As we discussed last week, this weekend's major show, aside from our own Federal election, was the annual shareholders meeting of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B).
This meeting is one of the most anticipated events of a given year for investors worldwide. Alongside Buffett's cherished letter to shareholders, it is one of the only times we get to hear from the legendary investor himself and how he views the challenges and issues of the time.
Well, Berkshire did hold its meeting on the weekend. And, as you might already know, the big takeaway from it was the announcement of Buffett's retirement at the end of 2025.
As our chief investment officer, Scott Phillips, discussed today, this extraordinary announcement heralds the end of a 60-year era of Buffett's unrivalled career. Much like the close of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, it marks the end of an era. Investors of all ages and stripes have become used to hearing from Buffett and drawing inspiration from his many tidbits of wisdom.
His departure from Berkshire after such a phenomenally successful career will be an immeasurable loss – not just for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, but for all investors, wherever they may live.
But today, we won't dwell any further on Buffett's departure. Instead, it's a good time to review the commentary and words of wisdom Buffett offered up on the weekend.
Image source: Getty Images
What did we learn from Berkshire's 2025 AGM?
Last week, I wrote that many investors will be looking to Warren Buffett to provide some guidance on the current position of the United States amid the current uncertainty surrounding trade policy. Not to mention its potentially slipping grip on possessing the world's reserve currency.
Buffett indeed addressed these issues. To start with, his faith in American exceptionalism remains strong, with Buffett quipping that "If I were being born today, I would just keep negotiating in the womb until they said you can be in the United States".
However, he did have more than a few words of caution for its future. In a typically folksy analogy, he described the United States as a "magnificent cathedral" with "a massive casino attached":
Capitalism in the United States has succeeded like nothing you've ever seen. It's a combination of this magnificent cathedral, which has produced an economy like nothing the world's ever seen, and then it's got this massive casino attached…
In the cathedrals, they basically are designing things that will be producing goods and services for 300-and-some million people like it's never been done before in history…
At the casino, everybody's having a good time and there's lots of money changing hands and everything, but you've got to make sure the cathedral gets fed, too. It's very important that the United States, in the next 100 years, makes sure that the cathedral is not overtaken by the casino… It's an interesting system we developed, but it's worked. It dispenses rewards in what seems like a terribly capricious manner.
He also stated that "fiscal policy is what scares me in the United States" and that America's continuously ballooning budget deficit was "unsustainable over a very long period of time" and something that "can't go on forever". He argued that budget cuts "needed to be done", although he did state that it's "a job I don't want".
When it came to Donald Trump's trade policies, specifically his wide-ranging imposition of import tariffs, Buffett didn't hold back:
We should be looking to trade with the rest of the world…
Trade should not be a weapon… I do think that the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, it won't be at our expense, the more prosperous we'll become, and the safer we'll feel, and your children will feel someday…
It's a big mistake, in my view, when you have seven and a half billion people that don't like you very well, and you got 300 million that are crowing in some way about how well they've done – I don't think it's right, and I don't think it's wise," Buffett said. "The United States won. I mean, we have become an incredibly important country, starting from nothing 250 years ago. There's not been anything like it.
Does Warren Buffett think it's time to buy stocks?
Looking to the future, Buffett acknowledged Berkshire's massive cash pile, which now sits at close to US$350 billion. He told investors that he "came pretty close to spending $10 billion, not that long ago" on stocks but ultimately didn't pull the trigger.
However, he also revealed that he thinks Berkshire will have plenty of opportunities to put the cash to work at some point:
It's very unlikely to happen tomorrow… It's not unlikely to happen in five years.
It's a shame that it's likely Buffett won't be the one deciding where it goes.
