Imagine being the kid of one of the richest men in the world and deciding that money isn’t going to define your life. Sounds like a rebellious teenager’s dream, right? Well, Peter Buffett, son of investing legend Warren Buffett, actually did it.
At 19, Peter took his $90,000 inheritance, Berkshire Hathaway stock that would be worth hundreds of millions today, and sold it. No, he didn’t use it for a luxurious trip to Bora Bora. He traded it for the chance to chase what really mattered to him: music.
Cashing In for a Different Kind of Rich
Warren Buffett, known for his homespun wisdom and folksy advice, has always said he’d give his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing. Peter took that to heart.
While most of us would be tempted to hang on to that stock forever (who wouldn’t want to watch a snowball of investments grow into a mountain?), Peter saw things differently.
He didn’t run to Wall Street or start buying up real estate. He went to the music studio, crafting songs and exploring the kind of life most billionaires’ kids only dream about —one driven by passion, not profits.
Unlike Joe Hill, who was able to hide during a decade that his father was Stephen King no less, Peter didn’t hide his name or try to pretend he wasn’t Warren Buffett’s son. Maybe it was because he was evolving in a different field, one where many people didn’t know famous brokers (or Warren Buffett wasn’t internationally famous yet).
Instead, Peter Buffer forwent any pseudonym, and signed his real name for commercials and networks. Remember the iconic audio logos for MTV and CNN? Yep, that was Peter’s work. He scored scenes in Dances with Wolves and created music for the Emmy-winning miniseries 500 Nations. As he put it, he wasn’t interested in becoming the next Springsteen.
Buffett Bucks and Local Dreams
Fast forward to 2010: Peter and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Kingston, New York, a small city in the Hudson Valley. There, they launched the NoVo Foundation, determined to put their money where their hearts were.
One of the quirkiest parts of this effort was a local currency known as Buffett Bucks. It was a way to keep money circulating inside Kingston, strengthening small businesses and helping the local economy. Who needs Bitcoin when you’ve got your own neighborhood bucks, right? We have yet to hear what his father thinks of this Utopian and artificial model or circular economy, though.
But that’s not all. Peter and Jennifer invested in the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, a 1,500-acre operation bought for $13 million. Who knew Warren Buffett’s kid would end up betting on kale instead of stock tips? But that’s Peter for you—doing things his way, and putting his money where it can actually make a difference.
Facing the Critics
Of course, not everyone in Kingston is lining up to hand Peter a hero’s medal. Some locals have raised concerns about what happens when so much of a town’s economy depends on one private foundation. There are whispers about the power that comes with big money and the quiet expectation to keep the NoVo Foundation’s decisions at arm’s length.
Peter, though, hasn’t shied away from those conversations. He’s been open about the fact that he’s not trying to take over Kingston. He’s there to support it, to learn and adapt.
Let’s be real: if Peter had held on to that $90,000 inheritance, it would be worth a cool half a billion today. That’s the magic of Warren Buffett’s famous snowball philosophy: keep reinvesting, let it grow, and watch as your money works harder than you ever could.
But Peter didn’t see that snowball as his ticket. He saw it as a chain he didn’t want. He wanted freedom, not just more zeros in a brokerage account. And that freedom —like many financial advisors love to say— can be even more valuable if it comes early in life. Giving your kids a smaller inheritance while they’re young, the thinking goes, helps them find their own footing and start building something real. In Peter’s case, it worked.