Aug 7, 2026
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Add us on GoogleWarren Buffett has spent six decades building one of the most closely watched fortunes in the world, but the money lesson he’s most associated with today has little to do with picking stocks. It has to do with his own three kids, what he chose to give them and what he didn’t.
None of Buffett’s children — Susie, Howard and Peter — completed a university degree. Susie came the closest, leaving school just three credits short of graduating. “My children, if you pool their credits, you got a degree,” Buffett has joked. Rather than pushing his kids toward a specific career or a prestigious credential, the investor, known as the Oracle of Omaha, let each of them find their own path. Susie built a career in philanthropy and early childhood education. Howard became a farmer and conservationist. Peter became an Emmy Award-winning composer.
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It’s not the parenting style most people would associate with a billionaire, and it points to a question a lot of Canadian parents are quietly working through too: how much should money — or the promise of it — shape a kid’s path in life?
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Buffett cared more about purpose than diplomas
Susie has said some of her earliest memories with her father were conversations about opportunity, including how narrow the choices once were for women. “I still remember him sitting at the dinner table talking about how at that time women had few options for work: nurses, teachers and secretaries,” she said in an interview with FOX Business. Rather than telling his children what to do, Buffett gave them room to figure it out for themselves.
That mindset lines up with where a lot of Canadians’ heads are at right now too. Education still pays: Statistics Canada reports that employees 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher earned $44.67 an hour on average in 2024, 55% more than workers with a high school diploma or less. But a growing number of Canadians are also questioning whether a degree is the only route to a good career. The national “Survey on Employment and Skills,” conducted by the Environics Institute, the Diversity Institute and the Future Skills Centre, found Canadians are now twice as likely to advise a young person to pursue a skilled trade or apprenticeship (56%) as a general university program (26%). Among respondents, 77% agreed that a young person who learns a trade is certain to find a good job that pays well.
None of this means a degree is a bad choice. It means Buffett’s approach was never really about the credential in the first place. It was about giving his kids the freedom to find work that suited them, whatever that looked like.
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The inheritance lesson Buffett has repeated for decades
Buffett’s hands-off approach doesn’t stop at careers. It also shapes how he thinks about what he’ll eventually leave behind.
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Buffett, whose fortune is estimated at more than US$148 billion (C$207.2 billion), has said for years that he doesn’t plan to leave his children a massive inheritance. His reasoning comes down to one idea, repeated in interviews for decades: “A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.”
Buffett’s philosophy is less about making his children go without a financial cushion and more about making sure money doesn’t remove every reason to work, take risks or build something of their own. It’s also why he pledged, back in 2006, to give away the bulk of his fortune rather than pass it down. He has since donated more than US$60 billion (C$84 billion) to charity, largely through foundations run by his children.
That question — how do you give your kids a financial head start without taking away their independence — is one Canadian parents are asking too, and the numbers suggest it’s weighing on them. A BMO Real Financial Progress Index survey found Canadians believe, on average, that parents should financially support their children for 19 years in some capacity, and 29% think that support should continue for as long as the parents are alive. Among Canadians surveyed, 84% say the cost of raising kids has become unmanageable.
What Canadian parents can take from Buffett’s approach
Buffett never suggested money should disappear from the picture entirely. His point was that it shouldn’t replace the need to build something meaningful. For Canadian parents working out their own version of that balance, a few starting points can help:
- Start saving early and let the government match it. A Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a tax-sheltered way to save for a child’s education. Contribute up to $2,500 a year and Ottawa adds the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG), worth up to $500 annually
- Talk about money before it becomes a crisis. Canadian parents who regularly discuss finances with their kids tend to feel more confident about their financial future than those who wait for one big conversation
- Consider a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) once a child turns 18, so any early gift or head start can grow tax-free
- Plan for what happens at death. Canada has no formal inheritance tax, but the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats a person’s assets as sold at fair market value the moment they die — a rule known as deemed disposition — which can trigger capital gains tax on an estate before anything is passed down
- Consider staging an inheritance instead of handing it over all at once, whether through a trust, a family loan or gifts tied to milestones, so a windfall doesn’t arrive before a kid has built their own financial footing
Buffett’s approach to university, careers and inheritance points to the same idea: helping kids build confidence and independence may matter just as much as leaving them money. For Canadian parents already stretched thin by the cost of raising a family, that’s a lesson worth borrowing, even without the billions attached.
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Laura Grande is a freelance contributor with nearly 15 years of industry experience. Throughout her career she's written about and edited a range of topics, from personal finance and politics to health and pop culture.
