Day: November 15, 2025

• Warren Buffett released his last shareholder letter as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO this week.
• The famed investor’s close followers celebrated the wisdom, humility, and strategy in his writing.
• Here’s what nine Buffett disciples told Business Insider about what could be his farewell letter.

Warren Buffett published his final letter to shareholders as Berkshire Hathaway CEO on Monday, as he prepares to step down before the new year. His followers reacted with a mixture of sadness, gratitude, and admiration.

The legendary business leader and investor, 95, has transformed Berkshire from a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion conglomerate over the past 60 years by acquiring scores of businesses such as Geico and Dairy Queen, and amassing huge stakes in corporate giants including Coca-Cola and American Express.

Buffett wrote this week that he would continue writing a Thanksgiving letter as Berkshire’s chairman, reflected on his life, and thanked the people and pieces of luck that enabled his extraordinary success.

He acknowledged his advantages and trumpeted kindness over wealth, power, and fame. He also reassured Berkshire shareholders that Greg Abel is a worthy successor, and he’s as positive about the company’s future as ever — even as he plans to accelerate the transfer of his $150 billion fortune to his family’s foundations.

Nine of Buffett’s closest followers shared with Business Insider their thoughts and reactions. Their comments have been edited for length and clarity:

1. David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and longtime Buffett blogger:

“It’s his valedictory address, in which he attributes his lifetime accomplishments, with considerable humility, to being very lucky to be born in America, live a long, healthy life, and benefit professionally and personally from the friendships he made in Omaha and elsewhere.”

2. Lawrence Cunningham, the author of several books about Berkshire and the director of the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center:

“It’s Buffett’s farewell to the microphone, not to the mission — he’s passing the pen, not the philosophy. At 95, he’s turned the shareholder letter into a love letter to Omaha, to America, and to the values that built Berkshire.

“This Thanksgiving note stresses that the good life isn’t about wealth; it’s about wisdom — that luck is uneven, humility essential, and kindness compounding.”

3. Chris Bloomstran, the president of Semper Augustus Investments and a Berkshire shareholder for 25 years

“I thought Warren’s letter was phenomenal, and I hope it is the first of many Thanksgiving letters that he pens to the shareholders. The letter was a wonderfully reflective message on gratitude, philanthropy, and kindness.

“I think he wanted to again affirm his certainty that Greg is his ideal successor, and in doing so, assure the shareholders that Berkshire is in great hands — not only in Greg but likely for the decades to come given Berkshire’s culture.”

4. John Longo, a finance professor, investment chief, and author of ‘Buffett’s Tips: A Guide to Financial Literacy and Life’:

“By ‘going quiet,’ Buffett is giving Abel and the rest of the Berkshire management team the opportunity to paint their own painting without anyone second-guessing them.

“He will remain an important sounding board for the Berkshire executives, and if they are wise, they will continue to seek his invaluable counsel.”

5. Paul Lountzis, the president of Lountzis Asset Management:

“I greatly enjoyed his look back on his life in Omaha. It is interesting how despite being an investing genius, so much of his life and happiness was totally about the people around him.

“Not having Warren at the helm is a terrible loss. He has been such a pleasure to watch and learn from over the past 52 years for me, since my journey with him began when I was 13.”

6. Adam Schwartz, the chief investor of Black Bear Value Partners:

“I am going to miss the more frequent letters and public speaking. He’s been a national treasure.”

7. Brian Gongol, a Buffett superfan and longtime shareholder

“It’s a promise to go on giving without getting in Abel’s way. There’s a tremendous degree of custodial care implied throughout the letter. Warren Buffett is confident in Abel and wants to shield him. He is confident in his children and won’t try ‘ruling from the grave.’ And he is insistent that Berkshire always remains ‘an asset to the United States.’

“I really revere this idea that a person can be unapologetically capitalistic, and still have an almost fanatical sense about doing things in a ‘right’ way that isn’t rewarded in dollars and cents.”

8. Alex Morris, the author of ‘Buffett and Munger Unscripted’ and founder of TSOH Investment Research:

“Warren is accelerating the pace of his giving; he wants his children to use a large percentage or all of the funds in a timely fashion, while they’re still alive — so it’s time to move.

“At the same time, Berkshire’s ability to ‘protect’ Greg from near-term incursions by activists, or other attempts to influence its direction, is the supervoting Class A shares. So, Warren is trying to balance these two factors.”

9. Adam Mead, an investment chief and the author of ‘The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway’:

“According to the Social Security website, Buffett has another 2.8 years of expected life left. I’d venture there’s a 50/50 shot he writes us again next year — though he himself noted the swiftness by which old age overtakes everyone eventually.

“Whether he actually does write to us again in November 2026, this letter is sufficient to be a farewell letter.”

• Our weekly family dinners started as a simple invitation when I needed it most.
• As a busy mom, it’s the one night all week I can fully relax.
• We’ve set boundaries around this night, and it’s been going on for seven years.

I’ve been reflecting lately on my life as a working mom — thinking about what drains me vs. what fills me up. There’s one thing that gets me through the week more than anything else: our Wednesday night dinner at Grandma’s house.

An invitation became my lifeline

Years ago, when we moved closer to my parents, accepting an invitation to dinner was a no-brainer. But it wasn’t always so easy. In fact, for a while, we lived overseas in England, so visits to and from family were few and far between. So, when an opportunity arose to move closer to my parents, we took it!

That first dinner invitation was followed by another. And without even realizing it, it became something special — a tradition — and the one night a week when I didn’t hear my name called 50 times a minute. I was a guest!

We’ve been having our weekly dinners for seven years now. I’m working more, and the kids have commitments, homework, and tournaments, so setting a nice table and practicing our manners isn’t exactly a priority.

But on Wednesday night, during a busy week, when the good snacks are gone and the meat drawer is empty, we leave our own homework-laden, finger-painted table behind and step through my mom’s front door (Nama to my kids). It’s the one night we know for sure that we won’t be having the leftover chicken nuggets I found in the back of the freezer and that questionable bag of leafy greens, because on Wednesdays, I get a night off.

One-word answers turn into real conversation

When we open the door to my parents’ house, instead of that familiar sweaty scent emanating from my boy’s gym shoes, it smells like cinnamon and roast turkey. Nama puts my kids to work with jobs, filling glasses and getting forks. And on the table filled with actual side dishes, is a half-gallon of Chick-fil-A sauce she bought at Costco earlier that day “just for the kids.”

We practice table manners, and she lets her grandkids pick out question cards that everyone has to answer. Even my middle schoolers, who often give me one-word answers on the ride home from school, start talking about their day. Everyone listens and takes turns. Even my youngest gets a moment to shine.

We’ve kept the ritual alive despite other commitments

It hasn’t always been on Wednesday. It’s shifted depending on soccer practice, school, and work. At one point, we couldn’t find a free night at all, but instead of canceling dinner, we cut back on youth sports. That was a hard choice but a worthwhile sacrifice, because this dinner wasn’t just about food. It is about my parents opening their home and my mom showing her love with food and hospitality — the night I get to just be.

And every once in a while, we return the love — not with a beautiful table or a three-course meal, but with a scoop of ice cream from Salt and Straw, a morning coffee with my mom, or by taking my dad along to a pro-soccer game.

The rhythm of our Wednesday dinner, the hospitality it’s taught our kids, and the rest it has given me in the middle of the week — it’s irreplaceable. I hope that someday, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to set my own table for my kids and their families, just as my mom does for us now.

• The salaries for most members of Congress will remain frozen at $174,000 for another year.
• The bill to reopen the government included a provision that prevents a cost-of-living increase.
• Lawmakers almost enacted a modest pay bump last year, but were thwarted by Elon Musk and others.

If you’re a member of Congress hoping for a raise, you’ll have to wait at least another year.

The vast majority of House and Senate members will continue to earn an annual salary of $174,000 — a figure that hasn’t budged since 2009 — after President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government and end the longest shutdown in American history.

While the bill only keeps the entirety of the government funded through January 30, it includes funding for the legislative branch for the entire fiscal year, which ends after September 30 of next year.

That portion of the bill contained language that blocked an automatic cost-of-living adjustment — something most other federal employees receive each year.

“I would like to see how well that would go over if we did that to all federal employees,” Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia told BI in July. “I mean, do you think that would survive?”

A version of that provision has been included in every annual government funding bill over the last 16 years.

On the one hand, it’s to be expected. It would be an optics nightmare for lawmakers to allow their salaries to increase on the heels of a shutdown that left hundreds of thousands working without pay, caused air travel chaos, and eventually threatened SNAP payments.

At the same time, it means that lawmakers’ salaries will continue to not keep pace with inflation, which some argue limits the pool of people who run for office and incentivizes lawmakers to leave Congress to cash in on their service.

Something Mike Johnson and AOC can agree on

Members of Congress from both parties have acknowledged, in one way or another, that they may not be getting paid enough.

Earlier this year, House Speaker Mike Johnson — who, due to his title, makes $223,500 rather than the $174,000 earned by his rank-and-file colleagues — indicated his sympathy to the argument while discussing his opposition to stock trading in Congress.

“Look, you know, the salary of Congress has been frozen since 2009,” Johnson said in May. “Over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you’re going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress.”

That puts him on the same page as Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

“If we want working class people who don’t rely on independent wealth, to represent people in Congress, we have to make it work,” Ocasio-Cortez told BI last year.

If Congress hadn’t proactively blocked cost-of-living adjustments each year since 2009, the salary for rank-and-file lawmakers would be $221,600, according to the Congressional Research Service.

That’s despite the unique demands placed upon lawmakers, especially having to maintain two residences: One in their home state, and another in Washington, DC.

Last year, lawmakers almost got a modest pay bump. A package of government funding bills would have allowed the cost-of-living increase to go through for the first time since 2009, which would have increased rank-and-file lawmakers’ salaries by up to $6,600.

Then, Elon Musk and others helped tank that bill, in large part by arguing that it gave members of Congress a larger raise than it actually did.