After nearly six decades leading Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett announced he is stepping away, but not without sharing a charming anecdote about fingerprinting a group of nuns.

The 95-year-old investment icon surprised the financial world with his summer announcement to retire as CEO by the year’s end, passing the reins to his long-time associate, Greg Abel.

Buffett also revealed that he would no longer pen Berkshire’s revered annual letter, a tradition dating back to 1965 that has cemented his status as a key figure in the business realm.

However, the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ isn’t vanishing entirely.

He intends to maintain a connection with shareholders through a yearly Thanksgiving message and plans to increase his philanthropic efforts, aiming to donate his remaining $149 billion stake in the company.

Buffett expressed, in what will be his last letter as CEO, “As the British would say, I’m going quiet. Sort of,” released this past Monday.

His farewell letter is classic Buffett — funny, nostalgic and full of heart. While Buffett admitted that while he still feels good for his age, time is catching up.

‘Father Time is undefeated,’ he wrote. ‘When balance, sight, hearing and memory are all on a downward slope, you know he’s in the neighborhood.’

Warren Buffett says he’s ‘going quiet’ after nearly 60 years at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett hands out a Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Blizzard at a Dairy Queen in Omaha, Nebraska in 2008. Buffett owns Dairy Queen through his company Berkshire Hathaway, which acquired the company in 1998 for $585 million

The boy who fingerprinted nuns 

Buffett said he is ‘grateful and surprised’ to still be alive at 95 — recalling how his life almost ended before it had really begun.

In 1938, a family doctor sent him to St. Catherine’s Hospital in Omaha for an emergency appendectomy that saved his life. The experience left its mark.

The young Buffett, nicknamed ‘Skipper’, entertained the nuns with endless chatter. His third-grade class wrote him get-well letters — he admitted he probably threw away the ones from the boys but reread the girls’ notes ‘again and again’.

The highlight came when he was gifted a fingerprinting kit. 

‘My wonderful Aunt Edie brought me a fingerprinting kit, and I promptly fingerprinted all of my attending nuns,’ he said. ‘My theory — totally nutty, of course — was that someday a nun would go bad and the FBI would need the prints.’ 

Buffett fantasized that FBI Director J Edgar Hoover himself would come to Omaha to inspect his collection — and together they would catch the ‘wayward nun’.

‘I envisioned Mr Hoover himself coming to Omaha to inspect my collection,’ he wrote. ‘National fame seemed certain. Obviously, it never materialized.’

He joked that he should have fingerprinted Hoover instead — given how the FBI director ended up disgraced.

Buffett paid tribute to his late business partner and friend Charlie Munger, calling him ‘my best pal for 64 years’

Buffett, left, is seen here alongside his longtime business associate Charlie Munger who died in 2023. The pair are pictured together in 1959

Remembering Charlie Munger

Buffett paid tribute to his late business partner and friend Charlie Munger, calling him ‘my best pal for 64 years’.

‘For more than 60 years, Charlie had a huge impact on me and could not have been a better teacher or protective big brother,’ Buffett wrote. ‘We had differences but never had an argument.’

Buffett also reflected on his early life in Omaha, where he grew up surrounded by people who would later shape his career and Berkshire Hathaway’s success.

Buffett also paid tribute to other Omahans — newspaper man Stan Lipsey, philanthropist Walter Scott Jr., and Don Keough, who rose from a coffee salesman to president of Coca-Cola.

He recalled how Keough famously apologized to the public for New Coke, joking that letters addressed to ‘Supreme Idiot’ began arriving at his desk until he reinstated the original formula.

‘Like Charlie Munger, Don forever remained a Midwestern boy, enthusiastic, friendly and American to the core,’ Buffett wrote.

Buffett taught at the University of Omaha in the 1950s and early 1960s

Buffett is seen on a family holiday with his wife and three children in 1962

Buffett said he won’t write Berkshire’s famous annual letter anymore, a tradition that began in 1965 and made him one of the most closely watched voices in business. Pictured in 1984

The investor has long promoted a straightforward metric known as the Buffett Indicator

Why Omaha made him who he is 

Buffett said he has spent his entire career within a few miles of where he was born — and believes Berkshire and its people benefited from that.

‘Looking back, I feel that both Berkshire and I did better because of our base in Omaha than if I had resided anywhere else,’ he said. ‘Through dumb luck, I drew a ridiculously long straw at birth.’

He said Nebraska’s heartland values, its schools, and its sense of community shaped his view of business and life.

Even now, he still goes to the office five days a week. 

‘To my surprise, I generally feel good,’ he wrote. ‘Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I work with wonderful people.’

Buffett confirmed that Greg Abel will take over as CEO at year-end, saying he ‘has more than met the high expectations I had for him’.

Praise for his successor 

Buffett confirmed that Greg Abel will take over as CEO at year-end, saying he ‘has more than met the high expectations I had for him’.

‘He understands many of our businesses and personnel far better than I now do,’ Buffett said. ‘I can’t think of a CEO, management consultant or academic I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine.’

He acknowledged that Berkshire’s size will make future growth harder but said the company remains strong, stable and built to last for decades.

Buffett also warned of the dangers of greed at the top of corporate America, saying envy and inflated pay have warped incentives. 

‘What often bothers very wealthy CEOs is that other CEOs are getting even richer,’ he said. ‘Envy and greed walk hand in hand.’ 

His $149 billion farewell gift

Buffett confirmed he will accelerate his lifetime giving, transferring most of his Berkshire fortune to his three children’s charitable foundations.

He said they will have full freedom to act after his death and should not fear mistakes. ‘They don’t need to perform miracles,’ he wrote. ‘They simply need to improve somewhat upon what generally is achieved by government activities or private philanthropy.’

He praised their instincts and said they had proven their judgment by managing smaller sums that grew to more than $500 million annually.

‘All three like working long hours to help others, each in their own way,’ he said.

Buffett confirmed he will accelerate his lifetime giving, transferring most of his Berkshire fortune to his three children’s charitable foundations. He is pictured in 2019

Happy Thanksgiving to all — even the ‘jerks’ 

Buffett ended his final letter with personal advice — simple, timeless, and unmistakably his.

‘Don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes,’ he wrote. ‘Learn at least a little from them and move on. It is never too late to improve.’

He urged readers to choose their heroes carefully and live by the golden rule: treat others with kindness and humility.

‘I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving,’ he wrote. ‘Yes, even the jerks; it’s never too late to change.’