For Warren Buffett, his being born in America is the biggest contributing factor to his unmatched success. He believes the same promise that the nation has brought in the past also rings true today and will benefit generations of investors to come. The United States celebrated its 248th birthday on July 4. The 93-year-old Oracle of Omaha, who has lived to see 16 U.S. presidents, has always credited the “American tailwind” that gave rise to his sprawling conglomerate that’s worth $876 billion today. “America would have done fine without Berkshire. The reverse is not true,” Buffett said in his 2022 annual letter. Buffett, the son of a congressman, bought his first stock at the age of 11 in 1942, using all of his savings. He recalled the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 99 points that day, compared to nearly 40,000 more than 80 years later. Buffett has said that’s a fact that should scream to ordinary investors: “Never bet against America.” The American Miracle Even during its darkest times, Buffett has never doubted America’s underlying strength and resilience. The legendary investor saw the country undergo many crises and come out stronger, including the Great Depression, World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 9/11 attack, 2008 Global Financial Crisis and most recently, the Covid pandemic. “Nothing can basically stop America,” the Berkshire CEO said in 2020 when most of the world was in virus-induced lockdowns. “The American miracle, the American magic has always prevailed and it will do so again.” In 1965, Buffett took control of struggling shirtmaker Berkshire Hathaway and began using it as a holding company for the many businesses and stocks he’s purchased over the following decades. Today, his conglomerate owns everything from BNSF Railway (the old Burlington Northern Santa Fe) to ice cream shop chain Dairy Queen, from auto insurer Geico to 6% of Apple. Berkshire has also doubled the average annual return of the S & P 500 since Buffett first took control back in the LBJ years. While miracles happen elsewhere in the world too, Buffett believes there has been no place that promotes economic growth, individual ambition and business success quite like America. “There has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America,” Buffett said. “Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking. Our unwavering conclusion: Never bet against America.” Buffett, who at Columbia University studied under Benjamin Graham , the fabled father of value investing, has long urged the average investor to buy a low-cost index fund that tracks the S & P 500 — the broadest measure of the U.S. stock market. “I will bet on America the rest of my life. And I hope my successors at Berkshire do it,” he once said.
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