“奥马哈先知”沃伦·巴菲特以卓越的投资才能闻名。因此，当他发现家人每年都将他所赠的数千美元挥霍一空时，便改变策略，开始赠送股票，或许不足为奇。
过去，每逢佳节，巴菲特家族成员都期待收到1万美元现金。巴菲特前儿媳玛丽·巴菲特（Mary Buffett，曾与巴菲特的儿子彼得结婚）透露，圣诞节过后，他们一回家，便会挥霍一空。
玛丽在2019年接受ThinkAdvisor采访时表示：“我们一回家，就会把钱全部花光！”
对于这位身家高达1540亿美元、始终秉持长线投资和理性消费理财信条的富豪而言，家人的这种行为很可能让他颇为不悦。玛丽补充道：“后来，有一年圣诞节，我们收到一个信封，里面有一封他写的信。他没有送现金，而是送了价值1万美元的股票——是他新收购的公司的股份，具体来说是可口可乐旗下的信托基金。他表示，我们可以选择变现，也可以继续持有。”
或许终于受到公公的启发，玛丽决定持有这些股票：“我当时心想'好吧，这只股票的价值肯定不止1万美元'。于是我一直留着，股价也一直在上涨。”
此后每年，巴菲特持续向家人赠股，有一年送的是富国银行（Wells Fargo）的股票。这无疑是明智之选：即便在2025年，富国银行股价仍上涨21.9%，过去五年的涨幅更是超过200%。
玛丽开始效仿巴菲特的做法，她表示，如果巴菲特买入某只股票，她就会“再多买一些，因为我知道这只股票会继续上涨”。
巴菲特的家人每年十二月都会面临一个难题：如何回赠价值超过1万美元的礼物？而给亿万富翁挑选礼物，更是难上加难。
玛丽认为，对于这位如今95岁高龄的老人而言，最好的礼物莫过于向他证明，子女及其家人凭借自身能力取得成功。她回忆道：“我们结婚第一年，我就意识到‘沃伦非常富有，所以，他什么都不缺。’”于是，她向巴菲特展示了自己经营的音乐公司的资产负债表。“我只是想让他知道‘看，我们做得很好。’”她补充道。
馈赠时节将至
随着十二月临近，全球各地的家庭正准备为亲人花费大笔金钱。正如巴菲特早年的做法，此时正是许多人向家人赠送大额现金的时节。
英国保险巨头SunLife的数据显示，在过去五年里，超过五分之一的50岁以上人群曾把大额现金作为礼物赠予亲友。其中33%的人选择在圣诞节或特殊生日时赠送。
现金礼物中数额最大的是用于支付购房首付款，因此金额通常相当可观。SunLife对2000多人展开的调查发现，50岁以上人群平均赠礼金额达30634英镑（约合40568美元）。其次是用于房屋装修，平均赠礼金额为8932英镑（约合11828美元）。
得益于“大规模代际财富转移”，未来几十年里，年轻一代可能更习惯于接受长辈的现金馈赠。瑞银集团（UBS）的数据显示，这场财富转移规模约为83万亿美元，将在未来20至25年内发生。
此前有报道称，一场规模达9万亿美元的“横向”财富转移（从丈夫转移到妻子手中）已推动投资增长——这与巴菲特的投资策略如出一辙。年轻一代是否会效仿这一做法，仍有待观察。（*）
译者：中慧言-王芳
“奥马哈先知”沃伦·巴菲特以卓越的投资才能闻名。因此，当他发现家人每年都将他所赠的数千美元挥霍一空时，便改变策略，开始赠送股票，或许不足为奇。
过去，每逢佳节，巴菲特家族成员都期待收到1万美元现金。巴菲特前儿媳玛丽·巴菲特（Mary Buffett，曾与巴菲特的儿子彼得结婚）透露，圣诞节过后，他们一回家，便会挥霍一空。
玛丽在2019年接受ThinkAdvisor采访时表示：“我们一回家，就会把钱全部花光！”
对于这位身家高达1540亿美元、始终秉持长线投资和理性消费理财信条的富豪而言，家人的这种行为很可能让他颇为不悦。玛丽补充道：“后来，有一年圣诞节，我们收到一个信封，里面有一封他写的信。他没有送现金，而是送了价值1万美元的股票——是他新收购的公司的股份，具体来说是可口可乐旗下的信托基金。他表示，我们可以选择变现，也可以继续持有。”
或许终于受到公公的启发，玛丽决定持有这些股票：“我当时心想'好吧，这只股票的价值肯定不止1万美元'。于是我一直留着，股价也一直在上涨。”
此后每年，巴菲特持续向家人赠股，有一年送的是富国银行（Wells Fargo）的股票。这无疑是明智之选：即便在2025年，富国银行股价仍上涨21.9%，过去五年的涨幅更是超过200%。
玛丽开始效仿巴菲特的做法，她表示，如果巴菲特买入某只股票，她就会“再多买一些，因为我知道这只股票会继续上涨”。
巴菲特的家人每年十二月都会面临一个难题：如何回赠价值超过1万美元的礼物？而给亿万富翁挑选礼物，更是难上加难。
玛丽认为，对于这位如今95岁高龄的老人而言，最好的礼物莫过于向他证明，子女及其家人凭借自身能力取得成功。她回忆道：“我们结婚第一年，我就意识到‘沃伦非常富有，所以，他什么都不缺。’”于是，她向巴菲特展示了自己经营的音乐公司的资产负债表。“我只是想让他知道‘看，我们做得很好。’”她补充道。
馈赠时节将至
随着十二月临近，全球各地的家庭正准备为亲人花费大笔金钱。正如巴菲特早年的做法，此时正是许多人向家人赠送大额现金的时节。
英国保险巨头SunLife的数据显示，在过去五年里，超过五分之一的50岁以上人群曾把大额现金作为礼物赠予亲友。其中33%的人选择在圣诞节或特殊生日时赠送。
现金礼物中数额最大的是用于支付购房首付款，因此金额通常相当可观。SunLife对2000多人展开的调查发现，50岁以上人群平均赠礼金额达30634英镑（约合40568美元）。其次是用于房屋装修，平均赠礼金额为8932英镑（约合11828美元）。
得益于“大规模代际财富转移”，未来几十年里，年轻一代可能更习惯于接受长辈的现金馈赠。瑞银集团（UBS）的数据显示，这场财富转移规模约为83万亿美元，将在未来20至25年内发生。
此前有报道称，一场规模达9万亿美元的“横向”财富转移（从丈夫转移到妻子手中）已推动投资增长——这与巴菲特的投资策略如出一辙。年轻一代是否会效仿这一做法，仍有待观察。（*）
译者：中慧言-王芳
The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, is famed for his investment prowess. So it’s perhaps no surprise that when he learned his family members were blowing the thousands of dollars he gifted them each year, he changed tack and began buying them shares instead.
Come the most wonderful time of the year, members of the Buffett family previously looked forward to receiving $10,000 in hundred-dollar bills. Buffett’s former daughter-in-law, Mary Buffett—who was married to the Berkshire Hathaway CEO’s son Peter—said as soon as the guests returned home after Christmas Day, they would splash the cash.
Mary told ThinkAdvisor in 2019: “As soon as we got home, we’d spend it, whoo!”
This likely displeased the man worth $154 billion, whose financial ethos revolves around playing the long game and sensible spending. Mary added: “Then, one Christmas there was an envelope with a letter from him. Instead of cash, he’d given us $10,000 worth of shares in a company he’d recently bought, a trust Coca-Cola had. He said to either cash them in or keep them.”
Perhaps taking inspiration from her father-in-law at last, Mary decided to hold onto the shares: “I thought ‘Well, [this stock] is worth more than $10,000.’ So I kept it, and it kept going up.”
Every year after that, Buffett would continue to gift his family members stocks, which included Wells Fargo one year. It’s a good pick: Even in 2025, Wells Fargo is up 21.9% and is up more than 200% over the past five years.
Mary began to follow Buffett’s lead, saying that if he bought the shares, she would then go and “buy more of it, because I knew it was going to go up.”
Buffett’s family also faced quite a conundrum come December each year: How do you reciprocate a gift worth $10,000 or more? This is made all the more complicated by the question of what to buy a billionaire.
Mary decided the best gift she could give the now 95-year-old was to demonstrate that his children and their families were successful in their own right. “The first year we were married, I realized, ‘Warren is very rich. Therefore, he doesn’t want anything,’” Mary recalled, and instead shared with him the balance sheet for the music company she ran. “I just wanted to show him, ‘Look, we’re doing good,’” she added.
It’s giving season
With December upon us, families around the world will be gearing up to spend a significant amount on their loved ones. And like Buffett in the early years, now is the time of year when many will be gifting lump sums of cash to their families.
According to U.K. insurance giant SunLife, more than one in five people over the age of 50 has given a significant amount of money as a present in the past five years. Of those people, 33% of them timed it with Christmas or a special birthday.
The biggest form of cash gifts was for house down payments, and they were significant sums as a result. SunLife, which surveyed more than 2,000 people, found people over age 50 gifted, on average, £30,634 ($40,568). The next largest gifts were for help with home renovations, with an average of £8,932 ($11,828).
Younger generations are likely to get more used to receiving cash gifts from their older relatives in the decades to come, courtesy of the Great Wealth Transfer. The inheritance wave is worth some $83 trillion according to UBS, and will take place over the next 20 to 25 years.
Reports have previously suggested that a $9 trillion “sideways” wealth transfer from husbands to their wives has resulted in an uptick in investment—straight out of the Buffett playbook. It remains to be seen whether younger generations will follow suit.