• Billionaire investor Ray Dalio wants people to give charity gift cards instead of material gifts.
• Recipients can decide which charity they want the money to go to.
• An expert in billionaire philanthropy said it could be good for wealthy people who donate to charity anyway.

Wall Street billionaire Ray Dalio is asking you to consider ditching buying gifts and instead give charity cards.

His "#RedefineGifting" campaign encourages his followers to give charity gift cards to their loved ones and request them in return.

Since 2020, Dalio, who founded Bridgewater Associates, has partnered with the nonprofit TisBest to give away 90,000 charity gift cards worth $5 million. The purchaser decides the amount, and the recipient chooses one of the 1.8 million US-registered charities on Tisbest's platform to donate the money.

"The shopping season has begun — a month-long compulsion to buy something, for everyone. We're pressed. We're stressed. And we waste time and money on gifts that might have little meaning," Dalio posted on X.

"Consider giving people donations to their favorite charities. And request that they give a donation to your favorite charity," he added.

A November Gallup poll found that US shoppers plan to spend an average of more than $1,000 on gifts this year for Christmas and other holidays.

Dalio has said in previous posts that he's given charity gift cards to his friends and colleagues for more than 10 years and has enjoyed learning about their favorite charities.

Dalio has pitched the "infectiously joyous and healthy" cards as simpler, easier, and different from material gifts that might be unwanted.

But charity cards may not go down well with those who — struggling financially amid historic inflation and heightened interest rates — would prefer a material gift.

Hans Peter Schmitz, a North Carolina State University professor researching billionaire philanthropy, told Business Insider that gift cards seemed a particularly good idea for wealthy people who might donate to charities anyway.

He advised ensuring everyone was on the same page and giving a more conventional gift alongside a card to avoid disappointing the recipient.

"It may be best to first ask and agree with family and friends that this is what everyone wants," Schmitz said. "It may also be worthwhile adding such a charitable gift along with something more personal."

"Any gift should still signify a personal connection and express more than just an expected transaction," he added.

One of the best weeks in the NFL season is upon us, as My Cause My Cleats will bring attention to hundreds of organizations players around the league chose to help through customized cleats worn on game day. 

Over the next two weeks, players will be permitted to break outside their traditional team colors for their game day footwear, and Baltimore Ravens star safety Kyle Hamilton unveiled his cleats ahead of a matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday. 

Hamilton, in partnership with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL, chose to help Our Military Kids, a nonprofit organization for kids with parents in the military, either deployed or recovering from combat injuries. 

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Hamilton spoke to Fox News Digital about why this was the right cause for him while discussing his time with several of those children in the program that he surprised a few weeks back at the Ravens’ complex. 

"My Cause My Cleats is a great week of the year for players to show some individuality and highlight some causes they feel need to be talked out, and I feel like I appreciate USAA for partnering with me on this," Hamilton, in his third year with the Ravens, said. 

"We had them to the facility a few weeks ago, and about six or seven of them, ranging from ages 7 to about 13, had a great time. Got to talk with them and play some football, play some basketball. [We] broke a good sweat. We were playing for probably an hour. It was awesome. 

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"To have that time to humanize myself and give those kids the opportunity to ask questions or whatever. It was pretty cool."

While Hamilton had a good time at the Ravens’ complex with the children from Our Military Kids, his greatest moments were the conversations he had with them, which led to an understanding of how much they sacrifice like their parents. 

"It kinda puts everything into perspective," Hamilton said. "They have such a happy outlook on life, and I’ve always said, they don’t get to choose their families or their situation. But they make the most of it, and I feel like that’s something all of us can take from even 7-, 8-year-old kids. To have a great outlook on life, play the cards that you’re dealt. And it definitely rubbed off on me to take a step back and appreciate where I am."

Hamilton also mentioned going to South Korea to a United States Army base, Camp Humphreys, outside of Seoul, where he met even more kids during a football camp. Each time he interacts with these children and families, he develops a greater appreciation for our armed services and those affected by the sacrifices made each day. 

"It’s not the situation I’m sure they’d want to be in," Hamilton said of military children. "I’m sure they’d rather be at home playing high school basketball with their friends, but it’s the sacrifices that their families make. And just my ability to highlight that and appreciate them and do as much as I can to just show they’re being thought of, it's the least I can do."

Hamilton's cleats were designed by Marcus Rivero, also known as Soles by Sir, and he featured the Our Military Kids logo front and center on one of the shoes with a picture of kids playing together. 

On the other shoe, different branches of the military are spelled out in different fonts and colors on a purple base. 

Ten other Ravens, including tight end Mark Andrews and receiver Rashod Bateman, will be wearing custom cleats to show off the causes they are helping this year. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

• Warren Buffett said he would gift Berkshire stock worth $1.2 billion to family foundations.
• The investor also wrote a mini letter to shareholders running to almost 1,500 words.
• Buffett spoke about his estate planning, his children, his luck in life, and philanthropy.

Warren Buffett surprised shareholders on Monday with a near-1,500-word letter alongside his usual Thanksgiving gift to four of his family's foundations.

The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO said he would shortly convert 1,600 of his Class A shares into 2.4 million Class B shares, worth about $1.2 billion.

He pledged to distribute 1.5 million of those shares to The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation — named after his late wife — and 300,000 shares to each of his three kids' foundations: The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and NoVo Foundation.

Buffett picked more trustees to share his wealth

In his unexpected missive to Berkshire shareholders, Buffett said the gifts would reduce his personal stockpile to 206,363 A shares, worth $149 billion. He's now given away 56.6% of his shares since pledging 99% of them to good causes in 2006.

The "Oracle of Omaha" said he and his late wife owned 508,998 A shares at the time of her death in 2004.

All else being equal, if Buffett still owned all those shares they'd be worth $367 billion, making him the world's richest man and wealthier than Elon Musk, who's worth $348 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Buffett said his late wife's estate was worth about $3 billion, and 96% of that went into the pair's foundation. She bequeathed $10 million to their three children — Howard, Susie, and Peter — which was "the first large gift we had given to any of them," he said.

"These bequests reflected our belief that hugely wealthy parents should leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing," Buffett wrote.

The legendary stock picker reiterated his comments earlier this year that he now believes his kids are ready to handle the vast responsibility of distributing his Berkshire shares, which make up 99.5% of his wealth.

But he acknowledged that his children, now in their late 60s and early 70s, might be unable to deploy his fortune before they die. "And tomorrow's decisions are likely to be better made by three live and well-directed brains than by a dead hand," Buffett wrote.

"As such, three potential successor trustees have been designated. Each is well known to my children and makes sense to all of us. They are also somewhat younger than my children," Buffett said, adding those individuals are "on the waitlist" and he hoped his children disbursed all his assets.

The reality of philanthropy

Buffett explained why the foundation that holds his wealth after he dies will require a unanimous vote for every action it takes. The investor said his children will be inundated by requests and the policy will help ensure the money is used wisely. Also, when one says "no" to a request for a gift, they can prevent follow-up asks by firmly saying their siblings would never approve it.

The billionaire also offered some advice on passing down wealth.

"I have one further suggestion for all parents, whether they are of modest or staggering wealth," he said. "When your children are mature, have them read your will before you sign it."

Involving them in the process will ensure they understand your logic and their post-mortem responsibilities, Buffett said.

Spreading the luck

In the letter — which was curt compared to Buffett's famous annual letter, which ran over 6,000 words this year and has previously exceeded 13,000 words — Buffett reflected on how lucky he was to be born in the US as a white male. He noted that his two sisters, Doris and Bertie, grew up with fewer opportunities than him.

Buffett said he felt confident he'd be rich early in his life, but he never dreamed of the wealth that has become attainable in the US in recent decades.

"It has been mind-blowing — beyond the imaginations of Ford, Carnegie, Morgan or even Rockefeller," he said. "Billions became the new millions."

Buffett said that "the real action from compounding takes place in the final twenty years of a lifetime. By not stepping on any banana peels, I now remain in circulation at 94 with huge sums in savings — call these units of deferred consumption — that can be passed along to others who were given a very short straw at birth."

The investor said he and both his wives believed in equal opportunity at birth and didn't find conspicuous consumption to be "admirable," and he was pleased so many of his shareholders have gifted their wealth to society.

Buffett added that his children shared his and his siblings' values and while they're "comfortable financially," they're not "preoccupied by wealth. Their mother, from whom they learned these values, would be very proud of them. As am I."