The S&P 500 is down about 3% this year. At its lows, the index was down over 19% from its record high.
For Warren Buffett, this year’s volatility has been nothing to write home about.
“What has happened in the last 30, 45 days, 100 days, whenever you want to pick, whatever this period has been, is really nothing,” Buffett said at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday. “This has not been a dramatic bear market or anything [of] the sort.”
Buffett noted that there have been three periods in history that have seen Berkshire’s stock fall 50%. Year-to-date, Berkshire stock is up 19%. On Friday, the stock closed at a record high.
After a surge to record highs following Trump’s election, stocks have charted a rocky path in recent months as the scope of the president’s tariff ambitions came into focus.
Those plans have evolved over time, and this week’s market rally suggests the worst case scenarios contemplated after Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement are off the table for now. As of Friday’s close, the S&P 500 had recaptured all of its losses suffered after that April 2 announcement from the president.
Buffett added two pieces of investment wisdom after noting the relative mundanity of this year’s decline.
First, surprising things happen in the world and, in turn, in the stock market. In Buffett’s view, if you’re someone who gets excited when things look good and afraid when things look bad, then the stock market is a “terrible place to get involved.”
And if the world changing is something that makes you change what your goals are as an investor, Buffett added, then it’s time to get a new slant.
“If it makes a difference to you whether your stocks are down 15% or not, you need to get a somewhat different investment philosophy,” the Oracle of Omaha said. “The world is not going to adapt to you. You’re going to have to adapt to the world.”
