Warren Buffett Loves the S&P 500

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jun 18, 9:15AM EDT

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As far as investing legend Warren Buffett is concerned, investors should put their money in an S&P 500 no-load fund and keep it there.
He believes this is the best shot at strong returns over the long term.

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Warren Buffett Loves the S&P 500 — © monsitj / iStock via Getty Images

Warren Buffett has been considered America’s greatest investor since 1965 when he bought Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B | BRK-B Price Prediction). There have been hedge fund managers who have made billion-dollar fortunes, but none had a track record that lasted decades. An investment of $10,000 in Berkshire in 1965 would be worth $550 million today.

Buffett is actually an anti-hedge fund for individual investors. He opposes Bitcoin and hedging, as well as day trading. As far as Buffett is concerned, people should put their money in an S&P 500 no-load fund and keep it there. Long term, he thinks this is the best shot at strong returns.

Buffett owns 15% of Berkshire Hathaway and has additional shares, giving him 38% of the voting stock. The company’s market cap is $1.15 trillion. That puts it eighth on the list of the most valuable companies in the world. Based on its broad holdings, it is, by definition, broadly diversified.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Buffett ranks fourth at $168 billion, up $24 billion this year. The four other people at the top of the list are tech billionaire founders, each of whom lost ground in 2025.

One reason for Berkshire’s success is the diversification of its equity holdings. It has stakes in American Express, Chevron, Chubb, Coca-Cola, Occidental Petroleum, Visa, and other public companies.

Berkshire also has substantial investments in private companies, including insurance company giant GEICO and BNSF Railway, the largest freight railroad in the United States.

Investors can also examine Buffett’s long-term track record. A $10,000 investment in Berkshire 30 years ago would be worth $682,000 today.

Additionally, Buffett favors insurance companies. He owns Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, National Indemnity, and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, which focuses on business and commercial insurance. Describing these investments, he said, “It’s so much fun because you get the money at the start, you know, and then find out whether you’ve done something stupid later on.”

Warren Buffett May Be Stepping Down, but Berkshire Hathaway Will Always Own These Four Dividend Giants

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.