The Most Important Thing To Learn From Buffett’s Biggest Mistake

Avoid Asset-Heavy Investments

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Table of Contents

• Avoid Asset-Heavy Investments

• Three Things To Know Before We Go…

• Poll Results… Will Buffett Outperform The S&P?

• Coming up this week: The bottom line on inflation

  • In case you missed it…

  • Mailbag

Warren Buffett’s worst investment and his best investment… 40% returns for 25 years – possibly the greatest single investment ever… Tariffs are coming, and they could be huge… Apple making a big bet on U.S. manufacturing, at a cost…

Warren Buffett’s best investment ever wasn’t Apple.

On Saturday morning, I jumped out of bed like a kid on Christmas. It was the day Buffett had to “raise his skirt” and show the world what’s happening inside Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), which has become the world’s most important financial holding company. 

I studied both his letter to shareholders and then the entire annual report, looking for details on Berkshire’s wholly owned subsidiaries. (Later that day, I met live with our Partner Pass members to share my findings. If you’re a Partner Pass member, click here to view that live presentation.)

Most investors still think of Berkshire as being a kind of “closed end” fund, where Buffett runs an insurance company and simply invests in stocks and bonds with the excess capital. 

And that’s true – in part. 

But, since around the year 2000, Berkshire has, more and more, invested huge amounts of capital directly in wholly owned businesses. These investments are much harder for outsiders to track. And Buffett’s track record in these large acquisitions is far from good. 

Let me show you what I mean by describing Berkshire in some detail.