Farrell: Take a lesson from Warren Buffett and live like you want your obituary to read

Legendary investor Warren Buffett, at 95, said he is “going quiet.”

He is retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025.

He said he’ll still go into the office and occasionally offer ideas to colleagues, but he will no longer write his widely followed annual letter to shareholders.

But he will continue writing his annual Thanksgiving message to shareholders and remain chair of Berkshire Hathaway.

So rather than going quiet, perhaps he’s starting on a “sort of” retirement.

Quiet or not, though, Buffett’s longevity offers several lessons for the rest of us.

First, older adults should ignore the chatter from scholars and commentators who say it’s downhill once you enter the second half of life.

“I’m happy to say I feel better about the second half of my life than the first,” he wrote in his latest Thanksgiving letter. “My advice: Don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes — learn at least a little from them and move on.”

Luck helps, too. Buffett wryly notes that he escaped “banana peels” and “lightning strikes.”

Buffett said he was born in 1930 a healthy, reasonably intelligent, white male in the world’s most dynamic economy. Still, the second lesson for the rest of us is how Buffett stayed curious, learning constantly, and maintaining connections to people of all ages throughout his long life.

Much of his Thanksgiving letter dwells on acknowledging those who shaped him for the better, emphasizing their kindness and thoughtfulness.

Taken together, these two lessons emphasize it pays to focus on what gives meaning and connections.

For others, engagement comes from embracing new challenges in the retirement years.

Volunteering? Taking care of grandchildren? A combination of purposeful activities? No matter the path chosen, keep learning, stay curious, give back, nurture connections and, above all, be kind.

“Remember Alfred Nobel, later of Nobel Prize fame, who — reportedly — read his own obituary that was mistakenly printed when his brother died and a newspaper got mixed up. He was horrified at what he read and realized he should change his behavior,” wrote Buffett. “Don’t count on a newsroom mix-up: Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it.”