Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Investing the Buffett Way: Lessons for Today's Investors

Read MoreHide Full Article

  • (1:00) - Warren Buffett’s Retirement and Impact On Berkshire Hathaway
  • (8:45) - Breaking Down Berkshire Hathaway's Equity Portfolio: What Investors Need To Know Right Now
  • (16:30) - The Warren Buffett Premium: Who Will Takeover and Will They Continue The Investment Track
  • Record
  • (20:40) - Will The Berkshire Hathaway Meetings Still Draw The Same Attention?
  • (24:30) - Learning To Invest Like Warren Buffett
  • (29:00) - Episode Roundup: POOL, OXY, AAPL, BAC, IVV, VOO, SPLG, MOAT, QUS, OMAH
  • Podcast@Zacks.com

 

In this episode of ETF Spotlight, I speak with Tracey Ryniec, Zacks Senior Equity Strategist, about Warren Buffett, one of the greatest and most respected investors of all time.

At Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.B - Free Report) shareholder meeting in May, Warren Buffett announced he will retire at the end of this year, and Greg Abel will become the new CEO.

Shares have already been behaving as if he has retired. They’re down about 7% since the announcement and are now up less than 6% year to date, compared with the S&P 500 Index, which is up almost 18%.

In addition to the fading of the “Buffett premium,” valuation concerns and broader macroeconomic trends are impacting Berkshire. Further, lower short-term rates affect the returns on its massive cash pile.

Most investors would like to emulate Buffett's investing style in their portfolios. While that’s not easy, we can certainly learn from his strategies. Earlier in his career, Buffett invested in undervalued companies with great potential, but later his thinking evolved to “it’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

The State Street SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF (QUS - Free Report) seeks to invest in high-quality firms with durable balance sheets and stable cash flows, trading at reasonable valuations. Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , and Alphabet (GOOG - Free Report) are the top holdings in the ETF.

The legendary investor likes companies with “economic moats” that allow a company to outperform others in the same industry over time. The VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT - Free Report) invests in attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages.

Buffett has long recommended that most investors stick with low-cost index funds. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV - Free Report) and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO - Free Report) charge just 0.03% each, but SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM - Free Report) now has a new fee of 0.02%, making it the cheapest in the space.

Tune in to the podcast to learn more.

Be sure to look out for the next edition of ETF Spotlight, and remember to subscribe! If you have any comments or questions, please email podcast@zacks.com

Published in