philosophy?
BUFFETT: No. I’ve tried to raise them to understand that I think the best things about their grandfather, the famous part of their grandfather, are his values, his integrity, how he runs things, how he treats people, those kinds of things which I think matter enormously. I have to say when we're talking about this, my mother deserves a huge amount of the credit. My dad-- and I know if he were sitting here, my dad would say she did most of it. With his support -- and they were consistent about everything, but yeah, I think I’d raise them pretty much the same way.
GHARIB: Susie, how did you feel about your father giving most of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a modest amount to your foundation by comparison?
BUFFETT: Well, first of all the modest amount isn't bad. I think what he did made a huge amount of sense. Now we talked about it for a long time before he did it. It wasn't like we found out 24 hours before. We all sort of had some input in the decision and what happened and all that. So I think that for any of us to have gotten, you know, that amount dumped on us overnight when he died which is what was going to happen, you know, is a bit overwhelming to say the least.
GHARIB: It's interesting because your brother Howard virtually told me the same thing.
BUFFETT: Oh, really?
GHARIB: When I talked to him. What is it about the Buffett family that you're all so laid back about money?
BUFFETT: Look who we grew up with. I don't know, it's how we grew up. Honestly I look at people with, you know, tons of money and the way some of them live. I think it almost becomes kind of a lot of work.
GHARIB: Your father's office is in the same building. You’re very, very close to him. Does he ever give you or do you ask him for input about how to run your foundation or other business questions?
BUFFETT: He is not one to interfere. He's not one -- I mean, when he lets go, he lets go. And I appreciate him listening, but he's not one to sit and advise us or get involved unless we ask for it.
GHARIB: Your father is called the "Oracle of Omaha." To many investors he's a cult figure.
BUFFETT: Oh, yes.
GHARIB: How does he feel about that?
BUFFETT: I think he finds it sort of amusing and sweet and he appreciates that people feel that way. Although I’m not sure he would even now say he thinks it's deserved or you know, that it really actually makes any sense that people think that much of him. I do.
GHARIB: Tomorrow, as we wrap our series, "Meet the Buffetts," we introduce you to Peter Buffett, a musician and the youngest of Warren's three children.
