The GOAT Plans to Step Down.
5 timeless quotes from Warren Buffett
Over the weekend at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting, Warren Buffett said that at the close of the year, he’d like to step down as the CEO.
Warren Buffett is the greatest to ever do it, and his stepping down is a significant event that investors everywhere were preparing for.
Since 1965, Warren’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, has returned 5,502,284%. A broad index such as the S&P 500 has returned about 39,000% during the same time frame.
This is absolutely dumbfounding. 55,000x your initial investment over the span of 60 years. $10,000 invested in 1965 became $55,000,000.
With his career as CEO coming to a close at the end of the year, I wanted to share some of my personal favorite Buffett quotes with everyone. He has done so much for the investment community, not only in terms of returns, but in terms of inspiration and offering wisdom to all.
“The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs.”
- Warren Buffett, 2023
This quote highlights where a lot of retail investors go wrong. So many times we convince ourselves we are ‘investing’ when really we are just speculating.
At times, it can be incredibly hard to tell the difference. In my opinion, investing is the long-term anticipation of price appreciation. Whereas speculation is a short-term gamble that prices will appreciate at a fast clip.
If investing feels like gambling, you’re not doing it right.
“Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money.”
- Warren Buffett, 2023
Anyone get a little more aggressive with their investments during COVID? The rise of memestocks and memecoins was a major theme throughout 2020 and 2021.
There were also COVID stimulus checks being passed around at the time. Now, for the majority, they likely needed this money to support themselves or their families. However, I think we can all name a few buds that were spending this money on deep out-of-the-money options.
The free-money environment sparked massive speculation in the market. Hell, an “EV company” pushed a truck down a hill to show that it moved, and its share price rose 5x.
You could say our rationality was slightly sedated back then…
“Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns.”
- Warren Buffett, 2008
Is there a better quote than that for a guy who encourages consistent dollar-cost averaging over the course of people’s entire careers?
Humans hate to, and are bad at, doing simple and boring things over long periods of time. But that is exactly how the investment game is won.
If Buffett isn’t your cup of tea, take it from Morgan Housel, the author of The Psychology of Money:
Telling your pals that you contribute $100 each week to a broad basket of index ETFs is never going to sound as cool as when your bud says they bought some call options and made a 100% return overnight.
But a sustainable and realistic investment strategy ends up much cooler in the long-run. Take it from a guy who returned 5,000,000% over 60-years.
“Games are won by players who focus on the playing field - not those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.”
- Warren Buffett, 2013
This couldn’t be more true. While many believe Buffett to be talking about the price action of stocks and feeling the constant need to do something with their investments, I would rather view this quote in a different light.
As younger professionals, it is easy to fall victim to diminishing your success. If you want to feel poorly no matter what you accomplish, just compare yourself to the next guy.
It is a long, long game. Just the other day, we were speaking to an incredibly successful client.
I had some questions about one area of financial planning and assumed one thing (due to income limitations). Turns out my assumption was completely wrong. The client’s income had just gone up 7-fold over the course of 6 years.
It is easy to feel the pressure of needing to perform now or feeling as though you might be underperforming relative to your peers. Just know that good things come with time and effort.
Diminishing your accomplishments by way of comparison is one of the best ways to discourage yourself from achieving more.
“If it makes a difference to you whether your stocks are down 15% or not, you need to get a somewhat different investment philosophy. The world is not going to adapt to you. You’re going to have to adapt to the world.”
- Warren Buffett, 2025
This quote comes from my friend Sam Ro and his newsletter TKer. If you want to know what is going on in markets, Sam’s newsletter is table stakes. As a financial professional, I read Sam’s work each week to better understand what exactly is going on.
He was able to attend the annual shareholder meeting this past weekend and left this amazing quote in his newsletter.
In the midst of all the recent volatility, Buffett gives great insight. Specifically for young investors. A 15% swing in price should have nearly no impact on you given your time horizon. (Of course, there are other factors to potentially consider, like job loss.)
But Buffett is telling you not to focus on short-term movements in stock prices.
15% hurts!! I know it does. It is absolutely no fun.
Imagine having $100,000 in your portfolio and waking up 2 weeks later to $85,000?! I am not going to pretend that a movement like this doesn’t sting.
A large part of Buffett’s success can be attributed to his patience. How silly would we look in 40 years if we were shaken out of the market in our mid-twenties?
Buffett’s mindset is amazing when it comes to being able to see the long-term vision. We should all take one out of his book and let his career serve as the epitome of what happens when you do not interrupt compounding.