Warren Buffett wrapped up his public reign as one of the greatest investors of all time when he handed over the title of CEO of Berkshire Hathaway to Greg Abel at the start of 2026.
Overseeing the company’s multi-decade return that more than doubled that of the S&P 500, Buffett may very well be the most quoted and interviewed CEO of all time, as investors hang on his every word when it comes to the markets.
Here are three of Buffett’s main investment tenets. Best of all, they work at any income level.
Understand a Company’s Moat and If It Even Has One
The idea of an investment “moat” is new to many investors. But it’s one of the principal questions Buffett asks before he buys a share of anything.
A company with a moat has a level of protection against competitors trying to imitate it. Coca-Cola is a great example. While there are plenty of soda options in the world, Coca-Cola has immense power that most upstart competitors could only dream of. The brand has a value exceeding the entire GDP of many companies, it has a global distribution network second-to-none and it has brand loyalty that took decades to build.
Think about it this way. If you love Coca-Cola and a new soda company offered an imitation for 10% cheaper, would you give up Coke forever? Some may, but most would not. That’s a business moat that’s almost unassailable.
This type of analysis rarely appears in the playbook of an individual investor. Some may look at charts, headlines or the latest Reddit trends, but few invest based on the power of a company’s moat.
Buffett would call this speculation, not investing. He has made his point repeatedly in his annual letters to Berkshire shareholders.
Extend Your Holding Period
One of Buffett’s most quoted lines of all time is that his favorite holding period for a stock is “forever,” with the most famous citation coming from his 1988 letter to shareholders. Buffett believes that short-term price swings are meaningless and impossible to predict. But if he’s not comfortable holding a stock for at least 10 years, he doesn’t regard it as a viable purchase.
In his 1991 letter to shareholders, Buffett coined another gem, stating: “…the stock market serves as a relocation center at which money is moved from the active to the patient.” Buffett has continually warned that most retail investors are on the wrong side of this trade, buying high, panic-selling low and then watching the recovery from the sidelines.
To avoid this all-too-human pattern, ask yourself if you have the patience and discipline to hold something for 10 years. If you’re looking at a stock today, ask yourself if you’d still be comfortable owning it in 2036.
