Warren Buffett has laid out a plan to “step up” the pace of giving away his $149 billion estate to his children’s foundation

Warren Buffett has outlined a plan to speed up the distribution of his $149 billion estate to the foundations run by his children—while still keeping enough Berkshire Hathaway shares for a short time so that shareholders can gain confidence in incoming CEO Greg Abel.

In a Thanksgiving letter, which he said will now be sent annually, Buffett explained that he needs to accelerate the transfer of his Berkshire stock to his three children’s foundations because of their advancing age. Doing so, he said, will increase the likelihood that they will manage and distribute “essentially my entire estate” before replacement trustees take over.

Abel, age 63, will succeed Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the start of the new year. Buffett, 95, will remain chairman.

"I want to retain a meaningful portion of the ‘A’ shares until Berkshire shareholders develop the same comfort with Greg that Charlie and I enjoyed for so many years," Buffett wrote, referencing Charlie Munger, Berkshire’s longtime vice chair and Buffett’s close partner, who passed away two years ago.

“That level of confidence shouldn’t take long. My children already fully support Greg, as do Berkshire’s directors,” Buffett added.

Buffett currently holds around $149 billion in Berkshire stock, making him the company’s largest shareholder by a wide margin. Most of his wealth is tied up in Berkshire’s original A shares, which trade for roughly $751,480 each.

He noted that 1,800 Berkshire A shares were recently converted into 2.7 million B shares and distributed to four family foundations: The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation.

“The acceleration of my lifetime gifts to my children’s foundations does not reflect any change in my view of Berkshire’s future,” Buffett said.

The letter marks Buffett’s first significant communication since announcing he would step down as CEO, ending more than six decades of leadership that cemented him as one of the most successful investors in history.

“As the British would say, I’m ‘going quiet’… sort of,” Buffett concluded.