No. of Recommendations: 10
Thanks, Adrian. I did not know that Mr. Buffett said that a primary/major allocation in the vicinity of 90% in Berkshire (in lieu of the S&P 500) would be fine for a retiree.
This is good to know because like many others on this board, I have a major allocation to Berkshire and no allocation to the S&P 500, primarily because the latter seems so expensive.
By any chance, do you have a cite for it?CNBC Transcript: Warren Buffett on 'Squawk Box'
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/03/cnbc-transcript-wa...BECKY: You also-- revealed something in the annual letter this year, where you said--
you laid out the terms of your will, what you've set aside for your wife. Which, I didn't
know any of this.
BUFFETT: Yeah.
BECKY: And--
BUFFETT: Well, I didn't lay out my whole will. There's hope for some of you who
haven't been mentioned yet. The-- but I did explain, because I laid out what I thought
the average person who is not an expert on stocks should do.
And my widow will not be an expert on stocks. And- I wanna be sure she gets a decent
result. She isn't gonna get a sensational result, you know? And since all my Berkshire
shares are going-- to philanthropy-- the question becomes what does she do with the
cash that's left to her?
And I've been-- part of it goes outright, part of it goes to a trustee. But I've told the
trustee to put 90% of it in an S&P 500 index fund and 10% in short-term governments.
And the reason for the 10% in short-term governments is that if there's a terrible period
in the market and she's withdrawing 3% or 4% a year you take it out of that instead of
selling stocks at the wrong time. She'll do fine with that. And anybody will do fine with
that. It's low-cost, it's in a bunch of wonderful businesses and it takes care of itself.
...
BECKY: We do have the opportunity for viewers to write in and ask you their questions.
One viewer did write in-- (I'm sorry, I'm looking for the number right now) wrote in the
question asking about why-- did you lay out that you had said you set this money aside
for your wife to be put into a Vanguard index instead of put back into Berkshire shares.
BUFFETT: Yeah. Well-- Berkshire would be okay. But like I say, I'm giving away all the
Berkshire shares. And Vanguard is fine. And-- Berkshire would be fine. But-- I wouldn't
wanna be touting Berkshire to people, generally. I have no problem touting the S&P
500 at a low cost.
