Sorry, but this is way too cool. You gotta check this article out:

http://www.canada.com/topics/finance/bri......;k=44794

Except for Andrew Carnegie, Gates has given more money to charity than anyone in all of human history; and now Buffet goes and does the same thing. Being able to help so many people, while still remaining so wealthy, must truly place them among the most privileged people on Earth. I hope other wealthy people learn something from their example. How many $billions does one family really need anyway?

3, final answer.

Jerrine. I don't know...I think they are happy to scrimp and save most families could get buy with 2.

I like Buffet more and more all the time. From another recent story on Buffet:

Mr. Buffett, who built Berkshire Hathaway Inc. into a giant holding company, said he could have arranged his affairs to avoid paying taxes during the past 30 years, but did not. And he took shots at U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to eliminate the estate tax, which is levied against inheritances of more than $4-million per couple.

"I think it is a very equitable tax. . . . I would hate to see the estate tax gutted," he said.

In fact, Mr. Buffett has long made it clear that he had no intention of leaving a dynastic fortune to his three children.

"I love it when I'm around the country club and I hear people talking about the debilitating effects of a welfare society," he said yesterday. "At the same time, they leave their kids a lifetime and beyond of food stamps. Instead of having a welfare officer, they have a trust officer. And instead of food stamps, they have stocks and bonds."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/s......y=buffet

Great point about Buffett's life and philosophy. He really has a keen sense of logic.

It's interesting that a guy would dedicate his life to amassing a fortune, obscene in it's size...only to give most of it away.

It seems that for buffett and gates, they desire for money is more a desire for power then for material wealth. They want to control the world!

Warren Buffet just committed his whole life to profitability, not for the things he could buy, but just to be good at being profitable, and keeping things (companies) that are profitable.
He spent all his energy and time, all his life studying companies, reading financial reports, and financial newspapers and sticking to his rules for profitability.

Exactly! Even during the whole Dot-Com Bubble he refused to jump on the "band wagon" because the stock pricing models didn't make any sense. He was widely ridiculed for this, but was obviously vindicated when the Dot-Com Bubble burst.

For guys like Buffett and Gates they just love what they do and want to be the best they can be at it. Money is an after-thought and simply a way to keep score. Hell, Gates was already a modest millionaire entrepreneur before he ever met IBM and opened discussions on providing the operating system for the first PC.

Gates was a child of privilege. His grandparents owned an island in Puget Sound. His parents are both lawyers. They sent him to Harvard. He started out with an advantage, so he has never been 'hungry' for money. He has always, however, been VERY competitive, just like the rest of his family. With him, it's all about winning, even if he has to steal everybody else's ideas to do it. Trust me on this - you can thank Melissa Gates for their generosity, not Bill. He could not care less. He would just as soon have his money sit in a vault somewhere until it rots. To Bill, it's just a way to keep score.

Buffett is a fellow Midwesterner (he's in Omaha, I'm in Iowa) and say what you like about people and places, here in the Midwest we really do have a tendency to have our heads screwed on pretty straight. Buffett is just what he seems to be - a good businessman with real moral values.