Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders due Saturday

Buffett did not single out any presidential candidates by name.

There are threats, notably cyber, biological, nuclear or chemical attacks on the nation, Buffett said.

For 50 years, Buffett has written the annual letters, which are widely read for his pithy and incisive analysis of the past, present and future of the holding company and the economy. It’s been more than 70 years since I delivered a Washington Post newspaper headlining the fact that the United States had dropped the first atomic bomb.

“This group efficiently deals with a multitude of SEC and other regulatory requirements, files a 30,400-page Federal income tax return – that’s up 6,000 pages from the prior year! – oversees the filing of 3,530 state tax returns, responds to countless shareholder and media inquiries, gets out the annual report, prepares for the country’s largest annual meeting, coordinates the Board’s activities, fact-checks this letter – and the list goes on and on”. But he says it shouldn’t hurt insurance companies at all because policy prices are set annually based on that year’s risks.

Buffett admitted wage inequality would continue to be a problem for the country saying, “Though the pie to be shared by the next generation will be far larger than today’s, how it will be divided will remain fiercely contentious”.

Investor Warren Buffett is defending Berkshire Hathaway’s association with cost-cutting investors and the lending practices at its mobile home unit.

Warren Buffett speaks onstage during Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, in October 2015.

Those will be added to the more than 90 companies Berkshire already owns.

“Jorge Paulo and his associates could not be better partners”, Buffett wrote.

To replace Buffett, Berkshire plans to split his job into three parts – chief executive officer, chairman and several investment managers. Mr. Buffett reiterated that he is bullish on America, talked up the performance of various Berkshire businesses and individual managers, and aired old jokes.

Now 85, Buffett made no mention of who might succeed him at Berkshire, which he has run for a half-century, but said in passing he expects to be around at age 100.

Buffett has said he has no plans to retire, and he says he loves his work and remains in good health.

Berkshire and 3G in 2013 bought the former H.J. Heinz, and two years later merged it with the former Kraft Foods. Buffett said Clayton makes about 35 percent of all mortgage loans on manufactured homes, averaging $59,942, and keeps almost all on its books, ensuring the need to lend carefully.

But Shanahan said it also put more cash in consumers’ pockets, which helps Berkshire’s retail businesses, such as See’s Candy, the Nebraska Furniture Mart and Helzberg jewelry. For instance, its BNSF railroad is certain to haul less coal in the future and Geico insurance could be hurt by driverless cars.