Consumer Sentiment crashes, highest inflation expectations in 30 years... stocks tumble

Is Buffet all cash? Not even close. He’s trimmed positions and added to a number of positions. Equities still make up the largest part of Berkshires portfolio.

 

I was simply making a joke. Warren Buffet is considered by common folks (incorrectly) to be the best investor ever. I’m confident in my knowledge of markets and investments.

 

Well duh?
Of course he is not all cash and is still in the market, but he had over 300 Billion in cash (that's billion with a Capital B) last I read which is a lot more than just "trimming positions".

Btw, I'm not arguing for being all in or all out or even giving investment advice for that matter. Just offered up a complimentary position to your "investment advice".

 

fun fact. more confident "investors" do worse than less confident ones. confidence -> more freq trades -> worse returns.

My wife is a finance prof & she used to do research on the role of confidence on ins purchasing behavior. Mathematical/statistical measures of confidence & overconfidence have been around a long time. Her claim to fame was coming up with a statistic that teases out optimism from confidence. That too, as you might expect, influences ins purchasing behavior.

'nother fun fact. my wife NEVER trades the mkt.

 

good info. “Never trades the mkt” - I presume doesn’t try to time the mkt and attempt to pick specific stocks?

 

If that's the case and I think we can all agree that that was the dumbest mistake of his investing career given the fact that we saw incredible gains during Biden's presidency

 

Correct. I’m pretty sure she went years not knowing her ret. acct password. & we just buy index funds in our taxable acct.

Neither of us have anything against trading just don’t do it in equity mkts. They’re too efficient. Her friend from UF days made millions trading pipeline capacity & we know a young woman with a PhD in EE. She used her knowledge of optimal solar panel placement to make millions trading electricity futures. Turns out too many solar fields collect too much freq crashing prices as storage dries up. Similar stuff happens with w Texas NG often resulting in NEG prices

 

I used my expertise in mattresses to hoard cash

 

I need to hang out with new friends.

 

“We gotta stop all this consumin’!”

— the late Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings —

 

Berkshire operating earnings reach nearly $50B in 2024, cash pile hits another record
$334B

 

I don’t trade a lot. I simply play with options. I completely agree that most would be way better off buying simple index ETFs and holding. Now it is a problem if you are high net worth because the tax drag is 1-2% annually with that approach but most people don’t have that issue.

 

How many turtlenecks do you own & what's your fav Merlot?

 

No turtlenecks and I’m more of a Busch Light kinda fella

 

Pfft, or you could man up and buy into the market beat downs like you suggest the super rich are doing.

 

Doubt they will do that.

 

To add to that he’s taken profits on high flyers, something we should do.

I’ve been doing it for months.
Not really buying anything right now unless the price looks really good for a long term hold.

Too much uncertainty for me.

 

I have a family member that is a finance prof at a major research university and he doesn't day trade, short the market, rarely buys individual stocks, etc, just invests in low cost index ETFs that mirror the market.

Always says individual stock traders are much more inclined to sell their winners and hold on to their losers. Investors are typically quick to celebrate their winners but hesitant to admit their stock losers.

 

I’m unfamiliar with this “tax drag.” What is that?