Warren Buffett Calls Letting First Wife Move Out His 'Biggest Mistake' — Admits It Was '99%' His Fault, Yet She Introduced Him to His Current Wife

Even billionaires have regrets—and for Warren Buffett, it wasn't a missed investment or market move. It was personal.

In his authorized biography, "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," Buffett didn't shy away from reflecting on the one decision he wishes he could undo: letting his wife, Susan, leave their Omaha home.

"It was preventable. It shouldn't have happened. It was my biggest mistake," Buffett told biographer Alice Schroeder, who spent five years documenting his life with full access to his files, family, and inner circle. "Essentially, whatever I did in connection with Susie leaving would be the biggest mistake I ever made."

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Published in 2008, "The Snowball" offered readers a rare look at Buffett beyond the shareholder letters and stock picks. While many expected an investing playbook, what they got was something closer to a confession booth.

"It was definitely 95% my fault—no question about that," Buffett said. "It may even have been 99% percent. I just wasn't attuned enough to her, and she'd always been perfectly attuned to me."

The Buffetts married in 1952 and had three children. But by 1977, after 25 years together, Susan left Omaha for San Francisco. She wanted to pursue her own life—particularly a singing career—and perhaps needed more than a man consumed by balance sheets and annual reports.

"She felt less needed than I should have made her feel," Buffett admitted. "Your spouse starts coming second. She kept me together for a lot of years… She didn't want to be Mrs. Big… She loved me, and she still loves me, and we have an incredible relationship. But still… it shouldn't have happened. And it's totally my fault."

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Despite the separation, the two never divorced. They remained close—so close, in fact, that Susan introduced Warren to Astrid Menks, the woman who would eventually become his second wife.

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That introduction wasn't random. Susan and Astrid had become friends at The French Café in Omaha, where Susan occasionally performed and Astrid worked as a hostess. Knowing Warren's domestic blind spots, Susan asked Astrid to look after him. She moved in soon after. The setup was unconventional, but it worked—for all three of them.

The trio even sent out joint holiday cards signed, "Warren, Susan and Astrid."

After Susan's death in 2004, Warren and Astrid married in 2006. But even then, the legacy of Susan's presence in his life loomed large.

"She loved him and takes care of him. If Warren didn't have a cent, she'd be with him," his daughter Susie Buffett told The New York Times in 2006, speaking about Astrid's commitment. She also described the connection between her mother and Astrid: "Astrid and my mother were very close—really loved each other."

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And of her parents' arrangement, she added, "Unconventional is not a bad thing. More people should have unconventional marriages."

Susan had once told her daughter that she didn't want to simply be known as the wife of a billionaire. "She basically wanted a room of her own," Susie said. "They were very connected in a very deep way. They didn't need to be in the same room."

In the end, Warren Buffett didn't lose Susan. He just lost the version of their relationship that looked traditional on paper. What they built instead was far more complicated—and in many ways, more enduring.

And yes, she introduced him to the woman who would become his partner after her death. It's not your standard love triangle, but nothing about Buffett's life—not even the romance—has ever followed the market.

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