First, let’s go to the data (via) Bloomberg):
5,502,284%
This is an increase in the market value per share of Berkshire Hathaway stocks from 1964 to 2024. Compare that with 39,054% SPX total revenue. BRK annual revenue is ~20%, about twice the S&P over the same period.
These appetizing returns have led to the cottage industry of imitators, analytical imitators and flattering aspirants. But here is the problem. We cannot do what Berkshire Hathaway has achieved over 60 years. Today the world is very different and truly unique circumstances created the unicorn.
I explained this very topic five years ago.
“Of curiosity, I entered the phrase “Invest like Warren Buffett” in a Google search. It scored 78,600 hits. But Buffett spent 60 years giving patient investors who gave him space to make undervalued investments.
You are not Warren Buffett, neither of which I am.
Statistically, the possibility that you are not one of the greatest investors in the world is overwhelming. The odds are an astounding 100 million to 1.
And that’s fine. You don’t have to be a goat to do perfectly well in the stock market.
We have a “unhealthy tendency” that looks hopefully at the most successful traders and investors. Our desire to imitate Their The results are convincing and dangerous. Some are unicorns with unique skills. It cannot be simply imitated.
The same happens when you look at elite athletes like Roger Federer and Tiger Woods and think to yourself.I was able to do that. “Their easy talent makes it look easy.
Exclude:
“Not so, you can’t. The genius of 1992.”It’ll be like a microphone” Gatorade Commercial I speak directly to that simple belief. You and I could achieve a market return of 40% per year, just as likely to win six National Basketball Association Championships.
But perhaps the biggest external shooter in basketball, Stephen Curry“It’ll be like a microphone. Instead, he hone his skills and burned another trail today. It’ll be like Steph. Aspirations are fine, but one day they will realize that it is better to succeed on their own terms. ”
What you should do is a Students Warren Buffett’s. Learn from his experiences and wisdom. Recognise why he was able to do what he did and how incredibly difficult it was.
And really listen To the advice he poured for mom and pop investors:
1. I’m betting on America
2. Manage your own behavior
3. Unique indexes that provide a wide range of indexes as the core part of your portfolio
that’s it!
You don’t have to be a Graham Dodd wizard, and you don’t need to learn how to assess public companies as if they were personal.1
Don’t take the wrong lesson from Berkshire Hathaway’s incredible run. You can bet that too many investors will do it accurately – to learn the exact wrong lessons from Buffett’s many great successes
Neither you nor me are Warren Buffett, so why use a unique genius for you and become the best investor you can be, instead of mimicking a goat? Works within your strengths, not someone else’s. Understand the benefits you have. Play with your own strengths. Come up with your own plans, styles and strategies that you can live with.
It’s simple, but difficult. But being difficult means being challenging, difficult and requires work. That doesn’t mean impossible. Is it the next Warren Buffet? That’s almost impossible.
Instead. . . Be like you.
Previously:
You’re not Jim Simons. Bloomberg Mirror
Simple but hard (January 30, 2023)
Please refer:
Investment philosopher King Warren Buffett (Bloomberg, May 4, 2025)
How Warren Buffett changed the way investors think about investing (NYT, May 4, 2025)
Buffett’s amazing achievements on five charts (Bloomberg, May 5, 2025)
The emotional moment when Warren Buffett announces his departure (NYT, May 5, 2025)
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1. My favorite quotes so far about retirement come from Andrew Ross Sorkin Dealbook:
“Buffett, who turned 95 in August, is often described as a symbol of American capitalism. In truth, he is an outlier. He is a capitalist conscience and willing to speak unpleasant truths about the illness of the system, but others remained silent.
It’ll be like a microphone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0agiq9j_ak
