Buffet Boys Write Book To Help Change World

Berkshire Hathaway BRK Chairman & CEO Warren Buffett appeared on Bloomberg Television recently with his son, philanthropist and farmer Howard G. Buffett, and his grandson Howard W. Buffett, a philanthropist and Columbia University faculty member. G. Buffett is the main force behind "40 Chances, Hope in a Hungry World," a book he wrote with his son. The foundation of the book is that everybody has about 40 years in their lifetime to make a difference in this world, an idea that G. Buffet derived from hearing a farmer talk about the 40 chances that farmers have to make the most out of their land. "It actually changed a few things I did in farming, but more importantly it really kind of made me think about how - now the problem with bringing Warren along is my dad is that he has about 80 chances than most of us more, but…he's telling me that," said G. Buffet. "But most people really have about 40 good years. You get through school. You get a little experience and you think about the goals you want to accomplish, and the legacy you want to build or whatever it is you want to do. And really 40 years is probably the prime that you have to do that." For him, it's hunger. "Well hunger is kind of a natural for me from the sense that I really understand agriculture. And that's where it begins," said G. Buffet. Related: How Common Sense, Patience and Discipline Will Help You Profit "And if you go around the world there's billions of farmers literally that can't feed their families, which is something that really is we would never think of that here, but there's a lot of farmers that are hungry and their families are hungry. And it's a production issue. And it's a complicated production issue because of infrastructure and government." His father added that he is immensely happy that all three his children spend nearly everyday helping other people. "How you came out of the womb has really nothing to do with what kind of person you are. You decide what kind of person you're going to be. It does decide whether maybe you never have to do an item of work in your life and maybe determine whether you're fighting uphill all of the time, but where in my life, in my eyes is we're all created equal, and but we don't all have an equal opportunity by a long-shot," said Buffet. "And my kids really work every day in trying to even up the scorecard." Much of G. Buffet's time is spent in the field, and his son W. Buffet is no stranger to it either. His father has taken him around the world for over 15 years, selecting tough places to work, such as Burundi and South Sudan. "We are going to spend everything we get each year what comes in from Berkshire stock, and the value fluctuates every year. So we can't plan it perfectly, but this year we'll give away about $130 million and we took in something a little bit more than that," said G. Buffet. Jason Cunningham had no position with the mentioned entities while writing this article. Visit Jason on Twitter at @JasonCunningham and @Benzinga.