‘Go to the bank’: Billionaire Warren Buffett said when daughter Susan asked for $41,000 loan to renovate kitchen

At the time, Susan and her husband were living in a small, cramped home in Washington, D.C., and hoped to create space for a kitchen table and garden access after the birth of their child, according to Benzinga.

When she approached her billionaire father for a loan, Buffett simply asked, "Why not go to the bank?"

He explained that just as a quarterback should not automatically start for Nebraska just because his father did, children should not be given advantages they have not earned.

Warren Buffett with daughter Susan Alice Buffett at the premiere of the movie The Post in Washington, Dec. 14, 2017. Photo by Future Image via Reuters

The famous anecdote, first mentioned by Susan in a 2006 interview, has since been revisited on multiple occasions.

"I had some trouble with that one just because I thought I was asking for a loan," she said in a 2017 HBO documentary called "Becoming Warren Buffett."

"I was not asking him to give me the money. I thought, oh come on, can't you do this?"

According to Susan, her father has been teaching his children all their lives and thus refused to give her the loan on principle.

"Well, I feel I've learned the lesson. At a certain point, you can stop," she remarked.

Though he has given billions to global causes like health, education, and poverty alleviation, Buffett draws a clear line when it comes to his family, particularly his children. To him, self-reliance is essential.

Now 94, Buffett has pledged to donate 99.5% of his fortune, estimated at around $157 billion by Forbes, to a charitable trust managed by his three children after his death and even named successor trustees in case they are unable to serve.

"I've never wished to create a dynasty or pursue any plan that extended beyond the children," he wrote in a letter to his firm’s shareholders last year.

Still, the billionaire is far more generous with his children than most people realize, according to Susan.

"I actually agree with his philosophy of not dumping a bunch of money on your kids. And, by the way, my dad gets a bad rap for that," she told Business Insider in a 2017 interview.

"I feel extremely grateful to have the parents I had and for what they've given us. But certainly, he's not going to leave us $50 billion and shouldn't. It would be crazy to do anything like that."

Today, Susan runs the Sherwood Foundation, which has given over $1 billion toward education, healthcare, and social justice in Nebraska, and also chairs the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after her mother, which supports college scholarships and reproductive rights organizations.