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Legendary investor Warren Buffett, whose net worth is estimated to be approximately $147.5 billion, has built a vast financial empire that makes him the ninth richest person in the world(1).
Now, at the age of 95, Buffett has finally retired from his long-term position as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, announcing the decision at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in early May. Vice Chairman Greg Abel takes over the top job effective January 1, 2026, while Buffett will continue as chairman.
Despite this shakeup, Buffett remains confident in Berkshire Hathaway’s legacy.
“I think it has a better chance of still being around in 100 years than any company I can think of,” Buffett told CNBC.
With a net worth like his, you might expect Buffett to live a lavish retirement.
But unlike the high-rolling lifestyle of other extremely wealthy celebrities and business people, Warren Buffett makes a living by smart and incredibly simple investing ideas that have had a positive impact on millions of investors around the world. One of his most famous rules was to buy and hold for as long as possible.
Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway’s 2020 annual shareholder meeting: “When you buy a stock, you have to be prepared for it to drop 50% or more and be happy with that… But some people are not really careful.”
“Some people are more susceptible to fear than others.”
Here’s how to conquer your fears and build a better future.
Market volatility is not an alien concept to the Oracle of Omaha. Buffett started investing as early as 1942 when he was 11 years old. After weathering several recessions, Buffett has time and time again shrugged off short-term market swings.
“In the long run, stock market news will be good,” Buffett wrote in a 2008 op-ed for The New York Times (4).
“In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and costly military conflicts; the Great Depression; a dozen recessions and financial panics; oil crises; influenza epidemics; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 points to 11,497 points.”
The billionaire advocates building skills rather than trying to time the market.
“No matter what ability you have, it can’t be taken away from you,” Buffett said at the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting.
“They can’t be inflation away from you. By far the best investment is any investment that grows on its own and pays no taxes at all(5).”
While this is not a traditional investing technique, Buffett firmly believes that by investing regularly in knowledge and self-improvement, you can become an asset yourself and gain easier access to opportunities to grow your wealth.
In another interview with Forbes, Buffett said: “Address what you think your weaknesses are and do them now.” (6).
“No one can take away what you have, everyone has untapped potential. If you can increase your potential by 10, 20 or 30 percent by enhancing your talents, they can’t tax it away. Inflation can’t take it away from you. You have it for the rest of your life.”
Even now, Buffett offers smart investing advice to investors seeking to protect their wealth or even grow it while keeping their tax liability low.
Here are some of his top investing strategies.
Learn more: Warren Buffett turned $9,800 into a $150B fortune using 8 solid, repeatable money rules. Start using them to get rich (and stay rich) today
Buffett said real estate is generally a “good investment” in times of inflation.
“They are businesses that you buy once and then you don’t have to continue to make capital investments. So you don’t have the problem of continually reinvesting more and more dollars because of inflation,” he said at the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.
But while real estate can be a good investment, its barriers to entry can be difficult to overcome. Fortunately, there are many platforms that make investing in real estate easy.
First National Realty Partners makes it easy for accredited investors to diversify through opportunities in the grocery-focused, staple-based retail space.
After all, even in a downturn, people still need to buy bread. Even better, thanks to a triple net lease, tenants can pay basic expenses like property taxes, building insurance, and common area maintenance, plus base rent.
With a minimum investment of $50,000, accredited investors can collect quarterly cash flow through a diversified real estate portfolio while leveraging inflation-hedging assets.
If you’re not an accredited investor or just don’t want to invest thousands of dollars in an asset, new investment platforms like Arrived can help you get into the real estate market for as little as $100.
Backed by world-class investors including Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of vacation and rental properties and earn a passive income stream without the extra work of being a landlord of your own rental property – no need for midnight repair calls because of burst water pipes.
To get started, simply browse their selection of vetted properties, each selected based on their appreciation and income-generating potential. Once you choose a property, you can start investing and earning monthly dividends.
Arrived even offers a secondary market, which means, under the right circumstances, you can cash out early.
Buffett has been around the block many times, experiencing many highs and lows. He managed stock portfolios through the double-digit inflation years of the 1970s and has rich insights into what to hold when consumer prices surge.
Buffett likes high-quality companies with low capital requirements, such as Apple. The tech company has impressive financial metrics that allow it to thrive in times of inflation.
But you don’t always need to save a lot of money to achieve your retirement goals. Ten dollars a week could change your life—if you’re smart about what to do with your change.
This is where platforms like Acorns can come into play. When you make a purchase using a credit or debit card, the amount is automatically rounded to the nearest dollar. The extra money—the coins that would end up in your pocket if you paid cash—is automatically invested in a smart investment portfolio.
Suppose you purchase a donut for $2.30. Before you lick the candy off your fingers, Acorns rounds the amount to $3.00 and invests you the 70 cents difference. Look at this math: $2.50 worth of daily rollup adds up to $900 per year – and that’s before your savings make money in the market.
Plus, if you sign up now and deposit just $5 a month, you’ll get a $20 bonus investment to kick-start your investing.
While Buffett is famously disinterested in gold investments – describing it as an asset that “never produces anything” in a 2011 letter to shareholders – other currency experts view gold as a reliable hedge against inflation because its purchasing power has remained relatively stable over time.
For example, Bridgewater Associates founder and former CEO Ray Dalio has been a staunch supporter of precious metals.
Dalio told the Greenwich Economic Forum in October: “Gold is a very good diversifier in a portfolio because gold is an asset that performs very well when the typical portion of the portfolio declines (7).”
This scenario is already playing out in 2025 and 2026. Volatile markets have prompted investors to turn to gold, with gold prices rising by approximately 70% in the past year (8).
Choosing a gold IRA gives you the opportunity to hedge against market volatility by investing directly in physical precious metals instead of stocks and bonds.
If you want to convert an existing IRA to a gold IRA, companies often offer a 100% free rollover.
One way to invest in gold that offers significant tax benefits is to open a gold IRA with help from Tol Metals.
A gold IRA allows investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets in a retirement account, which combines the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to hedge their retirement funds against economic uncertainty.
To learn more, you can get a free information guide with details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metal with qualifying purchases.
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Forbes (1), (6); CNBC (2), (3), (5), (7); The New York Times (4); Apex (8)
This article provides information only and should not be considered advice. It is provided without any warranty of any kind.
