Warren Buffett Used To Gift Loved Ones $10,000 Cash For Christmas But Switched To Stocks With A Note: 'Cash Them In Or Hold Onto Them'

Everyone knows Warren Buffett is famous for being frugal. This is the billionaire who still lives in the same house he bought in Omaha in 1958 for $31,500 and is perfectly content eating McDonald's breakfast most mornings. But what's it like to be on the receiving end of his gift-giving? Turns out, it's a mix of practical, surprising and downright hilarious.

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Although he's often labeled "cheap," even his daughter, Susie Buffett, has come to his defense. In a 2017 interview with Business Insider, she clarified: "My dad gets a bad rap for that. He's been much more generous than people are aware." And it's not just with philanthropy – Buffett has given away billions to causes around the globe – but also with how he treats his loved ones.

For years, Buffett's go-to Christmas gift for family members was cold, hard cash –$10,000 in crisp $100 bills, to be exact. Mary Buffett, Warren's former daughter-in-law and an author on investing, reminisced about those times in an interview with ThinkAdvisor:

"He would always give each of us $10,000 in hundred-dollar bills. As soon as we got home, we'd spend it – whooo!"

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But Buffett, being Buffett, noticed a pattern. His family was blowing through the cash too quickly, so he decided to switch things up. One Christmas, instead of cash, he gifted $10,000 worth of shares in a company he'd recently invested in – Coca-Cola. Mary explained that along with the shares came a letter, giving the recipients a choice: "Cash them in or hold onto them."

Mary took the latter option and it paid off. "I thought, ‘Well, this stock is worth over $10,000.' So I kept it and it kept going up." From then on, Buffett's gift-giving evolved into a mix of stock options carefully chosen from his latest investments, such as Wells Fargo. 

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Dresses, Delivered Buffett-Style

In the 1960s, Buffett started another unique holiday tradition: buying dresses for all the women in his family. But this wasn't a bespoke, high-end shopping experience. True to his practical nature, Buffett would head to Topps, a local dress shop in Omaha, armed with a list of everyone's sizes.

"They'd wheel out the dresses. I'd make a variety of decisions and buy presents for my sisters, Susie, Gladys and so forth," Buffett shared in The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. "I kind of enjoyed it."

The simplicity of this gesture is classic Buffett. He wasn't trying to impress with luxury – just to show he cared.

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Sweet Surprises from See's Candies

If there's one thing Buffett's known for besides his financial genius, it's his love of See's Candies. Berkshire Hathaway acquired the company in 1972; ever since, it's been a staple of Buffett's Christmas giving.

Buffett sends out boxes of See's Candies to friends, family and business associates every year. But the chocolates aren't the only treat – each box has a hilariously themed Christmas card featuring Buffett in absurd scenarios.

In 2013, the card showed him dressed as Walter White from Breaking Bad, complete with a fake beard and the caption: "Have yourself a Meth-y Little Christmas."

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Another year, he posed "bench-pressing" 200 pounds, with the caption: "Working off a few pounds after eating my daily allotment of See's candy."

Sure, $10,000 cash stuffed in an envelope sounds like a great gift. Yet, in true Buffett fashion, he saw the bigger picture: cash gets spent, but stocks can grow. The billionaire investment genius figured out how to ensure his family had a little holiday cheer and a solid savings account.

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