Warren Buffett has pledged that 99% of his wealth will end up in charity and philanthropy. He’s already given away billions — something around $50 billion already.

A shit ton of that went to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

He’s still got something on the order of 100 billion left. Had he kept all his money all these years he’d likely be the wealthiest person in the world (instead of trailing Musk and Bezos).

But he’s giving almost all of it away.

And most of it to an organization primarily concerned with global health and poverty.

When he dies, that foundation will get billions and billions more, too.

It’s nice to remember that sometimes folks do good with their wealth.

Buffett’s much less wealthy second-in-command, Charlie Munger just passed away the other day. By “much less wealthy” let’s remember that Charlie was also a billionaire. Charlie, too, has given away a huge percentage of his fortune already. He’s famously spent enormous amounts for campus housing at universities (at least one quite controversially). We don’t yet know what will become of the remainder of Charlie’s estate (last estimate around $2-3 billion.) He’s got a huge family – between kids, grandkids, great grandkids, there are around 30 people, all of whom, I’m sure, have already received huge amounts. But Charlie has already given away, from estimates I’ve read, between half a billion and a billion dollars to charities (in addition to however much he’s already given to his huge family).

As Buffett says, however much he gives, it’s not like doing so has created any hardship for himself. He understands that the rest of us, when we give, are usually making bigger sacrifices to do so. If he gives away 99%, he’s still a billionaire. If you or I give away even a much much smaller proportion of our wealth, it has a huge impact on what we leave to spend on ourselves. There are no illusions here.

But it’s still nice to see. Just because it wasn’t a painful sacrifice doesn’t diminish how much good is being done. I, at least, find it inspiring.

It’s always a good time to take a look at your estate and giving plans. If you have any charitable intent, there are things you can do to maximize that impact. Talk to your financial advisor. I see people with the best intentions missing out on opportunities to give in better ways all the time. Not all of us have armies of professionals like Buffett and the billionaires do. But there are people who really can help you do good, um, better. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to help a few folks. It’s so cool. And talk to the charities. They often have great ideas. So many of them are doing incredible work.