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Warren Buffett has been treating investors to his sage advice for many years. At age 95, he recently retired as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the extremely successful conglomerate holding company he created, alongside his longtime partner, Charlie Munger. Munger died in November of 2023 at age 99. Although he is no longer CEO, Buffett will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

Berkshire Hathaway owns numerous companies, including GEICO, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (real estate), See鈥檚 Candy, Brooks Running and Dairy Queen. It also holds major stakes in publicly traded companies, including Apple, Coca-Cola, American Express, Bank of America, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Chubb, Moody鈥檚 and several Japanese trading houses. Revenue for 2025 was $371 billion.

Buffett studied under Benjamin Graham at Columbia University and earned a master鈥檚 degree in economics in 1951. Graham is known as the 鈥渇ather of value investing,鈥� and Buffett spent most of his career searching for companies that he considered undervalued and underpriced.

He started breaking free of value investing when he invested in Coca-Cola in 1988. Although he considered the share price to be high, he recognized that Coca-Cola was a strong brand, buying shares after the 1987 market crash. When he completed his purchases in 1994, he owned 400 million shares with a cost basis of roughly $4.1 billion. Berkshire now owns 9.3% of the firm. Coca-Cola pays Berkshire roughly $816 million in dividends each year, which provides an amazing 20% return on the amount Buffett invested. This is a tribute to owning a stock for many years, the fact that Coca-Cola increased its dividend every year for the past 63 years and the power of compounding.

Buffett was influenced by Munger, who said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.鈥� Munger emphasized quality over price.

For many years, Buffett refused to invest in technology firms because he claimed he didn鈥檛 understand technology. He broke that rule when he began buying Apple stock in 2016. Due to very strong growth, Apple represented over 50% of Berkshire Hathaway鈥檚 portfolio by 2023. Although Buffett sold approximately 75% of the Apple stock in 2024-2025, it remains Berkshire鈥檚 largest holding.

Buffett is known for many things, including his humor. My favorite quip is: 鈥淵ou can only learn who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.鈥�

This was especially pertinent in 2008 during the financial crisis, when it became apparent that banks and financial firms had far more debt than was prudent. We learned 鈥� when it was too late 鈥� that Lehman Brothers was leveraged 35-to-1 leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, meaning they were in debt for 35 times the amount of their capital. Other financial firms were reportedly leveraged at roughly 33-to-1. A New York Times article reported that 鈥渦nder 33-to-1 leverage, a mere 3% decline in asset values wipes out a company.鈥�

After spending my career in the financial industry, I can say with certainty that much of the financial industry is not ethical and is fueled by greed. The 2008 financial crisis taught us that guardrails are essential to prevent firms from engaging in risky and dangerous behavior. Yet the current Trump administration has worked to eliminate guardrails in the banking and financial industries. The guardrails are essential for preventing another 2008 financial crisis or the dot-com crash that occurred in 2000.

Buffett has been criticized many times for holding too much cash in Berkshire Hathaway. Yet we should not forget that Buffett used his cash wisely during the 2008 financial crisis. As the economy was plummeting in September 2008, Goldman Sachs announced a private offering to Berkshire Hathaway for $5 billion in special preferred shares. Buffett invested in several other firms that were flailing financially during the crisis. These investments reportedly totaled $25 billion, and they were very profitable for Berkshire Hathaway.

At the end of the first quarter of 2026, Berkshire Hathaway鈥檚 cash reserves were $397 billion. It is likely that if the U.S. faces another financial crisis, Berkshire Hathaway will again be ready to bail out firms that are trying to stay afloat.

Buffett avoids making political statements, but he recently said that today鈥檚 investing environment is not attractive. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never had people in a more gambling mood than now,鈥� he told CNBC on May 2. For many years, he has advocated for higher taxes for the wealthy. An April 2012 document titled 鈥淭he Buffett Rule: A Basic Principle of Tax Fairness鈥� was published by the National Economic Council. It proposed that households with over $1 million in income pay a minimum of 30% in taxes.

More recently 鈥� at Berkshire鈥檚 2024 annual meeting 鈥� he discussed that he doesn鈥檛 mind that Berkshire (as a corporation) pays high federal taxes (over $5 billion in 2023). He stated: 鈥淭he federal government owns a part of the earnings of the business we make. They don鈥檛 own the assets, but they own a percentage of the earnings. And they can change that percentage any year.鈥�

Regarding his investment philosophy, one of his most famous lines is: 鈥淏e fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.鈥�

He prefers to buy after a stock market correction when many investors are filled with fear. When Berkshire Hathaway sees a buying opportunity, its large cash reserves will be available.

My favorite attribute of Buffett is that he is honest and moral. In his Nov. 10 letter to shareholders, he stated: 鈥淜indness is costless but also priceless.鈥�

He closed the letter with the following advice: 鈥淐hoose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better.鈥�

That is good advice at all times.

Donna Skeels Cygan, CFP庐, MBA, is the author of 鈥淭he Joy of Financial Security.鈥� She owned a fee-only financial planning firm in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 for over 20 years before recently retiring. She welcomes emails from readers at donna@donnaskeelscygan.com.