Latest news with #AliceSchroeder
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Warren Buffett Calls Letting First Wife Move Out His 'Biggest Mistake' — Admits It Was '99%' His Fault, Yet She Introduced Him to His Current Wife
Even billionaires have regrets—and for Warren Buffett, it wasn't a missed investment or market move. It was personal. In his authorized biography, "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," Buffett didn't shy away from reflecting on the one decision he wishes he could undo: letting his wife, Susan, leave their Omaha home. "It was preventable. It shouldn't have happened. It was my biggest mistake," Buffett told biographer Alice Schroeder, who spent five years documenting his life with full access to his files, family, and inner circle. "Essentially, whatever I did in connection with Susie leaving would be the biggest mistake I ever made." Don't Miss: Hasbro, MGM, and Skechers trust this AI marketing firm — Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Published in 2008, "The Snowball" offered readers a rare look at Buffett beyond the shareholder letters and stock picks. While many expected an investing playbook, what they got was something closer to a confession booth. "It was definitely 95% my fault—no question about that," Buffett said. "It may even have been 99% percent. I just wasn't attuned enough to her, and she'd always been perfectly attuned to me." The Buffetts married in 1952 and had three children. But by 1977, after 25 years together, Susan left Omaha for San Francisco. She wanted to pursue her own life—particularly a singing career—and perhaps needed more than a man consumed by balance sheets and annual reports. "She felt less needed than I should have made her feel," Buffett admitted. "Your spouse starts coming second. She kept me together for a lot of years... She didn't want to be Mrs. Big... She loved me, and she still loves me, and we have an incredible relationship. But still... it shouldn't have happened. And it's totally my fault." Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Despite the separation, the two never divorced. They remained close—so close, in fact, that Susan introduced Warren to Astrid Menks, the woman who would eventually become his second wife. That introduction wasn't random. Susan and Astrid had become friends at The French Café in Omaha, where Susan occasionally performed and Astrid worked as a hostess. Knowing Warren's domestic blind spots, Susan asked Astrid to look after him. She moved in soon after. The setup was unconventional, but it worked—for all three of them. The trio even sent out joint holiday cards signed, "Warren, Susan and Astrid." After Susan's death in 2004, Warren and Astrid married in 2006. But even then, the legacy of Susan's presence in his life loomed large. "She loved him and takes care of him. If Warren didn't have a cent, she'd be with him," his daughter Susie Buffett told The New York Times in 2006, speaking about Astrid's commitment. She also described the connection between her mother and Astrid: "Astrid and my mother were very close—really loved each other."And of her parents' arrangement, she added, "Unconventional is not a bad thing. More people should have unconventional marriages." Susan had once told her daughter that she didn't want to simply be known as the wife of a billionaire. "She basically wanted a room of her own," Susie said. "They were very connected in a very deep way. They didn't need to be in the same room." In the end, Warren Buffett didn't lose Susan. He just lost the version of their relationship that looked traditional on paper. What they built instead was far more complicated—and in many ways, more enduring. And yes, she introduced him to the woman who would become his partner after her death. It's not your standard love triangle, but nothing about Buffett's life—not even the romance—has ever followed the market. Read Next: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Warren Buffett Calls Letting First Wife Move Out His 'Biggest Mistake' — Admits It Was '99%' His Fault, Yet She Introduced Him to His Current Wife originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
RUTH SUNDERLAND: If Donald Trump took a leaf out of Warren Buffett's book the world would be a better place
My colleague Alex Brummer has written ruefully about how he missed out on millions of pounds by spurning advice to invest with Warren Buffett in the 1980s. His decision not to buy shares in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate was perfectly reasonable at the time. It's just bad luck he is not now luxuriating on his yacht – though if he were, his readers and colleagues would have missed out. His story shows the importance of luck in our lives – an element that, in developed, rich societies like ours, we often underestimate. We prefer to credit our successes to our own abilities and to blame ourselves or others for failures. Admitting the role played by luck and that we have less control over outcomes than we like to imagine, brings realism, and modesty. These are undervalued assets in business, investment and politics. But a healthy level of humility is one of the qualities that made Buffett the greatest ever money manager. Much has been written about his investment philosophy in the days since he announced he is stepping down as chief executive. Less has been said about the idea of the 'Ovarian Lottery' that, according to his official biographer Alice Schroeder, shapes his views on life. The thesis is: imagine you are about to be born 24 hours from now. A genie has given you the power to write the economic rules of the society you are about to enter. There's a catch. You're not being born into your current life. Instead, your life will be allocated by drawing a lottery ball out of a barrel containing 8bn of them, one for every person on the planet. Therefore, you don't know whether you will be born male or female, healthy or sick, a genius or a fool. You might come into the world as the son of rich American parents, or a girl in a village in Afghanistan. So what kind of society do you create, given there is a far greater chance you will be a loser than a winner in the great Ovarian Lottery? Buffett is frank about the part that luck has played in his success. At the time of his birth, the odds were 30-to-1 against being born in the United States. He was fortunate again in being born a white male, and with a brain wired to make him a great investor. That talent is very highly prized and rewarded in our society, but it is not universally valued. As fellow billionaire Bill Gates says, if he and his friend Buffett had been born three million years ago, their investment skills would have been worthless. Bespectacled and lacking athleticism, they can't run fast or climb trees. They would not have ended up rich, but as an animal's lunch. Buffett's ideal is a society where those blessed with luck in the gene pool draw are free to succeed and where they help, rather than punish, the less fortunate. This worldview is very different from Donald Trump's boastful and transactional universe, where 'winners' take all and 'losers' are trampled. Trump does not acknowledge his great good luck at being loaned $1m by his father to set up in business and appears to see the presidency as his by right. The aggression he shows to other countries through his tariff policy is anathema to Buffett, who believes that the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, the richer and safer Americans will be. If only the reckless occupant of the White House would listen to the Sage of Omaha.
